Hey, good morning, it's Jason again from Fraser Valley Rose farm
I'm returning to my series on the old garden roses this time to talk about Centifolias and the Moss roses
Before we get started. I'd like to encourage you to turn on your closed captioning
That's the button on the bottom of your screen that says
CC that way if I don't have the pronunciation quite right on these French or Latin names of roses
At least you'll have something to go by in the captioning below. Alright, let's get started in many ways
The Centifolia is the quintessential old garden rose the large
Sumptuous globular roses painted by the Dutch and Flemish masters and still grown and prized today in France for its exquisite perfume
Like the other old garden roses their origins are a bit confusing
roman historians Pliny and
Theophrastus referenced a "Centifolia" or "hundred-petal rose" in their writings
It was clearly not the same rose, but this reference confounded modern rose historians
Reverend Pemberton who himself was instrumental in breeding the hybrid musk roses
referred to the Centifolias in his 1920
volume as amongst the oldest roses in Europe lumping them in with the Gallicas and Damasks. The real Centifolia is
Much more modern the first verified records of the Centifolia
We know today were crossed and selected in Holland around the year 1600 and over the next century or so the Dutch
introduced over 200 varieties
These are beautifully commemorated in the paintings of the so called Dutch Golden Age of Art
The Centifolias were in fact a complex hybrid of multiple classes of roses
That would have been widespread in Europe by this time according to the genetic studies these parent classes
Included the damask hybrids the gallicas rosa moschata, rosa canina and perhaps even the Albas
it's an interesting thing that such complex hybrids could have been developed in a time before even the
Basics of modern plant breeding had been well described by science
The anatomy of flowers wasn't understood until around
1700 and early pioneering work on plant genetics wasn't begun until nearly
1800 yet a full century and more before all this scientific work the Dutch breeders of the Centifolia roses
By whatever techniques they were using "gave birth to the very profession of hybridization" as one of my sources put it in
Flower, the centifolias share some characteristics with their parent species
once blooming in spring and early summer a
Color range from white through deep dark pink and a wonderful strong and complex scent
Where they differ is in their extremely high petal count
forming heavy full rounded flowers that would Bend back onto their petals and even way down the arching stems of the shrub and
Here are some examples
First here. I give you reduced rendition of the Centifolia Rose probably commissioned from the gardens of
Empress Josephine at Malmaison
Next up is Fantine Latour in soft pink and still quite widely. Grown in the gardens. This is a beautiful garden shrub
This next picture is Rose 'Bullata' also known as the lettuce Rose, I guess because of the resemblance to a head of lettuce
another illustration by Redoute White Provence
This one is Petit de Hollande true to its name
The shrub is only about three feet tall and wide which is much smaller than the other Centifolias
Here, I have 'Parvifolia'. Also known as the Burgundian Rose this one the smaller variety and
Finally from the later hybrids
Robert la Diable which is sometimes classified a Gallica
But I prefer to call it a Centifolia bred deliciously dark and complex in color
Well, I think this story of the Centifolia would be interesting enough all on its own but wait
There's a plot twist you see around the year 1720. They found a sport mutation on one of these roses that had a
Mossy covering growing on the outside of the buds and stems well, it wasn't moss
it was actually a part of the epidermis of the Rose a proliferation of the scent glands and
This soft covering if you feel it. It's sticky and a few smell that scent that fragrance off of the sticky resin. It's somewhere between
Apples and pine needles at least to my nose
Sport mutation is still widely grown in gardens today under the name common moss
When breeders were finally able to breed the moss gene into other roses from around
1810 onward they became quite a fashion in Europe this enthusiasm
Peaked over the next 40 years or so and then fell by the wayside as hybrid perpetuals and hybrid teas began to dominate
Here are some examples of the moss roses in pictures. The first one up is William Lobb
It's quite heavily mossed a bit thorny - and a very vigorous grower quite unruly in my garden
But look at the moss on those buds and that dark color
Next up is Marie de Blois in
Mid pink very rounded and only lightly Moss much more in character like the centifolias
The third one up is Chapeau de Napoleon or 'crested moss' and that distinctive cresting around
The flower buds is quite unlike all the other Moss roses very unique specimen up
Next is Nuits de Young it's dark coloured like William Lobb but much smaller and easier to manage in the garden in
Lighter pink here. Here's Rose de Meaux
finally up Madame William Paul
And as one of the later mosses in towards the end of the 1800s, this one has some reblooming characteristics
That ends my summary of the Centifolia and the Moss roses. Thank you so much for watching
And for those Rose geeks who stick around right to the end of the video?
I always like to leave a tidbit of information and here it is that Moss Rose gene remained attractive to contemporary breeders
Well past the Golden Age of the Moss roses
so in 1930s Pedro Dot added it to his breeding program and came up with a rose called 'Golden moss' in the
1950s Frank Skinner here in Canada made a rose called 'Mossman' from those same genetics and
Ralph Moore in the 80s
made another stab at it and came up with the miniature roses fairy moss scarlet moss and
Others so the story of the moss may not be completely over yet. All right
Thank you so much for watching again
And if you have any questions or comments about the centifolia and moss roses, please leave those below the video