Bourbon Roses
The first of the Old Garden Roses to have a repeating bloom period were the Bourbon roses. The wide range of the form and color of these roses made them fragrant and fashionable.
The natural result of hybridization between two native hedge roses in the early 1800s was the Bourbon roses. In spite of the bourbon roses’ susceptibility to blackspot or mildew diseases, their characteristics of repeat blooming and beautiful fragrance made them admired.
The arching growth inherited from its Damask ancestors is a distinctive feature of the Bourbon. It even received the heady fragrance and the lush flowers from the same ancestral connection. The keen inclination to bloom repeatedly is a throwback to its Chinese ancestor. In fact, the subtle influence of the Chinese ancestor is also evident in the flower form. Individual and distinctive Bourbon is not to be found at all. Their wide variety ranges from the just mentioned arching growth to the very dwarf China-like growth of the cultivar 'Hermosa'. One of the oldest Bourbons still available is the latter variety, first appearing by 1835. Their choices in colors range from deep reds all through pinks to blush and white.
The actual glory days of the Bourbon roses were the time extending from 1830 to 1850 as very few were introduced after 1900. They are the most popular among the current old rose people due to their easygoing charms.
Nowadays, old rose enthusiasts adore Bourbon roses. The best known of any group are the Bourbons ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’, ‘mme. Isaac Pereire’ and ‘Reine Victoria’. The initial days of the group are little known and poorly comprehended even by their greatest aficionados, a common phenomenon in rose history. Consequently, we wade deep into the unclear past to salvage the origins of the Bourbons.
Since their emergence, many stories have dispersed about their beginnings. One story that has been seen as authoritative and credible is about the custom of the inhabitants of the Indian Ocean island of Reunion (then called the Ile Bourbon). A contemporary botanist Monsieur Breon said that the hedges comprised of “one row of the Common China Rose [probably “Old Blush”—whish is the ‘Parsons’ Pink China’], the other of the Red Four-Seasons [probably the red ‘Tous-les-Mois’ Damask Perpetual common then].” ‘Rose Edouard’ is named after a certain Monsieur Edouard Perichon who apparently founded and created a hybrid variety of the rose on planting one of these hedges. The Prevost fils' written in 1828 has the following description of the ‘Rose Edouard’ translated from French whish states its first was ancestor brought from France and could be considered the Type of the species. The long and divergent canes were armed with much-hooked thorns. Those horns had a glandular base. The leaflets were oval, large and cordiform at their base. The ovary was oboid-oblong, glabrous and had a glaucous tip. The corolla was medium-sized, hypocrateriform [which is “like an antique cup”]. It could either be double or lightly double, intense and colored bright deep pink.