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Rose Blush Noisette
15 September 2009

The roses are back; among them one that presents the most fragrant spring-like picture, a little-girl rose with a grown-up constitution. It was one of the very first repeat - (in fact almost constant -) flowering climbers, introduced in 1820 in Charleston, South Carolina by the nurseryman Philippe Noisette.

Its bloodline, crossed with a yellow China rose, in due course produced Gloire de Dijon and many other treasures. Blush Noisette flowers modestly on, almost thornless, less vigorous than its better-known younger sibling Alister Stella Gray, opening its tiny red buds to blushing, then fading, flowers with a sweet clove-like scent. I grow it on a wall where it climbs through philadelphus and Hoheria, with Clematis Perle d’Azur as partner.

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