| Rose Books
Online |
| The Complete Flower Paintings and Drawings of Graham Stuart Thomas by Graham Stuart Thomas, 1987, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. / Sagapress, Inc., New York Rose drawings, paintings, and text from pages 104-149 |
Roses 'Lawrence Johnston' and 'Cupid' pages 108, 109 |
The first of these roses takes us right back to the beginning of hybridising with yellow roses in the early years of this century. It is well known that while Rosa gigantea had given us light yellows in the Noisette and Tea roses, it was not until Joseph Pernet-Ducher of Lyon had succeeded in securing two hybrids between the Persian Yellow rose (R. foetida persiana) and the red Hybrid Perpetual ‘Antoine Ducher' that true brilliant yellows became possible. After countless failures had occurred, owing to the infertile pollen of the Persian Yellow, at last two seedlings were raised. One of these seedlings had large rose-red globular Hybrid Perpetual flowers but the foliage and wood of R. foetida. The cross had “taken”! Pernet-Ducher persisted with this type of cross and as late as 1920 or thereabouts he crossed another pink Hybrid Perpetual, ‘Mme Eugene Verdier', with the Persian rose. This also resulted in two seedlings, one of which was named ‘Le Reve’ in 1923. The other stayed, unloved, in Pemet-Ducher’s nursery until it was sported by Lawrence Johnston, who bought the only plant and took it to his garden at Hidcote, Gloucestershire, at some time before the Hitler war. There it was christened ‘Hidcote Gold’ and was distributed to a few favoured gardeners, eventually finding its way into my hands. I thought it was a pity so good a rose should not he distributed widely so I asked Major Johnson if I could exhibit it in his name, to which he assented. It received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Merit in 1948 and we called it ‘Lawrence Johnston’ at his request, partly so that it should not be confined with ‘Hidcote Gold’ which is a hybrid of R. sericea pteracantha. The ‘Lawrence Johnston’ rose is a very vigorous climber, flowering profusely in early June and continuing to produce flowers, in less quantity, later. The brown wood and parsley-green leaves are reminiscent of R. foetida, but the scent is delicious. The original plant still grows at Hidcote, on the wall of the Old Garden. It requires only gentle pruning apart from the removal of old spent wood in winter. Even before the above cross was made, Benjamin R. Cant, famous rose-grower of Colchester, Essex, had raised ‘Cupid’. It was introduced in 1915 but its parentage it not recorded. It is again a strong grower, with prickly seems and brownish tinted young leaves. The exquisite flowers are produced abundantly at midsummer; they have a rich raspberry fragrance, and both ‘Cupid’ and ‘Lawrence Johnston reveal on opening the beauty of the central stamens. Instead of an autumn crop of flowers the heps develop to a good size and persist well into the winter, warming us with their rich orange-red colouring. ‘Cupid’ is perhaps rather open-growing for wall-training and too vigorous for arches, but it is ideal over a large pergola or when grown through large shrubs or small trees. ‘Lawrence Johnston’ is excellent on a sunny wall, and though its yellow colour is brilliant—and superb as a companion to lilacs other than pink varieties—it is nevertheless a cool clear tint. ‘Cupid’ has a subtle, gentle tint which would blend with almost anything. |
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last modified September 29,
2002