Harkness 2

The Hybrid Musks, Part 2

Peter Harkness

The boy grew up to become John Bentall, who, with his wife Ann, introduced some of the seedlings on trial at the time of their employers' deaths. Ann however was a breeder in her own right, having been trained by Florence. To Ann is credited the superb and very popular 'Ballerina' of 1937. Although its parentage is uncertain it probably involved 'Robin Hood'. Although this parent is an exceptionally charmless late cherry red Pemberton Hybrid Musk (or more correctly Folyantha) it has proved to have magic in its genes.

At least nine Hybrid Musks have been recorded from the Bentalls, the final one being 'Buff Beauty' in 1939. It is remarkable that not until the 1980s was the origin of 'Buff Beauty' public knowledge. The Society classified it as a Bourbon for some years, but Jack Bentall, Ann's son, believed it to be a seedling of 'William Allen Richardson' (10). That rose was a sport of the Noisette 'Reve d'Or', the grandparent of 'Trier', which we encountered earlier in this story.

Thanks to 'Trier.', English raisers had enjoyed the fruits of a German breeder's work. This compliment was now to be returned. Wilhelm Kordes (1891-1976) who came from Northern Germany, had by his early twenties, already worked in four countries, widening his rose knowledge. In 1913 he established his nursery in Surrey. He saw the beginnings of Pemberton's work, but from 1914-19 he was interned. However he used this time to advantage by studying the principles of heredity and of rose genetics in particular.

Back in Germany he tried out Lambert's roses, recognising their potential as parents of repeat flowering shrubs and climbers, but they, and those of Pemberton, proved too tender to withstand the winter frosts in Germany. There were exceptions: seedlings from Pemberton's 'Robin Hood' made big bushes and were hardy even at -20'C (-5'F) (11). One of these seedlings gave him a breakthrough in his quest for a hardy, repeat flowering strain. It was a cross between 'Robin Hood' and a red Hybrid Tea 'J. C. Thornton'. These parents, with 14 and 28 chromosomes respectively, would be expected to produce an infertile triploid offspring, but luckily the seedlings had full sets of 28. He named one of them 'Eva' and another 'Wilhelm' (in USA, 'Skyrocket'). Both were deep red and 'Eva' proved an admirable parent, even accepting pollen from the difficult 'Mermaid' to produce a Hybrid Musk called 'Leipzig' in 1939.

Kordes raised from this line 17 shrub varieties, all considered Hybrid Musks at some stage, though how far they truly merit that description is an open question. Many lack scent like 'Robin Hood' and 'J. C. Thornton' but score well for remontancy; the flowers are usually bigger and borne stiffly, sometimes brashly, by comparison with the graceful arching character of, say, 'Cornelia'. Of Kordes' roses I consider the most endearing is a pretty mauve-pink, 'Lavender Lassie'. But in general the 'Trier' content is so diluted that, as garden plants, his and Pemberton's shrubs do not relate to one another. Rosemary James, referring in 1960 to the postwar reds 'Berlin' and 'Bonn', put this down to "something indefinable, but which is best described as charm."

In USA, George C. Thomas (1873-1932) produced several Hybrid Musks. He came to work with Pemberton's roses late in life, using 'Danae' and 'Moonlight'. Two of his creations survive in commerce, 'Bloomfield Dainty' and 'Bishop Darlington'. The first carries clusters of orange to yellow scented single blooms, showing prominent stamens, on rugged untidy plants. 'Bishop Darlington' is slightly more handsome as a plant and freer with the repetition of its semi double, peachy-cream flowers; seen from a distance they have much of the character of 'Moonlight', its pollen parent.

Richard Holmes, an English amateur breeder, brought out 'Sally Holmes' in 1976, naming it for his wife. He used pollen of 'Ballerina' on 'Ivory Fashion' and the result must have been a surprise, for it makes a vigorous, tall spiky looking plant, giving spectacular displays of wavy-petalled large white flowers in generous clusters against dark foliage. It is not a typical Hybrid Musk, but is accepted as one by a few authorities.

Another important raiser of Hybrid Musks has yet to be mentioned. In Modern Roses 10 Dr Tommy Cairns's list has 117 varieties, and this reveals that neither Pemberton nor Kordes has been the most prolific raiser; that title goes to Louis Lens of Belgium.

Lens has explained that his first aim was to make once-flowering botanical roses recurrent. He used R. multiflora nana, which is a dwarf form of Multiflora, and an unforgettable sight in high summer when it smothers itself in fleeting white clusters. He also used 'Ballerina', and obtained R. multiflora adenocheata from Seizo Suzuki, owner of a wonderfully comprehensive collection of species at his nursery in Japan. Lens wished to use this Multiflora form, having read of its ability to bear late season flowers, which suggested it would have genetic potential for his work (12).

The outcome has been the creation of a group of very free flowering shrubs with arching stems and generally graceful outlines, though as he has introduced over 50 varieties there is considerable diversity. Lens seems to have something in common with Pemberton, in pursuing his visions in a determined and single minded way, and doing it out of the limelight. Despite their beauty and suitability as shrubs for the modern gardens, where space is often limited, they seem hardly to be known in Britain. The few I have seen appear delightful. Lens' catalogue lists 73 'Hybrides de Moschata', his wide definition of that term allowing the inclusion of Peter Ilsink's pretty lilac pink 'Lavender Dream'.

The question needs to be asked. to what extent is there musk influence in the Hybrid Musks? Hardly at all, thought Norman Young: "Even the first of Pemberton's hybrids was eight generations removed from R. moschata, and it is doubtful if a single characteristic of that species could be detected in any of them" (13). Jack Harkness echoed that view: "The Hybrid Musks should be dismantled as a class, and put where they belong, some in the Floribundas and some in the Polyanthas." (14).

A few years later, Jack devised a Classification for 23 varieties, intended for breeders:

Class 1 Moschata Grp: 'Madame d'Arblay'.

Class 7 Florishrub: 'Bonn', 'Erfurt', 'Eva', 'Grandmaster', 'Lavender Lassie', 'Munchen', 'Nymphenberg', 'Wilhelm', 'Will Scarlet'.

Class 13 Polyantha: 'Ballerina', 'Kathleen', 'Mozart', 'Robin Hood'.

Class 14 Clg Polyantha: 'Francis E.Lester'.

Class 15 Hybrid Musk: 'Buff Beauty', 'Cornelia,' 'Felicia', 'Moonlight', 'Pax', 'Penelope', 'Prosperity', 'Sally Holmes'.

In working this out, Jack considered the 'family likeness' factor more significant than the breeding. The criteria for the eight in Class 15 were that they should follow the style of Pemberton's Hybrid Musks, be remontant, bear clusters of medium sized flowers, be generally light in colour, be good in autumn and fragrant, have spreading growth and glossy or semi-glossy leaves of medium size.

If we accept these eight as the 'purest' Hybrid Musks and discount the rest, have they anything in common with R. moschata? The plant in Champneys' garden was, if the accepted story is true, in botanical terms R. moschata J. Herrm. This has an unusual flowering period, from August onwards, and makes a lax plant, needing support to reach up to 3m (10ft) in height. The leaves are dark green, fairly smooth above and downy below, tending to oval in shape. It produces both single and double flowers from the same plant, an indication that it is not a true species but may well be an ancient hybrid. The flowers are creamy white, about 3.75cm (1.5in) across and carried in large corymbs on greyish green stems that often bow under their load. The flowers have prettily recurving petals, and musk-scent which is capable of being exuded by the styles.

Surely all one can say is that there are some characteristics of R. moschata J. Herrm. that can be discerned or imagined in certain Hybrid Musks. And equally, the species appears to have nothing in common with a good many roses listed as Hybrid Musks.

But what about the scent? Pemberton had claimed that they "all carried the Musk perfume", which he defined as "delicate and refined, suggestive of heather and lime blossom" (7). In 1992 I attended a fascinating lecture by Professor A. 0. Tucker on fragrances, and musk was one of many samples we were given to smell. It surprised me by being faint and rather dry, tart rather than sweet, and with a lingering quality. I found none of the "piercing sweetness" I had read about. My own nose finds the most enjoyable scent of any hybrid musk in 'Thisbe', and I fancy it is more due to Multiflora than Moschata. Other Hybrid Musks, including R. moschata J.Herrm. itself, do something for me but not much, though such fragrances as exist become enhanced on calm mornings, especially after rain, and on warm summer evenings.

If we include all the roses listed by nurseries as Hybrid Musks, we find there were around 130 being offered in the 1998 CRL. It was Ted Allen who declared that "Rosarians who like everything to be neatly tabulated will be made unhappy by the sex life of the Musk Roses", but raisers - and gardeners - have cause to rejoice that it is so.

References

NRS Annual 1926.

NRS Annual 1942.

The Rose Christmas 1997.

10. Letter to the author, Jul 1985; 11. NRS Annual 1939.

12. Lens' letter to Hazel Le Rougetel, quoted in Historic Rose Group 6 1993.

NRS Annual 1960.

Roses, Dent 1978.

Two interesting papers with reference to Moschatas have been published by Ivan Louette of Belgium. See R.abyssinica in Rosa Belgica Dec. 1993 and La Rose de Damas in Roses Anciennes de France Autumn 1998.

Parentages where known

'Ballerina' Probably a seedling of 'Robin Hood'.

'Penelope' 'Ophelia' (HT) x unnamed; or 'Ophelia' x 'Wm A Richardson' (Noisette); or 'Ophelia' x ' 'Trier;'or 'Trier' seedling.

'Buff Beauty' Seedling of 'Wm A Richardson'.

'Cornelia' "We may presume 'Trier' or 'Aglaia' is in its ancestry", says Graham Stuart Thomas.

'Felicia' 'Trier'x'Ophelia'.

'Sally Holmes' 'Ivory Fashion' (Flor) x 'Ballerina'.

'Prosperity' 'Marie-Jeanne' (Poly) x 'Perle des jardins' (Tea).

'Moonlight' 'Trier' x 'Sulphurea' (Tea).

'Lavender Lassie' 'Hamburg' [which was 'Eva' x 'Daily Mail Scented' (HT)] x 'Mme Norbert Levavasseur' (Poly).

'Robin Hood' Hybrid Musk seedling x 'Miss Edith Cavell' (Poly).

'Erfurt' 'Eva' x 'Revell Dijonnais' (Clg HT).

'Mozart' 'Robin Hood' x 'Rote Pharisaer'(HT).

'Elmshorn' 'Hamburg' [see above for parents] x 'Verdun' (Poly).

'Lavender Dream' 'Yesterday' [which was ('Phyllis Bide' (Clr) x 'Shepherd's Delight' (Flor)) x 'Ballerina'] x

'Nastarana (a garden form of Moschata from Iran, with a longer flowering period than

R. moschata J.Herrm.)

'Francis E Lester' 'Kathleen' [see below for parents] x unnamed; limited recurrence

'Francesca' 'Danae' x 'Sunburst' (HT).

`Vanity' 'Chateau de Clos Vougeot' (HT) x Hybrid Musk seedling'

'Trier' 'Aglaia' [which was R.multiflora x'Reve d'Or'(Noisette)] selfed

'Marjorie Fair' 'Ballerina' x 'Baby Faurax' (Poly).

'Kathleen' 'Daphne' (H Musk) x 'Perle des jardins' (Tea).

'Danae' 'Trier' selfed or 'Trier' x 'Gloire de Chedane-Guinoisseau' (Hybrid Perpetual).

'Bishop Darlington' 'Aviateur Bidriot' x 'Moonlight'.

'Thisbe Said to be 'Marie-Jeanne' (Poly) x 'Perle des Jardins' (Tea); or sport of 'Daphne'?

'Wilhelm' 'Robin Hood' x 'J. C. Thornton' (FM.

'Pax' 'Trier' x 'Sunburst' (HT).

'Nur Mahal' 'Chateau de Clos Vougeot' (HT) x Hybrid Musk seedling

'Autumn Delight' Not known

'Daybreak' 'Trier' x 'Liberty' (HT).

'Eva' 'Robin Hood' x 'J. C. Thornton' (HT).

'Bonn' 'Hamburg' [see above] x 'Independence' (HT) which was derived, through 'Baby Chateau',

from 'Eva'.

`Pink Prosperity' Seedling of 'Prosperity'.