The Hybrid Musks, Part 1

Peter Harkness

The accepted ancestry of the Hybrid Musks involves descent from R. moschata J. Herrm., a white 'species' that has never been found growing wild. Around 1802-5, in South Carolina, this white Musk Rose hybridised with a Bengal or China rose, and produced a remarkable seedling, which John Champneys (1743-1820), the rice planter and garden lover on whose property it had appeared, named 'Champneys' Pink Cluster'. Some authorities express the parentage as chinensis x moschata, while others have it the other way round. A passage in William R. Prince's Manual of Roses (1846) clearly states that the new variety was "from the seed of the White Musk Rose, or R. moschata, fertilized by the old Blush China.' Prince, (1795-1869), was proprietor of the Linnaean Botanic Garden at Flushing, New York, and his father, another William, had corresponded over a long period with John Champneys, and had received cuttings of the new rose directly from him. (1)
    Philippe Noisette, who was related to Champneys and lived locally, sowed some seeds of 'Champneys' Pink Cluster', and from this came 'Blush Noisette'. More compact and shrubby in growth, it had generous clusters of pinkish white flowers yielding a delightful fragrance. It was dependably remontant and vigorous enough to train as a pillar, thus supplying for those days, a novel type of rose. Philippe sensed it must be a winner, and lost no time in providing plant material for his brother Louis, one of France's leading horticulturalists, who received it in 1814; and, a little later, he sent it to Jacques Durand of Rouen. 'Champneys' Pink Cluster' was forwarded from USA not only to France but also to England. Ten years after the introduction of these roses into Europe, 100 'Noisette' varieties derived from them were on sale.
    'Lamarque', a Noisette of 1830, makes an arching plant bearing clusters of yellowish-white buds, opening into white cupped flowers of silky petal texture, produced throughout the growing season on long drooping stems, and with a scent likened to a 'blend of Musk and Tea' (2). The colour, scent and remontancy suggest that 'Blush Noisette' and 'Parks' Yellow' were the likely parents. A rose related to 'Lamarque' called 'Mme Schultz', of more positive yellow colouring and great vigour, appeared in 1853. That in turn became the seed parent of 'Rêve d'Or', a most effective screening plant, noted for the freedom with which it carries through the season its neatly formed urn-shaped buds, opening into frilly-petalled chamois yellow blooms. This came from Ducher in 1869.
    The Duchers' establishment lay in the heart of French rosedom at Lyon, and it was there that another local breeder, Schmitt, witnessed the creation of a wonderful new race of hardy, free flowering Polyantha roses, derived from R. multiflora. Perhaps hoping to improve the hardiness of the yellow Noisette-Teas, he used R. multiflora (as the seed parent) with 'Rêve d'Or'. The result was a plant which inherited the vigour of Multiflora but not all of its hardiness, and bore crowded clusters of smallish creamy flowers. It was called 'Aglaia' after one of the Three Graces, and was vigorous enough to be offered in catalogues as 'Yellow Rambler'. The breeder arranged for the firm of Lambert & Reiter of Trier in Germany to introduce it into England. Peter Lambert (1860-1939), son of the founder, himself began breeding in the 1880s, one of his aims being to improve the remontancy of garden roses. Varieties familiar today, such as 'Frau Karl Druschki', 'Katharina Zeimet' and 'Schneezwerg', bear witness to his success, and also show how versatile was his output.
    Lambert's most valuable legacy came about in an accidental way, when he crossed 'Aglaia' with a pink Hybrid Perpetual, ''Mrs. R. G. Sharman-Crawford'. But 'Aglaia', his choice as seed parent, has 14 chromosomes, whereas his selected pollinator has 28, which means that any offspring would have 21 chromosomes and be infertile. The actual outcome was an extremely fertile 14-chromosome seedling, so the inference is that 'Aglaia' pollinated itself.
    Hybrid roses do not come true from their own seed, and Lambert discovered that this offspring formed a denser-growing, freer blooming and hardier plant than its parent. It was a gardener-friendly plant, capable of covering a 3.6m (12ft) trellis or being pruned to form a shrub, with pleasing reddish stems and not too many thorns, smooth light green leaves a-plenty, and the bonus of fragrance too. In summer the display was wonderful, with massed clusters of creamy gold-centred blooms, and after a few late token flowers it would give a respectable showing in late autumn It was named 'Trier' after the ancient city and introduced in 1904 as a Lambertiana, a class name Lambert devised for this and others of his repeat flowering roses. Eight Lambertianas are still commercially available, and have all been described at some stage as Hybrid Musks. Apart from 'Trier' and 'Mozart', none are well known.
    The next part of the story has often been told, how the Reverend Joseph Pemberton (1852-1926) and his sister Florence (1857-1929), using 'Trier', created some of the most beautiful, graceful and enduring shrubs the twentieth century has seen. In childhood Pemberton developed a lasting affection for the old roses in his grandmother's garden, and was taught by his father to bud at the age of 12. By his twenties he had become a dedicated exhibitor, his best year being 1906, when he won every cup he went in for, including the amateur's Champion Trophy, with "only the assistance of his sister, Miss Florence Pemberton (whose reputation as a Rosarian is second only to his own), and a boy" (3). The boy grew up to be John Bentall, and features later in this story.
    This combination of dedication, intelligence and love of roses led Pemberton on to thoughts of how they could be improved. In particular, he hoped to see more autumn flowering roses, to enhance the fragrance, and to enjoy blooms and plants of more graceful garden character than the Hybrid Perpetuals and Hybrid Teas with which he won so many prizes.
    Lambert's rose 'Trier' appeared to satisfy all the points that Pemberton was looking for, and there was a bonus, in that it proved a prolific parent. That Pemberton lost no time in selecting it to breed from is evident from the fact that only seven years after its date of introduction it appears in the parentage of Pemberton's new seedlings. And if 'Daphne' was raised from 'Trier' this interval is shorter, but I have not found any record of its parentage. 'Daphne' received an RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Award of Merit on August 30 1910 as "ROSE: Daphne, Hybrid moschata", and went on to win an NRS (National Rose Society) Cold Medal.
    "Hybrid Musk rose" is of course a direct translation of the Latin Rosa moschata hybrida, which is how John Champneys had described 'Champneys' Pink Cluster' in the early nineteenth century. A few Hybrid Musk roses are listed by Williarn Paul in The Rose Garden (1848 edition) including the rampageous summer flowering 'Madame d'Arblay' and 'The Garland', both raised a few years earlier by Wells in Kent. These were supposedly from R. moschata x R. multiflora or vice versa. The twentieth century Hybrid Musks differed in obvious ways from the old ones, being remontant, shrubbier and less aggressive in their growth. Two of them were listed by the NRS in 1914, 'Daphne' and 'Queen of the Musks'. They have the same date of introduction (1912) and are credited to Pemberton and Paul & Son respectively. No parentage is recorded. Though neither seems to be available in Britain, 'Daphne' is listed by four growers worldwide in CRL 1998, and 'Queen of the Musks' by 20 growers.
    If Paul and Pemberton were working on similar lines, this could explain the mutual secrecy about the parentage. It is significant that as late as 1935, in a comment on Pemberton's work, fellow breeder Waiter Easlea wrote in the NRS Annual "I believed he commenced by working on 'Trier', but he would never say", to which the then Editor added a footnote: "Yes! I have his records." That editor, Courtney Page, was already a Council Member when 'Daphne' was being introduced. Michael Gibson was told that Courtney Page himself thought up the class name: apparently Pemberton wanted to exhibit them as Hybrid Teas but on smelling them Courtney Page thought that they smelled like Musk roses and suggested that they be called Hybrid Musks. And Hybrid Musks they have remained(4).
    This is a nice story with the ring of truth about it, though it perhaps took place before Page took office as Secretary in 1917, because how else can we explain the Show Award descriptions of 'Daphne' in 1910 and of 'Dinah' in 1912 as Hybrid Musks? And Bertram Park had a different story: "It is now well known that Pemberton thought up this title and bestowed it upon his seedling shrubs only because it sounded a good name and had no particular thought of implying that they were definitely hybrids of R. moschata." (5)
    There was confusion in Pemberton's own mind, for he described 'Danae', 'Moonlight' and others as Hybrid Teas for some years after everyone else had decided to call them Hybrid Musks. He is said to have adopted the term Hybrid Musk in 1919, yet 'Francesca' in 1922 and 'Aurora' in 1923 were offered by him as Hybrid Teas before he allowed them to fall in line with the rest. He was indeed bringing out undoubted Hybrid Teas at the same time, as well as ramblers and other hybrid shrubs, and is by no means the only raiser to be uncertain what to call his products.
    Pemberton's term as President of the National Rose Society ended in 1912 and from 1914 onwards he began to advertise in the NRS Annual. He circulated a Rose List, explaining that the roses "have been grown and cultivated by the Reverend J. H. Pemberton and Miss Florence Pemberton, primarily for their own personal enjoyment. Friends, however, have desired plants so the Roses are now offered to the general public." Emphasis was laid on the late flowering character of some varieties, especially 'Moonlight': "If wanted for Christmas Day, cut four days before, cut it on St. Thomas' Day."
    He planned months ahead to release 'Pax' as soon as the war was over. A letter he wrote in August 1917 to John Bentall in France shows business acumen reminiscent of Robert Pyle with 'Peace' in 1945. "The rose for next year is 'Pax', the white spray... It got a Certificate, but was really worth a Gold Medal, as they will see in years to come. I am certain this rose has a future and will be in everybody's garden. It caught the public's fancy. if the War is over we will send it out in the autumn of1918, but it will be useless to do so while the War lasts; there are no buyers now" (6).
    `Pax' duly obtained the Gold Medal, but general acceptance of Pemberton's roses seems, surprisingly in retrospect, to have been grudging. Endorsements from some of the NRS top brass, (for instance, Courtney Page was overflowing with his praise for 'Pax'), were balanced by adverse comment. But Leonard Hollis, the Society's longest-ever serving Council member, consistently championed the Hybrid Musks in a series of articles from the early 1930s onwards, extolling them as being 'less fastidious" than the Hybrid Teas, good for their perfume, easy to manage, delightful garden subjects, valuable plants for smoky districts, "perpetual and lavish flowering in all weathers", and with beautiful names. John Mattock thinks the basic problem was that they were "bred before their time" at a period when it "was generally accepted that to use the name shrub in catalogue descriptions was anathema to rose sales". (9) Graham Thomas also offers explanations for the slow acceptance of the Hybrid Musks. The absence of a niche for them, since people identified general garden roses with Hybrid Teas, Polyanthas and the incoming Floribundas; the fact that "the few excellent swans were overwhelmed by the geese"; and lack of publicity, exemplified by the absence of any shrub rose tables in the NRS Analysis for 30 years up to 1953.
    Pemberton raised some 27 Hybrid Musks, of which 21 are in commerce according to the CRL 1998. My own favourite is 'Thisbe'. Ten of the varieties, all too well known to need describing here, are currently listed by 30 or more growers. They are his and Florence's memorial. It was a staggering achievement for an enterprise that began with a brother, a sister and a boy.

References
1. Brent C. Dickerson, The Old Rose Advisor, Timber Press 1992.
2. NRS Annual 1917.
3. Gardeners' Life Year Book 1911
4. BARB News & Views No. 11, jan 1991.
5. NRS Annual 1963.
6. Hazel Le Rougetel in BARB News & Views No. 10, jan 1991.
7. NRS Annual 1926.
8. NRS Annual 1942.
9. The Rose Christmas 1997.

Peter Harkness, a past Chairman of the British Rose Growers Association was, for five years, editor of The Rose. He is now retired from managing the Harkness Roses nursery. In 1996 he received the Royal National Rose Society's Dean Hole Medal.

This article appeared in the Spring 1999 issue

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