'Unique Blanche' Rose

PICTURE SOURCE Les Roses, Volume I (1817)

ORIGINAL BOTANICAL NAME Rosa Centifolia mutabilis

ORIGINAL FRENCH NAME Le Rosier Unique

CURRENT BOTANTICAL NAME R. centifolia variety

COMMON NAME Unique Blanche

OTHER NAMES Unique Rose, Snow-White Rose, White Provence, White Provins

CLASS Centifolia

ORIGIN Sport from R. Centifolia; c. 1777

FLOWERING Once-flowering; summer

SCENT Sweet fragrance

GROWTH Medium shrub 2-5 feet high (0.6-1.5 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 ‘Unique Blanche’, painted by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, portrait 044 out of 170, Volume I of Les Roses.

According to Redouté & Thory, this rose originated in England and was cultivated by the nurseryman, Mr Grimwood. The tale starts with Mr Grimwood taking a summer stroll:

‘It was Mr Grimwood, a nurseryman and a great rose-lover with a splendid collection, who by chance, discovered this rose around 1777. He was accustomed to taking a summertime excursion and on one such day, noticed this charming specimen whilst passing the garden of Mr Richmond, a baker near Needhad in the county of Suffolk. It had been planted there by a carpenter who had been repairing a Dutch merchant’s mansion and had found it near a hedge on the merchant’s contiguous premises. Mr Grimwood, on requesting a small cutting, instead received the whole plant from Mr Richmond. To thank the latter for such a generous present, on his return home he sent him an elegant silver cup with the rose engraved upon it. Mr Richmond used it to his dying days, in memory of the occasion.’

Another mutation of R. centifolia, the Unique Rose is one of the most stable of the sports from this class and is still in cultivation today. What makes it unique are its ‘fairly large, rounded flowers’; a ‘dull velvety white’ opening from ‘bright red buds’, each petal with a ‘heart-shaped notch’ at the top and the ‘five outer petals alone’ maintaining the red tint from the bud. This contrast between bud and open flower-colour inspired ‘the learned botanist’ Persoon to rename it R.Mutabilis, a change from Centifolia nivea; the name chosen by the botanist, Du Pont. Persoon’s change has not lasted though; R. mutabilis has been re-classed back to a R. centifolia variety by modern botany.

Redouté & Thory describe the flowers as sometimes blushed with ‘a touch of pink’ on the central petals, resulting in the Unique Rose rarely being coloured ‘exactly as it is supposed to be, i.e.; absolutely white.’

They see this ‘propensity to take on shades of rose’ as a clear indication of its attempt to revert back to the pink colouring of R. centifolia.

Other than the flower colour, the authors describe it as ‘identical in every way’ to R. centifolia, from which it sported. Although, they say it only grows ‘two feet’ high on its own roots. They also mention that it has proved ‘impossible to reproduce from seed’, grafting and layering being the only methods of propagation. When grafted onto rootstocks of the Four Seasons Rose, R. damescena ‘Bifera’, it is ‘more likely to flourish’ producing more flowering shoots and ‘even the size and beauty of the flowers’ are enhanced over those specimens grafted onto R.canina rootstock.

Redouté & Thory describe it as flowering later than other variants of R.centifolia and benefiting from a ‘severe pruning in February’ [Northern Hemisphere].