An Eternal Rose Joins the WRHS Historic Rose Collection
Kathleen M Hale, Section Leader for Historic Roses
In this year of the crowning of another King of England, it’s interesting to remember the comment of the exiled King Edward VIII, by this time (in 1939) known as the Duke of Windsor, when he first saw a new, unnamed hybrid tea rose when he visited its originator, Francis Meilland, in Lyon, France. He called it, “certainly the most beautiful rose in the world.”
That rose became known in the United States as the Peace rose. The first specimens were little known because of the disruptions of war, but it was introduced to the world in 1945, at the end of World War II. Its large, double flowers are the color of the dawn, ivory yellow and pale coral pink blended together. Its growth is elegant and vigorous. With a pleasant scent, it has become one of the favorite roses for home gardeners, and deeply loved. It is not always long lived, being vulnerable to winter cold. Zone 6 is its northernmost range. But many gardeners always have a Peace rose in their garden. And Peace has contributed its genes to other beloved hybrid teas: not just Climbing Peace and Chicago Peace, but the almost lavender colored Sterling Silver.
Most of our roses in the Western Reserve Historical Society Historic Rose Collection are varieties that predate the first Hybrid Tea, La France, which was introduced in 1867. Some of our roses are very much older…centuries older. And one of the reasons we cherish our old roses is because the Hybrid Tea became by far the most common garden rose, and the romantic older varieties were largely put aside.