riraim .Iiowe k. 
Vol. VII 
Number 1 1 
Novembei 
| FOR BOTH AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL j 
! GROWERS OF OUTDOOR SUMMER-FLOWERING PLANTS I 
Entered as second-class matter March 31, 1914, at post office at 
Calcium, N.Y., under act of March 3, 1879. 
I PUBLISHED MONTHLY ON THE FIRST OF THE | 
| MONTH BY MADISON COOPER, CALCIUM, N. Y. | 
Subscriotion price: Three years. $2.50: One year, $1.00. 
Canada and Foreign 25c. per year extra. 
The History of the Rose in America. 
[Written expressly for The Flower C ’rower.] 
BY CHAS. E. F. GERSDORFF (District of Columbia.) 
T HE FIRST truly American Rose, 
of which there is any record, was 
planted by George Washington 
on his estate at Mount Vernon 
and was named by him in 
honor of his mother, Mary 
Washington. To this day, the 
same Rose, of vigorous climb- 
ing habit, adorns the Mansion 
with its beautiful and abun- 
dant bloom each season. Un- 
fortunately its parentage is 
not known. 
At some time before the 
year 1810 two Roses — Rosa 
chinensis and Rosa moschatus 
were planted in the garden of 
John Champney of Charleston, 
S. C. From these he raised a 
seedling which became the 
ancestor of a long line of beau- 
tiful Roses of semi-climbing 
and climbing habit, but un- 
fortunately not hardy enough 
to stand our northern winters. 
It was named Champney’s Pink 
Cluster. A few years later an 
offspring was raised by Philip 
Noisette of the same city who 
named this Old Blush. He 
sent it to his brother in France 
who gave it the class name of 
Noisette in honor of the origi- 
nator, probably not knowing 
at the time the honor really 
belonged to Mr. Champney. 
But for this error all Noisette 
Roses would be known as 
Champney Roses. 
Seemingly no new Roses of 
merit were brought to light 
during the ten years previous 
to 1824. From this date to 
1843 the new Roses were of 
the classes then known, these 
being the bourbons, chinas, 
teas, bengals, Austrian briars, 
Lawrencianas and Scotch hy- 
brids. In 1830 a supposed hy- 
brid between the Austrian briar and 
Rosa spinosissima, named Harison’s 
Yellow, was sent out by Harison of New 
York, a Rose which to this day may be 
found in gardens all over the world. 
The year 1843 saw the introduction of 
a new class of Roses, seedlings of 
crosses between our beautiful native 
prairie Rose and'existing types, by John 
Feast of Baltimore. These seedlings 
combined the natural vigor of the 
prairie Rose |with blossoms of greater 
substance and varied coloring. 
The ruggedness of these seed- 
lings made it possible for 
northern gardeners to enjoy 
Roses on trellises as did their 
southern friends with the more 
tender Noisettes. A few other 
growers devoted some atten- 
tion to this type. 
Since 1843 new Roses have 
been brought into favor in 
ever increasing numbers, cov- 
ering all the known types of 
the time. In addition to the 
types named before, the fol- 
lowing were being introduced: 
Hybrid Perpetuals, Damask, 
Noisettes, Polyanthas and Seti- 
gera Hybrids. The next new 
departure, and a notable one 
was the creation of the first 
hybrid tea in America by John 
Cook of Baltimore, the gentle- 
man who to this day is still 
enriching our gardens with 
improved varieties of this won- 
derful class. The first Ameri- 
can hybrid tea was sent out in 
1888. In the same year Jack- 
son Dawson gave us the first 
hybrid multiflora, obtained by 
crossing the multiflora Rose 
with General Jacqueminot 
twice. It was named the Daw- 
son. A year later Manda 
brought out his first hybrid 
wichuraiana, a cross between 
the wichuraiana and a tea 
Rose. Subsequent hybrids of 
these two classes were made 
with other types of Roses as 
well as with teas. Besides 
Manda and Dawson, Jackson 
and Perkins, Van Fleet, Walsh, 
Hoopes Bros. & Thomas Co. 
and others contributed to this class, 
and some are still at work turning out 
HYBRID TEA ROSE— RADIANCE. 
Originated by John Cook, of Baltimore. Md.. and introduced by Peter 
Henderson & Co., New York, in 1908. It is a seedling of Enchanter x 
Cardinal, two hybrid teas originated by Mr. Cook in 1903 and 1904 respec- 
tively, whose parentage was Vtme. Caroline Testout x Furon. and Liberty 
x unnamed red seedling. Radiance was awarded the Silver Medal of 
the American Rose Society in 1914. 
