Marin Rose Society - Rose of the Month

BARONNE PREVOST
Rose of the Month For February, 2005
by Barbara Picarelli

This rose is special to me because it bears the name of one of my family ancestors on my father’s side, the French part. The rose was given to me by Gail Trimble, and that makes it even more special. It is a hybrid perpetual, and retains the old rose form. It has large, globular buds that open to lovely multi-petaled flowers, in a deep pink. The flowers are full, flat and quartered that do fade as they age and make lovely cut flowers. The bush is compact, has nice foliage with lots of red prickles (thorns) on its stiff canes. Mainly it blooms in summer, and rarely has much in repeat blooms, which is common in the older roses. Hybridized in 1842 by Deprez in France, its ownership was sold to Cochet (the senior) for 100 francs (probably A LOT of money at that time). Amazingly it is the oldest variety of its class still being sold.

Hybrid Perpetuals are interesting roses, a result of a fusion between the Bourbons and almost any other parent that came along. Eventually they became known as Hybrid Perpetuals as early as the 1820’s. Unfortunately many of these roses no longer exist, and only the very hardy survived. Many are still grown in today’s modern rose gardens, such as Baronne Prevost, Reine des Violettes, Baroness Rothschild, Paul Neyron and Frau Karl Druschki (later changed in England to Snow Queen during the First World War).

Most Hybrid Perpetuals can be used as shrubs, and pegging them (although not common today) works very well on some of the taller varieties. Some have even sported as climbers, so it is preferable to use the taller varieties at the back of the garden. I actually have this rose in a large pot so I can see and enjoy it close up.

Photo by Barbara Picarelli

Previous Roses of the Month:

January, 2005
Fortunes Double Yellow
November, 2004
Iceberg
October, 2004
Touch of Class, Tournament of Roses, and Taboo
September, 2004
All That Jazz
August, 2004
Peace
July, 2004
Betty Prior
June, 2004
Gertrude Jekyll
May, 2004
Sally Holmes
April, 2004
Double Delight
March, 2004
Gartendirecktor Otto Linne
February, 2004
Little Artist
January, 2004
Complicata
November, 2003
Penelope
October, 2003
Westerland
September, 2003
Elina

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