Vilmorin Rose

PICTURE SOURCE Les Roses, Volume I (1817)

ORIGINAL BOTANICAL NAME Rosa Centifolia carnea

ORIGINAL FRENCH NAME Rosier Vilmorin

CURRENT BOTANTICAL NAME R. centifolia ‘Vilmorin’

COMMON NAME Vilmorin Rose

OTHER NAMES Transparente, Vilmorin Carné,

CLASS Centifolia

ORIGIN Sport from R.centifolia. First record, around 1800, introduced by M. Vilmorin

FLOWERING Once-flowering; summer

SCENT Strong, sweet fragrance

GROWTH Small shrub – 2 feet high (0.6 metres)

AVAILABILITY Still in cultivation?

For more information, don’t miss the introduction page; ‘Centifolia – The Old-Fashioned Cabbage Rose'

At left; picture of the Cabbage Rose, R. centifolia ‘Vilmorin’, painted by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, portrait 028 out of 170, Volume I of Les Roses.

This variety is a ‘fruit of chance’; a sport from R. centifolia. It was, according to Redouté & Thory, first introduced around 1800 by M. Vilmorin and bears his name. Evidently Vilmorin was well respected, as Redouté & Thory state, ‘rose-lovers of every nation have avidly endorsed the dedication…happy to pay tribute to this expert cultivator’

They go on to describe the shrub as small growing, reaching a height of two feet or so and when in flower, being covered in scented, very double, almost full blooms, most commonly ‘disposed in twos and threes on the branch tips’. The flowers are said to ‘eventually turn a transparent flesh colour’ that is ‘very pleasing to the eye’.

The flowers also had a habit of reverting – a common feature of unstable sports. Redouté & Thory describe plants with both flesh-coloured and pink flowers often growing on the same rootstalk. The authors describe them as ‘returning to their primitive tints’ and doing so more commonly than any other of their kind, especially if the specimen is a vigorous grower. ‘Weak specimens are more likely to display the distinct characteristics of the variety in all its purity’ they say.

Plants whose flowers had all converted back to the original R.centifolia colour were named ‘Pink Vilmorin’ by some nurseries. Redouté & Thory remind that ‘Vilmorin’ will be quickly ‘lost if left alone’ and must propagated by grafting, as own-root plants from the layering method appeared difficult to produce.