“Les Rosati” is a society of poets and artists, formed 
in the eighteenth century... An applicant for admission was 
required to present a Rose poem, and each June the group 
makes a pilgrimage to the Rosarie de VBay to enjoy new 
songs and poems to the Rose . 
In 1660 the famous Royal Society of London was founded 
and acted as a tie between the science of navigation and 
the progress of horticulture. The founding of the Oxford 
Botanic Garden, the Chelsea Physic Garden, the Chiswick 
Garden and the Edinburgh Botanic Garden must have 
stimulated the collection of foreign plants. This was fur¬ 
thered by the famous Garden of Kew in England. 
There are several men who were instrumental in the 
gathering of Roses in China and various other far countries. 
John Frazer of London, who crossed and re-crossed the At¬ 
lantic, may have been responsible for the introduction of 
the Cherokee Rose from Georgia into Edinburgh, while 
Sir. Joseph Banks, born in London in 1743, is credited with 
introducing Rosa indica, our Pink Daily or Old Blush China, 
in 1789, and the same year Gilbert Slater is said to have 
introduced the red variety of China Rose, Rosa Semper- 
florens. 
