1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7
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| Rosa rugosa and its hybrids |
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| Like the burnet roses,
the rugosas are well adaptated to Finland's rather dry, semi-continental
climate, but these latter only started to become common here
after the middle of the nineteenth century. Serious hybridisation
involving R. rugosa only began in central Europe towards
the end of the century, but at least one spontaneous hybrid had
already reached Finland by this time: a cultivar variously known
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'Tsaritsa Severa',
'Kaiserin des Nordens'
and corresponding names in Finnish and Swedish denoting
"Empress of the North". It arose as a distinctive seedling
grown by Regel in St Petersburg from R. rugosa seed sent
from Japan in the 1860's by K.J. Maximovicz, and was first named
R. rugosa 'Rubra Plena'. It was promptly propagated and,
before many years had elapsed, Regel & Kesselring were exporting
plants to Finland. |
| 'Tsaritsa Severa' superficially
resembles the well-known 'Hansa', but the flowers of Regel's
rose are smaller, darker in tone and with milder fragrance. It
forms a more attractive, elegantly branched shrub than 'Hansa',
and spreads aggressively by suckering, soon forming an viciously
spiny barrier. It is not so strongly remontant as 'Hansa', even
though it seldom sets hips. Old, extensively suckered colonies
of this extremely tough rose occur sporadically around old habitations
upto at least 65°N in Finland. It seems to be rather common
in Estonia, too. |
| Its pointed, light green leaflets
and general habitus indicate that 'Tsaritsa Severa' very probably
resulted from the natural crossing of R. rugosa with the
far-eastern taiga rose, R. davurica. |
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| 'Tsaritsa Severa' or 'Kaiserin des Nordens'
(rugosa hybr.) grows into an almost impenetrable barrier. Photo:
Anneli Tervonen. |
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| Seed-raised lots of the type
species, R. rugosa, are used routinely in Finnish roadside
and parking area plantings, some would say ad nauseam. Several
attractive seedlings have been salvaged from such areas and -
a mixed blessing - fieldfares, crossbills and other berry-loving
birds have helped single magenta or white rugosas frequently
to colonise waste ground and, more seriously, our sea coasts. |
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| The fragrant flowers of "Katri Vala"
(rugosa hybr.) are carried on a luxuriant bush in July. Photo:
Pirjo Rautio. |
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| The earliest Finnish varieties |
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| By the late nineteenth century,
several rose growers in Turku and Helsinki were engaged in mass
sales of pot-grown roses. For instance, in 1890 V.F. Sagulin
of Helsinki stocked 200 000 plants, including some 200 hybrid
perpetuals and 75 teas. A few growers propagated roses by grafting,
but most still imported stock grafted in Lübeck or St Petersburg
and grew the small plants on for sale. Around this time two Finnish
cultivars appeared. One apparently arose as a sport of a then
widely grown variety used for forcing and was named 'Elisabeth'
after the mother of rose grower M.G. Stenius, but another nurseryman,
Franz Grümmer, regarded the new variety as 'Rovelli Charles'.
The other newcomer, named 'Johan Ludvig Runeberg' after
one of Finland's best loved poets, has better credentials: Björn
Lindberg, proprietor of the SOLhem nursery near Lohja, raised
it from the cross 'Isabella Sprunot' x 'Horace Vernet' and released
it in 1905. Even then, eulogising skills were not foreign to
advertisers: " ... with its cherry-red flowers of almost
incomparable fragrance carried on sturdy, upright stems forming
a bell-shaped plant ... J.L. Runeberg flowers with absolutely
infinite abundance ... it repeats without fail and even the weakest
stems flower ..." to give a loose translation of some of
the boldest claims. Alas and alack! As far as we know, these
cultivars have long disappeared. |
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| A more lasting breakthrough
was achieved by Harald Wasastjerna, whose 'Polstjernan'
("Pole-Star"), from the cross Rosa beggeriana x
the polyantha 'Orleans Rose' and released in 1932, is still widely
grown today. With its clouds of tiny, fragrant white flowers
carried on the vigorous, thorny stems (upto 3m, 10ft long) of
what has been claimed as the hardiest climbing rose in existence,
this rose has yet to be bettered for its ability to survive Finnish
winters without being removed from its support and protected. |
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'Polstjernan', claimed as the world's
hardiest climber, produces clouds of minute fragrant flowers.
Photo: Päivi Mikola. |
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Widespread in Finland, Sweden and, apparently, Estonia
but virtually unknown elsewhere is a beautiful, hardy rose with
alba affinities. In Sweden it was long named R. x suionum
or svearnas ros, implying a Swedish origin, while in Finland
it was termed the Mustiala rose since, during the early part
of the twentieth century, it was widely distributed by Mustiala
Agricultural College near Turku. The question of its origin was
not resolved until the 1980's, when it was observed that the
Mustiala rose was identical to 'Minette' (J.P. Vibert,
France, 1819) growing in the collections at Sangerhausen.
'Minette' forms a well-branched, green-stemmed shrub to about
1.5m (5ft) with singly borne, pale shell-pink, large, fragrant
and beautifully formed flowers throughout July and often into
early August. Its only real fault is the susceptibility of its
soft-textured and very double flowers to balling in wet weather;
given a hot, dry summer this is a perfect rose. Its hardiness
and suckering ability account for its popularity in the Nordic
countries. The pale green, slight glossy rounded leaflets suggest
that R. carolina may be involved in its pedigree, which
would also account for its relatively good winter-hardiness;
the stems show some dieback after hard winters, but as a rule
this does not prevent 'Minette' from flowering well.
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The sumptuous and fragrant blooms of 'Minette'
tend to spoil in wet weather.
Photo: Pirjo Rautio. |
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