updated 10 Mar. 2005
Or...How An Unidentified Rose Finds A Name (maybe)
"Grand Avenue Giant " resides in a well-maintained garden containing a number of old roses, including 'Safrano,' 'Mme. Joseph Schwartz,' 'Russell's Cottage Rose,' 'Cl. Cécile Brunner', 'Rosa banksia lutea,' 'Cramoisi Supérieur' and numerous others not immediately identifiable from the street. The plant itself is certainly mature, with a basal the size of my leg. The large two-story house is located in the Dominican College neighborhood of San Rafael and probably dates to the turn of the century, as it has a carriage house behind the main structure. The owners told me the house dates from around 1908.
This very large rose is quite beautiful during the spring flush, covering at least 15 by 15 feet. I first saw it in the late summer with only scattered bloom. Once the surrounding mature trees leaf out, this rose lives in shade most of the day. I have a couple of rooted cuttings, so I hope to see how this rose responds to a sunnier location. The blooms have little notable scent, though I will confirm that impression. Something in this rose is hauntingly familiar - maybe it is a easily identified cultivar I have stupidly overlooked. The overall impression is of a hybrid gigantea, though I've only seen three: 'Belle Portugaise,' 'Susan Louise' and 'Lorraine Lee.' The Giant lacks the bronzey new foliage of the gigantea hybrids.
*Update as of September 2004* Since first posting this, I have compared the blooms and prickles of the young plants that I grew from cuttings to the rose sold by Vintage Gardens as 'Le Vésuve.' I have also compared those shots to current photos of the rose grown in Mottisfont Abbey and identified as 'Le Vésuve.' They all appear to be the same changeable rose. Here is the rose found in Northern California and given the study name "Cloverdale Pink Tea." The familiar rose I was searching for is so different in growth habit at its various incarnations that it was hard to recognize that they are probably the same cultivar - - although the Giant might be the climbing sport.
The plate of 'Le Vésuve' published in The Old Rose Advisor by Brent Dickerson shows a red rose, certainly not anything I've seen: "intense red...wine red...shining red tinted pink." [at p. 32] The best published likeness is in Phillips and Rix's The Quest For the Rose, which shows the plants at Mottisfont Abbey growing eventually to five feet. [at p. 100] 'Le Vésuve' is described by Graham Stuart Thomas in The Old Shrub Roses as follows:
"I found this rose many years ago in the garden at Ronans, Bracknell, Berkshhire, and it was named for me by Courtney Page and Walter Easlea. It shows the noteworthy habit of the China Rose in the deepening colour of the fading flowers. In my light Surrey soil is has never been much more than pink with a few richer tones on the outer petals, but at Ronans the great old bush that I knew had reached 5 feet in height and the older flowers turned to a warm coppery carmine. On opeing it has a peculiarly soft, creamy tone of pink, not far removed from the Redouté portraint of 'Hume's Blush'. The sturdy, prickly plant gradually builds up into a criss-cross of branches bearing elegant, pointed, rather grey-green leaves. The flowers are fully double, of Tea shape, with rolled petals and delicious soft tea-scent. It is constantly in flower. There was a climbing sport recorded in 1904. Journal des Roses, Mai 1891. Misleadingly rich colouring. Les Plus Belles Roses, Plate 92. A poor portrait, but showing the typical colour of the mature flower. Phillips and Rix, Plate 69." [The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, p. 130]
Interestingly, another rose pictured by Phillips and Rix in The Quest For The Rose bears a striking resemblance to The Giant: 'Mlle La Comtesse de Leusse,' shown on p. 108 with both the coloring and foliage of the rose I collected. The only known supplier of 'Comtesse de Leusse' is Walter Branchi Le Rose in Orvieto, Italy.
If you have different information on any of these roses, please email me.
| Bloom. The bloom is double, with 22 to 28 petals, the outer petals reflexing slightly. Blooms appear in panicles of up to seven blooms. The diameter of the bloom is about 3 to 3.5 inches. The center is a bit muddled. In hot weather, the inner petals are considerably lighter than the outer petals. From a distance, there is a slight impression of mauve to the outer petals. Scent is not particularly notable, although I detect the faintest whiff of tea. |  |
| Foliage. The upper surface has the typical smooth and milky appearance of some teas, noisettes and hybrid giganteas. Leaves are composed of three or five leaflets, each lanceolate with widely serrate margins. New growth is tinted orange. Powdery mildew is a consistent problem. |  |
| Hips. Hips are round (globose), reddish orange, and fairly plentiful. The surface is smooth. Hips are about 3/4 inch in diameter, about the size of a cranberry. |  |
| Flower parts. Sepals are lanceolate with fine hairs coating the inside. Peduncle is smooth except for a generous coating of powdery mildew. Petioles are bear vicious tiny prickles. Stipules are linear and gland ciliate. Don't miss this image of the stipule and auricle. About 18 petals. Filaments pink at the base, white at top as shown in this shot of the stamens. |  |
| Armature. Falcate prickles are reddish when new, brown to tan when mature, about half an inch long and viciously sharp. |  |
| Growth Habit. I've been cautioned by a knowledgeable rosarian that this rose might not be a climber. Never one to heed my betters, I thought that it demonstrated typical climbing growth. But another visit convinces me that this plant could be an enormous shrub with long stiff canes, somewhat intermediate between a true climber (something with laterals that line up like toy soldiers) and a shrub. It consistently produces several lateral canes from the same growth bud, eventually killing off the one in the middle. |  |