Marin Rose Society - Rose of the Month

Sombreuil
Rose of the Month For January, 2006
by Barbara Picarelli

Whoa, what happened to 2005? Here we are perusing catalogues and wishing for the latest and greatest from all the great new roses for 2006. Well, since I was out making sure everyone got to see our Rose Gardens on the Conference Tour, I missed the super talk about 2006 roses, so I’ll have to focus on another rose.

I looked through all my rose books and came up with Sombreuil, sold in Europe as Mlle de Sombreuil, and dating back to Robert in France from 1850. It is sometimes found as Colonial White as well. Legend has it that it was named after a heroine of the French Revolution who is reputed to have drunk the blood of an aristocrat to prove her father’s non-aristocratic status. (Wonder why they didn’t name a red flower after her?) The flower is a lovely white with perhaps an occasional touch of rose and/or yellow. It’s a flat flower, quartered, and very double blooms, which are also scented. It is classed as a tea/climber in some books, but Vintage Gardens and Phillip Robinson have it listed as a twentieth century climber descended from R. wichuraiana. Although my books say it’s a moderate size, mine is up in an apricot tree and along a fence. It is a very hardy rose, and blooms repeatedly all summer. And where did I get my plant? My old favorite haunt, Vintage Gardens.

Previous Roses of the Month:

October & November, 2005
Rhonda
September, 2005
Georgia
August, 2005
Yvonne Rabier
July, 2005
The McCartney Rose
June, 2005
Rosette Delizy
May, 2005
The Green Rose
April, 2005
St. Patrick
March, 2005
R. rugosa
February, 2005
Baronne Prevost
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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