Pierre de Ronsard

One of the most beautiful romantic roses ever created is the Meilland rose, ‘Pierre de Ronsard’. France’s “prince of poets” was an avid gardener, and it was appropriate to commemorate him with a rose by his name. He was best known for his romantic sonnets. The city of Paris decided they would pay a tribute to Pierre de Ronsard, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death in 1985. Klaus Strobel from Germany suggested that Meilland should name the rose ‘Pierre de Ronsard’ for this special celebration.

The rose is fully double with an old-fashioned look. Flowers are huge, cup-shaped, and very heavy. The buds are a delicate light green and develop into creamy white flowers with the most delightful blush pink pallet in the center. As the flower ages it turns almost white. The plant is of pillar-rose vigor and can also be used as a free-standing shrub. It is almost thornless with glossy bright green foliage and is a generous bloomer.

If the name Pierre de Ronsard was full of meaning in France, this was not the case in foreign countries. Klaus Strobel helped popularize it by proposing the different name ‘Eden’ or ‘Eden Climber’ because the exceptional beauty of this rose was for him Eden, “a certain idea of paradise”. It is also known as ‘Eden Rose 88’ and ‘Grimpant Pierre de Ronsard’.

Twenty years later, more than three million plants of ‘Pierre de Ronsard’ have been planted all over the world. Year after year, this variety is always in the top ten sellers, which is quite excellent for a climber / shrub. The new trend is now to grow ‘Pierre de Ronsard’ as a cut rose for florists. The flowers are often used in exclusive bridal bouquets and wedding flower arrangements, and I can’t think of any other rose for a beautiful blushing bride.

Breeder: Meilland, France

Class: Climber

Color Class: Pink blend

Fragrance: Slight fragrance

Parentage: (‘Danse des Sylphes’ x ‘Handel’) x ‘Pink Wonder, Climbing’

By Lydia Treadway

Edited for the website by N Londeree, December 2020