‘Tiny Tears’ & seedling ‘14SNO2’ SS BB RR iinngguullaarrllyy eeaauuttiiffuull oosseess A Publication Dedicated to Single, Nearly Single, and Semi-Double Flowered Roses Volume 6, Issue 1 Fall 2015 Contents Miniature Hybrid Chinas – The Lawranceanas……………………………………………………………..Page 2 Single Minifloras..……………...…………………………………………………………………………..Page 14 From the Editor……………………………………………………………………………………………Page 18 Contact Information & Sources………..…………………………………………………………………………Page 20 Page 2 “We the Fairies blithe and antic, of dimensions not gigantic” - Thomas Randolph Miniature Hybrid Chinas – The Lawranceanas The Lawranceanas - essentially miniature Hybrid Chinas – are early forerunners of today’s modern Miniature roses. The origin of these Lilliputians of the rose world is a mystery. What is known, however, is that rose culture in China is referenced as early as the 4th and 5thcenturies A.D. and was more advanced than anywhere else in the world until the 19th century. The China roses we know today are considered a “complex of natural and cultivated hybrids that have evolved over more than a thousand years in Chinese gardens (The History and Legacy of the China Rose).” Repeated selection for desirable traits over an extended period of time resulted in a R. chinensis group characterized by repeat flowering plants often of compact, twiggy habit, with slender flower buds, blooms that deepen in color with age, few prickles, shiny pointed foliage, with presence of true reds. These “derivative” hybrids primarily found their way from China to Europe via East Indian trading routes whose primary ports-of-call were Calcutta, India and the islands of Mauritius and Réunion, the latter formerly known as the Île Bourbon, off the eastern coast of Madagascar [Editor’s note; Rosa semperflorens in early rose literature a variety of Latinized species names were Painting by Mary Lawrance assigned to the China roses, including: indica, semperflorens, sinica, bengalensis, and nankinensis. The preferred classification is Rosa chinensis]. Various reports indicate that a pale pink miniature rose having R. chinensis characteristics existed in gardens in England and France in the first decade of the 19th century. My own interpretation of those accounts is arranged in the following sequence. London nurseryman James Colville, sometimes spelled Colvill, secured a plant of ‘Parson’s Pink China’/‘Old Blush’ from Kew Gardens in or around 1793 (The Old Shrub Roses, p. 77). He in turn began selling it to nurserymen in France and America. Dr. C. C. Hurst, quoted by Graham Thomas in the above volume, stated that among others Pierre Joseph Redouté and Claude Antoine Thory began raising seedlings from ‘Parson’ Pink’ as early as 1798 (p. 77). In 1805 Colville successfully raised a dwarf pink seedling he named ‘Pumila’ (dwarf) from ‘Parson’s Pink China’ which he shared with French rosarian Louis Noisette. In France the tiny double-flowered pink rose was renamed ‘Bengale Pompon’ and was easily rooted from cuttings. Right: An early stylized illustration of Rosa indica minor that appeared in Roses or a Monograph on the Genus Rosa, Vol. II, Plate 68 (pub. 1828 by H. C. Andrews). Accompanying P text indicates it was the above mentioned seedling raised by Colville, but given a new Latinized name by Andrews. Page 3 An 1815 edition of Curtis’ Botanical Magazine, edited by Englishman John Sims, presented the earliest illustration and description of a small rose classified as Rosa semperflorens minima, also known as “Miss Lawrance’s Rose.” The illustration showed a single-flowered rose, but Sims’ comments mention that “several varieties. . . differing in size, color, and scent, have, within these few years, found their way into different collections about town,” and that he believed that they had been raised from seed (see text Vol. 42, plate 1762). Its common name was an English tribute to the loved painter and teacher of horticultural art Mary Lawrance whose work A Collection of Roses From Nature had just begun appearing in print in 1796 [Editor’s note; an engraved edition of the book sold at Bonham’s Auction in 2011 for $28,000!! The book does not have an illustration of her namesake rose since its publication predated the rose’s “appearance” in England]. The attention drawn to the rose post- publication in the horticultural periodical prompted English botanist Robert Sweet to state that it had been imported to London from Mauritius in 1810 coinciding with the British overthrow of French governance of Mauritius that same year. A nod seemingly confirming Sweet’s version of its provenance appears in the conclusion of the brief horticultural entry stating that the plant “Miss L a wranc e’s Ros e” - P late No 1 762 from which the illustration was made had been given to him by a “Mr. Hudson from the war-office.” Additionally, a rose fitting Sims’ description, identified as Rosa pusilla (“minute/miniature”) or in French, Rosier nain de l’Inde, is listed in an 1816 catalog of exotic plants cultivated on Mauritius hinting strongly that a miniature China rose, perhaps single-flowered, was familiar to gardeners on the island. The third account of a pink miniature China’s early appearance in continental Europe also has a ring of truth. In History of the Rose, Roy Shepherd states that Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778-1841) secured a plant from Mauritius prior to its first appearance in England (p. 63), possibly during French rule of the island. De Candolle arrived in Paris in 1796 where he established himself as a highly regarded botanist, co-authoring a number of horticultural works. He is reported to have planted a specimen of Rosa indica humilis (“dwarf”) in a garden he established in the Champagne region of France. From there a plant of the diminutive pink China found its way to the botanical gardens in Bern, Switzerland (possibly brought by de Candolle upon his return to his Swiss homeland in 1816?). Its presence in Bern was documented by another Swiss botanist strongly influenced by de Candolle, Nicolas Seringe, in his botanical work Mélanges Botaniques (a work describing five groupings of roses and the various cereal grains grown in Switzerland published in 1818); “All the characteristics of R. indica in miniature (p. 44).” “Miss Lawrance’s Rose” – Plate No 538 A fourth source appears in the writing of German historian and author Johann Christian van Stramberg. In a massive thirty-nine The Botanical Register (1821) Page 4 volume work entitled Nützlicher und Rheinischer Antiquarius (1854), detailing the history and geography surrounding the Rhine River, van Stramberg refers to a garden of roses located at the Stolzenfels Castle near Koblenz. He then proceeds to deliver a meandering narrative describing the introduction of Noisette, China, and Tea roses into Europe, particularly France, concluding with an index of varieties he recommended “out of his own experience.” In it a mention is made of ‘Rosa Lawrenceana,’ stating that it had arrived in France via Calcutta circa 1804. Van Stramberg describes it as single and rose-colored and goes on to say that in the decades since its arrival numerous miniature offspring had been raised, including Colville’s seedling ‘Pumila.’ Casting a shadow of doubt upon the accuracy of at least some measure of his account is an incorrect statement that it was described and pictured by Miss Lawrance. Wherever the truth lies regarding their introduction to Europe, by the middle of the 19th century rose hybridizers had introduced three to four dozen miniature China seedlings generally referred to as Lawrenceanas [Editor’s note; over time Miss Lawrance’s name has been misspelled so frequently that the incorrect spelling has become the norm. Despite convention, “Lawranceana” appears to be the earliest and thus appropriate appellation.]. Although some were given formal names, many were merely distinguished by color or as single or double- flowered. French nurserymen and hybridizers who were swept up in the marketing craze include Vibert, Noisette, Laffay, Meillez, and Mauget. In England the nurseries of Colville, James Lee (of ‘Stanwell Perpetual’ fame), and Thomas Rivers sold thousands of these tiny novelties. A Rivers’ reference in his very popular Rose Amateur’s Guide (p. 146) leads us to believe that because of their diminutive size the term “Fairy Roses” was another common term applied to the Lawranceanas as early as 1840. Top Left: Rosa Indica Pumila ‘Rosier nain du Bengale’ Les Roses, Vol. I - Redoute Bottom Left: Rosa Indica Pumila (flora simplex) ‘Rosier nain du Bengale’ (a fleur simplice) Les Roses, Vol. II – Redoute Thory notes similarities and differences between “Miss Lawrance’s Rose” and the single form pictured here perhaps based on inaccuracies portrayed in Sims’ original drawing. Page 5 Research done by Dr. G. H. M. Lawrence, presented in the 1953 American Rose Annual (“History and Nomenclature of the Fairy Roses”) and reexamined by Paul Barden, and that done by rose historian Brent C. Dickerson (“A Check-List of Lawrencianas”) gives us a fairly exhaustive lists of cultivars. Interestingly, none are known to be in commerce [Editor’s note; speculators posit that two roses named below MAY be in commerce having been given different names . . . maybe.]. Alphabetic Table of Early Lawranceana Cultivars Cultivar Intro. Breeder Description ‘A Rameaux Horizonteaux’ 1835 Laffay Flesh pink trailing ‘Alba’ (aka ‘Blanc Double’) 1827 Mauget White double ‘Belle Lawrencia’ 1840 Beluze Unknown ‘Belle Liliputiene’ 1830 Laffay Medium pink double ‘Bicolore’ 1833 Laffay Pink/lilac ‘Blanc’ 1835 Laffay White/pink blush ‘Blush’ (aka ‘Fairy’) 1846 Unknown Light pink ‘Caprice des Dames’ (aka ‘the Lady’s 1831 Miellez Rose/violet pink Whim’) ‘Carné Plein’ 1828 Unknown Flesh pink double ‘Cramoisi’ (aka ‘Lawrenceana 1830 Laffay Dark red double Cramoisi’) ‘De Chartres’ (aka ‘Lawrence de 1828 Laffay Light pink double, tiny Chartres,’ ‘Duc de Chartres,’ ‘Nain’) ‘Dieudonné’ 1827 Mauget Violet double ‘Double Blanche’ 1842 Vibert White double ‘Double Multiflore’ 1853 Unknown Unknown ‘Double’ (aka ‘Bengale Laurentia 1819 Vibert Purplish pink double Double’) ‘Jenny’ (aka ‘Rubra’) 1836 Unknown Crimson/purple red ‘La Désirée’ 1848 Unknown Unknown ‘La Gloire des Laurencias’ (aka ‘Gloire 1829 Miellez Crimson/purple red des Lawrenceas,’ ??‘Oakington Ruby’ ) ‘La Lapone’ (aka ‘Petite Lapone’, 1829 Unknown Cerise pink double ‘Petite Laponne’) ‘La Liliputienne’ 1829 Miellez Rose pink double ‘La Miniature’ 1829 Unknown Dark pink/rose double ‘La Mouche’ (aka ‘Lawrenceana 1830 Miellez Cerise pink double Mouche’) ‘Master Burke’ 1830 Feast Rose pink double, tiny ‘Miss Lawrance Rouge’ (aka ‘Indica 1834 Wood Red single Minor Rubra’?) ‘Miss Lawrance’s Rose’ (aka ‘Rosier England Unknown Chinese origin Light pink single de Lawrence Simple,’ ‘Lawrenciana,’ ca. 1810 ‘Pumila Flore Simplici,’) ‘Multiflore’ 1841 Unknown Rose pink ‘Nigra’ 1835 Unknown Dark red ‘Pallida’ 1846 Unknown Light pink ‘Pompon Ancien’ (?? ‘Pompon de Paris,’ 1839 Unknown Light pink Rosa rouletii) ‘Poupre Noir Simple’ 1826 Hardy Blackish single ‘Poupre-Foncé Double’ 1828 Unknown Dark purple double ‘Pourpre Brun’ 1844 Unknown Brown/purple ‘Pourpre’ (aka ‘Pourpre Nain?’) 1835 Unknown Purple ‘Pretty American’ (aka ‘Belle 1837 Boll Unknown Americain’) ‘Pumila’ (aka ‘Bengale Pompon,’ 1805 James Colville Medium pink double ‘Nain,’ ‘Bijou,’ ‘Pompon Bijou’) ‘Pygmée’ 1833 Bizard Unknown ‘Retour du Printemps’ 1835 Unknown Bright rose ‘Rose Double’ (aka ‘Rose Plein’) 1826 Unknown Rose pink double ‘Rouge Double’ 1826 Unknown Red double ‘Rouge Foncé’ 1827 Miellez Dark red double ‘Rouge-Pâle’ (aka ‘Bengale Rouge 1827 Miellez Pale red double Pâle’) ‘Zelinette’ 1835 Unknown Unknown Meanwhile - American nurserymen were importing everything A short note is required to draw a “new and improved” from the booming European rose trade. The Prince distinction between “Pompon” as a family was one of the preeminent New World horticultural dynasties, reference to China roses as opposed operating a commercial nursery in Flushing, New York established in to the once-blooming Pompon 1738. William Prince, son of the founder, remained well connected to Centifolias, i.e. ‘Rose de Meaux’ numerous European horticulturists in England, France, Holland, and Italy. and ‘Burgundian Rose.’ Can be To promote his vast enterprise he published A Short Treatise on quite confusing initially! Horticulture in 1828, one of the earliest American books on the subject. In it he mentions that his collection of roses had recently grown to as many six hundred different cultivars. Among the roses of “China and India” Prince includes the “Dwarf,” or “Pompone Rose,” admired for its very small flowers, almost certainly a reference to the Colville/Noisette ‘Bengale Pompon.’ Distinguished from it is the “Lawrencia Rose,” “the most diminutive [rose] known, both in leaf and flower (p. 148).” When his son’s [Robert] Manuel of Roses was posthumously published in 1846, thirteen varieties of Lawranceanas were listed. Another New York family, the Parsons, became similarly engaged in the horticulture business in Flushing and were quite active in importing a broad spectrum of plants from Europe. The founder’s son, Samuel Bowne Parsons, Sr. (1819-1906), published the first of two important rose books, The Rose: Its History, Poetry, Culture and Classification, in 1847. He references “R. Lawrencea’na” or “Lawrence’s China Rose,” noting that, “The beautiful little plants called fairy roses are nearly all varieties of R. Lawrenceana; and they are all worthy of culture, from their extreme dwarfness (p. 231).” Among a partial list of recommended China hybrids he draws attention to two named Lawranceana cultivars, ‘Caprice des Dames’ and ‘Retour du Page 7 Printemps.’ Despite a note assuring readers that a complete list of varieties would be inserted at the end of the text, publication deadlines forced him to forego its inclusion. Attention should also be focused on a third American nurseryman with a strong rose interest – Philadelphian (by way of Scotland) Robert Buist. Partnering with Thomas Hibbert, a thriving florist business was opened in 1830. After Hibbert’s death in 1837 Buist transformed the establishment into a retail seed store, nursery, and greenhouse enterprise. Although offering a wide variety of plants he took special interest in roses, traveling frequently to Europe to “View of Robert Buist’s city nursery & greenhouses in Philadelphia, PA.” bring back new cultivars. In 1844 Note the cold-frames. Buist published the highly respected work, The Rose Manual, intended to provide minute detail on the culture of roses in America and accurate descriptions of recommended varieties. The book contains a brief chapter dedicated to the Lawranceanas mentioning but a few: ‘La Miniature,’ ‘Gloire,’ ‘Bijou,’ and uniquely, two American originated seedlings, ‘Pretty American,’ (introduced ca. 1837 by N.Y. nurseryman Daniel Boll) and ‘Master Burke’ (introduced circa 1830 by Samuel Feasts of Baltimore). Boll boasted in a letter to Hovey’s Magazine of Horticulture, Vol. III, in April of 1837 that ‘Pretty American’ was “the smallest of all roses” and that “the plants do not grow more than six or seven inches high and the flower is about the size of a five-cent piece (p. 217).” An account appearing in the same periodical one month earlier stated that ‘Mr. Burke,’ “after seven or eight years had not attained two inches in height,” and that “half of a common hen’s egg-shell would have covered the whole bush without touching it (Vol. III, p. 129).” The report has been generally considered a Paul Bunyan-esque tall tale. However, an earlier narrative appears to lend some credence to the story’s truthfulness. Describing an exhibit of “plants of horticultural interest” at a Maryland Horticultural Society meeting in May of 1833, The New England Farmer and Horticultural Journal, Vol. XI, No. 11 reports; The . . . Rose, likewise obtained from seed by Mr. Feast, is the most curious Rose perhaps ever produced. It is a dwarf and so completely does it vindicate its title to that appellation that it has now reached its third year, the bush is not quite two inches in height! It is a sturdy little affair, well furnished with branches, and clothed with leaves of surprising neatness. The blooms are quite as extraordinary; they are double, of a beautiful color [light rose] and very well formed, and of little more than half the diameter of a five cent piece (p. 331)!” Further south, the port city of Charleston, South Carolina was a rich horticultural center. John Champneys and Philippe Noisette are just two of the many nurserymen and rose enthusiasts who lived and worked there. Champneys had a long-standing business relationship with William Prince, Jr. and an extensive garden of roses. Although he died in 1820, most likely too early to have seen or raised any Lawranceanas, he was a close associate of Philippe Noisette. [Editor’s note; Philippe, younger brother of Louis Noisette of Lyon, Page 8 France had been sent to Haiti as a teenager to miss the “trouble” of the French Revolution. As a young twenty- one year old, he, his Haitian-born wife Célestine, and their children fled Haiti during the Haitian Slave-Revolt, moving to Charleston in 1794. There, Noisette was appointed Superintendent of the South Carolina Medical Society Botanical Gardens.] Along with Champneys, Philippe dabbled in raising new varieties of roses from open-pollinated seeds, contributing to the origin of the class of roses known as the Noisettes. Seeds, cuttings, and plants exchanged hands between him and his brother Louis in France and were likewise imported from Europe and other geographic regions. [Editor’s note; Charleston native Joel Poinsett, U.S. Minister to Mexico under President James Madison, resettled in his home town of Charleston in 1815 bringing with him specimens of a unique native plant with red bracts that would later be named in his honor. Poinsett later visited nurseryman Robert Buist who recognized the plant’s potential cash crop value.] As a result of the huge influx of horticulture during this time period there is reason to believe that some members of the Lawranceana class began to populate the gardens of Charleston. One documented link is found in the history of a family that relocated from Charleston to Florida in the 1850’s. Phillip Benjamin Harvey “P.B.H.” Dudley and family made several trips to the area before purchasing farm land in 1859 just west of modern-day Gainesville, Florida. Capt. Dudley (served in a Florida regiment during the Civil War) made numerous trips to Charleston to sell cotton and other crops raised on his Florida farm. They transported numerous roses from Charleston to their new homestead over the course of several decades. Among the many that would have been commercially available in Charleston - ‘Champneys’ Pink Cluster,’ the ‘Green Rose,’ ‘Old Blush,’ etc. - was a miniature pink China hybrid whose given name is lost to commerce. Family members recall that Dudley purchased the diminutive rose around the time of the “Dolly Dudley” birth of his first granddaughter Dolly (Catherine “Dolly” Dudley, b. 1878). In my garden “Dolly Dudley” has dime-sized Photos by Stephen Hoy medium pink blooms of about 20-25 petals and grows in a container about 12-15” in height and width. “Abbott and Burns Family Rose” The chronicle of the westward journey of many old rose varieties is told in Thomas Christopher’s wonderful book In Search of Lost Roses. However, despite the mention of many a China rose not one account is told of a Lawranceana type. As with ‘Dolly Dudley,’ a family history opens our eyes to the preservation and relocation of another historic “found” rose. In 1857 several families banded together to depart from their Arkansas homes and travel west to California. The Abbott, Burns, and Epperson expedition encountered many hardships and endured the loss of family members, livestock, and personal possessions. Suggesting something of its intrinsic value, a tiny pink China rose was among the belongings that survived the arduous journey. One of the Abbott daughters, Catherine, married young Jesse Burns the day after their arrival in California. The little rose, an Abbott family keepsake, survives to this day nurtured in the historic Page 9 rose garden located in the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery known as the “Abbott and Burns Family Rose.” In my garden the little semi-double to double pink blossoms continue to remind one of the significance of plants as family heirlooms. The story continues shaped to some extent by America’s Civil War. As conflicts over the issues of slavery and states’ rights became prominent, a push to establish a “Southern” approach to things agricultural and horticultural arose in the 1840’s and 50’s. Jarvis van Buren moved to Georgia to birth a Southern apple industry, Charles Axt resettled in Georgia hoping to develop a Southern wine industry, Dennis Redmond and Dr. Louis Berckmans established Fruitlands Nursery (fruit trees and ornamentals) on the site of the present-day Augusta Golf Club. Danish immigrant Robert Nelson moved to Macon, Georgia (just 20 miles from my home) in 1847 and created Troup Hill Nursery, offering hundreds of different types of fruit trees and over one hundred and fifty varieties of roses – all sold own-root [Editor’s note; Nelson went bankrupt within a decade. Philadelphia nurseryman Robert Buist was one of his largest creditors]. Although Nelson sold many Teas and Chinas, including the ‘Green Rose,’ no Lawranceanas were on his most recommended list. Another Southern nursery, however, can be credited with marketing several miniature China hybrids. Scottish horticulturist Thomas Affleck immigrated to the United States in 1832, living in New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana before moving to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1839. There he assumed the post of editor of the Western Farmer and Gardner. In 1842 he resettled near Natchez, Mississippi taking over the management of his second wife’s plantation and establishing one of the earliest commercial nurseries in the Deep South. He purchased and introduced to southerners a vast number of plants from a variety of American and European nurserymen. Beginning in 1845 and continuing to 1865 he published and edited Affleck’s Southern Rural Almanac and Plantation Garden Book, addressing an extremely broad variety of agricultural and horticultural topics. An 1851 edition includes comments on numerous classes of roses recommended for the South and available from his nursery. The following brief statement appears, “The Miniature China Roses (Rosa Lawrenceana) are pretty little gems, of many colours and shades (p. 63).” Affleck credits the English firm of Thomas Rivers as the original source of all his rose offerings, in effect a commercial “stamp of approval” as to their quality. Affleck was connected to New Orleans culture through his publishing interests and through business contacts. At least one Lawranceana-type, possibly Bengale Pompons introduced to commerce through Affleck, has strong ties to The Big Plate No 56 from Les Roses Easy. Some measure of its connection can be found in the writing of by Jamain and Forney (pub. 1873) Mississippi native Georgia Torrey Drennan, later a resident of New Orleans. A youthful Georgia Torrey, daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, married young lawyer and judge William Drennan at the outbreak of the Civil War. Ms. Drennan would go on to become a horticulturist of note. A number of articles written by the well-educated author on a variety of subjects, including poinsettias, hyacinths, water lilies, and peppers, appeared in numerous “Southern” home and garden related publications. Her most enduring effort however, was dedicated to roses and in particular, the still-new repeat-flowering roses highly suited for growing in the Deep South and Gulf Coast. Published in 1912, Drennan’s Everblooming Roses for the Outdoor Garden of the Amateur, remains a classic rose book flowing with passion and devotion for life in the garden. It encapsulates her knowledge of and familiarity with the Tea, Noisette, and China rose families, the Hybrid Remontants (Hybrid Perpetuals), Polyanthas, Hybrid Rugosas, as well as “old” once-blooming Page 10 favorites from her family’s Round Hill Plantation gardens, (north of Jackson, MS and burned to the ground during the war), the garden she and husband William established in nearby Lexington, MS, and the New Orleans garden she created in 1895. Among the many varieties of roses included in her book is a very brief mention of the “Lawrienciana or Picayune” rose. From the text one concludes that it is a singular cultivar, pink in color, eminently everblooming “with undiminished vigor (p. 122).” She comments that it “makes an ornament for the garden so striking that the wonder is that it has ever fallen out of popular favor and is not seen elsewhere than in old gardens with other old-fashioned plants that are still there simply because they are naturally hardy and long-lived (p. 122).” Ms. Drennan also explains the use of the term “Picayune” – a reference to a small Spanish coin common in New Orleans culture. About the size of a dime, they were demonetized in 1857, becoming essentially worthless. Although in today’s parlance the term has come to mean “of little value” or “insignificant,” its association with the Lawranceanas is tied to the size of the coin, not its value. Two “Picayune” roses – Lawranceana types – with traces of late 19th/early 20th century New Orleans heritage remain with us, however whether they are/were named varieties or seedlings is a mystery unlikely to be solved. Ms. Drennan’s medium pink double-flowered Lawranceana may well have been passed along in New Orleans’ gardens in the fashion of many other roses. One HMF member, Sarah Jumel, relates that for decades several relatives living in New Orleans “Highway 290 Pink Buttons” - unknown grew what they knew as ‘Pink Picayune,’ most likely purchased from a local nursery named Guillot’s [destroyed by ‘Picayune’ - Photo by Stephen Hoy Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and with no apparent connection to the famous French family of the same name]. This same rose was discovered growing along old U.S. Highway 290, near Brenham, TX, near Mike Shoup’s Antique Rose Emporium and coincidentally, near the location of nurseryman Thomas Affleck’s second Texas-based business. Now given the found rose name “Highway 290 Pink Buttons,” it has been speculated that it and ‘Pink Picayune’ are one and the same (maybe also . . . Rosa rouletii?). A second rose, primarily white with just a blush of pink, is simply identified as ‘Picayune.’ The earliest mention I have found so far is in Modern Roses V (pub. 1958). There it is tentatively classed as a Polyantha, “Possibly an old variety from France, still grown in the South,” and is characterized as “light pink, opening white” (p. 296). Corroboration that white-colored “Picayune” roses were known as far back as the late 1800’s was found in an 1894 edition of The Mid-Continent Magazine (formerly The Southern Magazine) that advertised dolls with “faces made of white Picayune roses” (Vol. 3, p. 404). The provenance of the cultivar I grow as ‘Picayune’ can be traced to South Carolina nursery Roses Unlimited. Co-owners Pat Henry and Bill Patterson have had the variety in the RU