Sunday, February 20, 2011

Forgotten Charm: Classic Hybrid Teas

I have neglected my beloved roses long enough.  Here is a post on some very rare and interesting varieties, very few of which are now in commerce.

Lady Mary Fitzwilliam (Bennett, before 1880)

Classic, or early, Hybrid Teas appeared in the latter half of the 19th century.

Mme Caroline Testout (Pernet-Ducher, 1890)

The first Hybrid Teas were crosses between Teas and Hybrid Perpetuals, but gradually their genealogy became very complex.

Mme Wagram, Comtesse de Turenne (Bernaix, 1894)
Lady Alice Stanley (McGredy II, 1909)

The hybridizers' goal in creating these crosses was to combine the beautiful high-centered bud of a Tea with a long stem and upright bloom of a Hybrid Perpetual, to make the roses more suitable for cutting.
Mrs George Shawyer (Lowe&Shawyer, 1911)

The blooms were a bit smaller than those of later more extensively hybridized roses, the colors generally softer, and the form of the bloom not so stiffly formal.

September Morn (Dietrich&Turner, 1913)
Miss Rowena Thom (Howard&Smith, 1927)
Autumn (L.B. Coddington, 1928)
In those early roses, fragrance had not yet fallen victim to the rose exhibitor's demands: in most roses, fragrance resides in the petals making them soft. Such blooms do not last as long as those with stiff thick petals and are less suitable for rose shows.


Unlike older hybrids, which were open-pollinated chance crosses, hybrid teas were the first rose class obtained by deliberate efforts to introduce new varieties, and record parentage.

Edith Krause (Krause, 1930)
Being on the whole less showy and less vigorous, turn-of-the-century roses were quickly forgotten after the introduction in 1945 of Peace, one of the first modern-looking Hybrid Teas. Peace became extremely popular quickly eclipsing the older hybrids in the gardens, on the exhibitors' tables and in hybridizers' greenhouses.

Mme Jean Gaujard (Gaujard, 1937)

It is interesting to look at these roses chronologically, as they are arranged on the page. The form of the bloom gradually changed to assume the formal high centered shape, typical of modern Hybrid Teas. Yellow and orange colors did not appear until fairly late, after Joseph Pernet-Ducher, a French breeder, started experimenting with R. foetida and R. Lutea, and created vividly colored Hybrid Teas called Pernetianas in his honor.

44 comments:

  1. Dear Masha, Oh I do not like the Modern Hybrid Teas. Too stiff and highly unattractive when not in flower. And the garish colours.....and, oh so often the lack of any perfume. The earlier varieties which you show were bearable but now...!!!!

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  2. So lovely. I think I actually let out a sigh when I saw the September Morn rose. How long have you been collecting roses?

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  3. Yes, Edith, I agree, people tend to either love or hate Hybrid Teas. The early ones were much more like Teas in habit, less stiff and brightly colored.

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  4. What a delightful post about the lovely classic Hybrid Tea roses! Your photos show the special beauty that these roses radiate so well. I hope, it inspires other readers of your blog to acquire one or two. I for myself need to have 'September Morn'!
    Christina

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  5. Thank you, Hanni. I have been collecting roses for about 5 years, so most of mine are still pretty young. You made a good choice - September Morn is one of the most strongly fragrant roses ever.

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  6. Thank you, Christina, I hope you get it, and maybe its parent, Mme Pierre Euler, too. I think they would look great planted right next to each other.

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  7. These are so beautiful! Give me the old fashioned garden roses any day, glorious scent and blousy blooms.

    Are you growing all of these? How many roses do you have? How big are your gardens? You must feel like you are in paradise surrounded by all the beauty and scents.

    FlowerLady

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  8. Thank you so much, FlowerLady, I am glad you liked them. I don't grow all of these but only some. I have about 120 roses in all, some once-bloomers, hybrid and damask perpetuals, rugosas, teas, noisettes, hybrid teas, polyanthas, Pernetianas, some mystery roses, everything. If it is rare and/or fragrant, I've got to have it! I even have Double Delight, and not ashamed of it.

    Thank you for your comments on my previous posts. I am so happy you got to see them. Ramblers are great, but BIG! My garden is really small, less than 1/2 acre. I do use vertical space as much as I cane (fences and arbors) to have more roses per square inch of space:-).

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  9. Masha, I so love your roses. Your photos are divine, but I too have to agree with dear Edith on many of her points. If I had the patience and time to keep them so nice, I would have more roses in general in my yard. One of my best buds is a prize winning rosarian so you can bet I have my discussions on them with him. I stick mostly with Floribundas and he does not let me live it down not venturing into the Teas.

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  10. Thank you, gardenwalkgardentalk. How amazing that you are also knowledgeable about roses (is there anything you don't know about??).

    I like all types of roses, and most colors (except red). I do have to say that different roses are suitable for different climates and different gardening styles. I have a row of Hybrid Teas in a long narrow bed by my driveway where their stiff, narrow and upright growth habit is just right. I cover their "naked legs" with evergreen perennials, and they look fine.

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  11. Hi Masha, Thankyou for stopping by for a visit. Yes, I see that you love roses too! We should definately be friends, I will add you to the rose blogs on my site. Look forward to keeping in touch.

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  12. I am sort of scared of hybrid teas. I don't have any. It is seriously humid here 12 months out of 12 so I worry about disease. I do have a few 'old' roses that I love though. A Ballerina, a MAC and a Lady Banksia (lutea). They all do just as well as my knockouts do, healthwise.

    I think the same 'progress' can be seen even today as new 'easy' roses like the knockouts get developed, and roses like Ballerina (and I'm sure many others) people have never even heard of. And that rose truly is the knockout of the pack. That said, I did get 4 knockout roses for 2.25 each...hard to pass that up!

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  13. Thank you, Jess, and you are completely right to be scared of HTs in a humid climate. You have a nice collection of roses, MAC is a favorite with many rosarians, including me (it's just too big for my little garden), and lady Banks is beautiful and thornless.

    It is hard for me to pass up cheap roses too, and I have bought bareroots from Home Depot sometimes (embarrased though it makes me).

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  14. Hello, Sweet Life Garden, and nice to meet you! It is so great to make another rose friend.

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  15. Truly beautiful and wonderful blooms there. I am your new follower. Stop by my new blog when you have time. Will be updating a lot this year as the seasons progress.
    Cher
    Goldenray Yorkies

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  16. Thanks, Cher, and nice to meet you!

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  17. Lade Mary Fitzwillian, Bennett and Edith Krause are stunning roses! Wow!

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  18. Thank you, the Redneck Rosarian, and I am very happy to hear from you.

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  19. Thank you this catalog and history of some of the classic roses. All of our roses are modern hybrid teas and grandifloras, but I do try to get as many fragrant roses as I can. The forms and colors of the roses are breath-taking.

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  20. Thank you, George, and how nice to hear from you again. I grow quite a few modern ones too, they are all lovely.

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  21. Yes I find that hybrid roses nowadays although they look regal, thick petals, long stems and last longer, they lost their fragrance which is so important for a rose to be called a rose!

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  22. I love antique roses and many of these but the perfume and unusual bloom are also what attracts me...alas I have neither the right climate or time to grow anything but mostly Knockouts...you have a beautiful collection here

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  23. Yes, I agree, p3chandan, fragrance is very important for me too, although they have started brining it back into HTs.

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  24. Thank you, Donna, and nice to meet you! Maybe with time you can find other roses that will do well for you.

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  25. Thank you, Carla, it is so nice to hear from you.

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  26. I am so thankful to find they are bringing fragrance back to the tea's. I was missing each unique scent. I have a combination of old and modern roses.
    Your posts and photos are always inspiring.
    Thank you.

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  27. Thank you, Blooming Rose Musings. I grow a mix too, mostly the fragrant ones. It is nice to find someone with a similar taste.

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  28. Hi Masha, So many beautiful blooms! I adore pink roses especially.

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  29. Such beautiful blooms! I was often wondering why store-bought roses have no fragrance; now I know.
    Thank you, Masha, for this beautiful and informative post.

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  30. Thank you, Jennifer, I am so glad to hear from you.

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  31. Thank you, Olga, and yes, I don't even try to smell store-bought roses anymore:-)

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  32. Excellent post, Masha. I, too, didn't know that perfume makes the petals soft. It explains a lot. I love early HTs, too. One of my healthiest and most gorgeous roses is a Hybrid Tea from 1894. Great photos of great roses, Masha. You'd have tempted me if I had any room left.

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  33. Thank you, Sherry, you are so nice! Are you talking about Mme Abel Chatenay? I love early HTs, such an unusual group of roses.

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  34. Those roses are lovely beyond description. I want to try some of those one day. I don't have any early HTs in the garden but clearly I'm missing out! The flowers are so full and romantic-looking.

    You asked if I collect iris ~ I try but so far I keep ending up with large numbers of a few cultivars. I think I need to shop smarter. :)

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  35. Thank you, Sweetbay, I love them too. Regarding iris, I think large drifts of the same variety are spectacular, and something I will probably never have (but miss terribly) in my small garden.

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  36. J'aime beaucoup votre blog,étant moi même passionnée de roses anciennes ou modernes
    amicalement
    Dominique

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  37. Beautiful photos of beautiful subjects!

    I live in Miami, which is way too humid in the summer to grow modern HTs unless they're treated weekly with masses of chemicals, but I've found several OGRs that thrive in this climate. My Natchitoches Noisette, for example, is never out of bloom, and the Florida cracker rose (Louis Phillipe) takes anything, including lack of sun, you can throw at it.

    -- Penny

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  38. Thank you, Terra Mirabilis, and nice to meet you! I am so glad you grow antiques, LP and NN are very beautiful roses.

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  39. Vraiment des belles roses.
    J'habite près de Montréal au Québec. Ma zone est 5a CAD ce qui est 3 ou 4 USA. J'ai quelques hybrides moderne; thé, grandiflora et floribunda qui tolèrent tous ma zone de rusticité avec protection hivernal et quelques rosiers de David Austin. Et j'ai environ 50 rustiques; quelques rugusa, impératrice joséphine, Heidi, constance spry, ...
    J'essai d'avoir une collection de rose au parfum de Myrrh, j'adore cette senteur. Et j'essaie d'avoir les parents de mes rosiers à senteur de Myrrh;
    Constance spry, Chauser, Tamora, Glamis castle, Mary Rose, ...
    I'm planing to get the Belle Isis for the smell.
    but the problem is I don't have to much space so I have to be really selective. I love roses too!

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  40. Merci, Sue. Il'y a des roses albas et gallicas qui ont ce parfum de myrrh que vous aimes si bien.

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  41. How does one go about identifying older roses? My little house came with a few seriously neglected rose bushes that I'd be curious to know more about. I'm sure they're all very common varieties, but I'm unsure how to find their names.

    I'm just up the way from you, in Oakland.

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  42. Bonita from Highfields, Queensland in Australia here. I have been trying to find a photo of Mrs George Shawyer and have only found her on Wills Cigarette Cards so it was a delight to see her on this site. A very elderly lady told me how as a little girl, her father used a camel hair bruch to lovingly prepare this rose for exhibition in the 1930's in Brisbane, Aust. I have tried for some years to locate a plant here but with no success.
    I grow about 300 roses and particularly love teas, chinas, noisettes, ramblers and species as well as hybrid musks and Alister Clark Australian bred roses. I do grow HT and floribundas and minis but they are hard work.

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I am so glad you have stopped by!