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 Closer to our own times, Finland's Grand Old Plantsman, Bengt Schalin, was head gardener of the city of Helsinki during the 1950's. He had numerous international contacts and introduced many valuable woody ornamentals, including roses, to Helsinki's public gardens. Unfortunately, documentation on most of his introductions is lacking, no doubt the corollary of a kindly but autocratic approach to his work. He left a fine legacy of beautiful shrub roses, but the task of identifying several of these since his death in 1982 is still incomplete. Schalin also turned his skills towards breeding: he produced several varieties of Phlox paniculata as well as some roses, but the fate of these is unknown.  
   
 In Schalin's honour, Wilhelm Kordes named a rose after him. 'Bengt M. Schalin' was raised from the cross R. kordesii x R. 'Eos' and named by Kordes in 1956. Some years ago I grew it in my garden just outside Helsinki where it sometimes produced its small, bright cherry-red, semi-double flowers on 1.5m (5ft) stems, but these often froze back too severely for the plant to flower satisfactorily.  
   
 During the 1980's, the Horticultural Department at Helsinki University made a three-year field survey of hardy woody ornamentals, mainly found in the Helsinki area. The KESKAS study, as it was called, revealed several interesting roses (the name is abbreviated from the Finnish for 'hardy plants': kestävät kasvit). The study was followed up with field tests involving some of the cloned accessions, carried out at several sites. It was interesting to observe within a rather even trial field how much morphological variation existed between different local accessions of what we had previously assumed to be a single rose, such as the 'Old Finnish White' burnet. There were also minor but appreciable differences in adaptational characters such as winter-hardiness, vigour and in how different accessions performed both within and among the various sites.  
   
 The Finnish Rose Society was established in 1989, a time when roses started to become increasingly popular and, in particular, interest in old, hardy but long neglected roses began to awaken. The society, which works in close cooperation with societies in the other Nordic countries, seeks to foster interest in all aspects of roses and their cultivation by arranging excursions and through members' articles contributed to the quarterly bulletin Ruusunlehti (Sw: Rosenbladet).  
   
 I believe that the new-found interest in the hardy roses to be found in Finland's parks and gardens reflects the frustration that many people feel over failures in growing the "mainstream roses" sold on mass markets: the floribundas and hybrid teas, selected in and bred for much milder climates. Only a few roses in these categories are even marginally suited to our conditions, and most are patently unsuitable. This experience, combined with the revelations of the KESKAS study, may have opened our eyes to the country's surprisingly rich heritage of hardy roses of many kinds. Our rose society's bulletin provides a forum to describe and promote rose foundlings that keep springing from Finland's seemingly inexhaustible fount. Such of these old roses as fitted in with the historical outline above I have already touched upon.  
   
 It remains for me to describe briefly some of the most interesting roses that have turned up over the past ten years or so, but before I start outlining certain forms of R. pimpinellifolia I shall pay a small tribute to Mrs Aila Korhonen. Throughout the 1990's Mrs Korhonen dedicated most of her spare time to studying, identifying and documenting the considerable wealth of forms of R. pimpinellifolia that Finland holds. Sadly for us, our Grand but not-so-old Lady of burnet roses died after a short illness in 2001; she was only 61. A substantial part of her extensive and well-documented legacy survives in two booklets: her posthumous "Juhannusruusu ja muut pimpinellat" ('Old Finnish White' and other burnets) of 2002 and "Pimpinella: kylämaiseman ruusu" (English summary: Finland finds her Scotch roses) of 2004.  
   
 Unless otherwise stated, the following roses produce only a single flowering. The names used are unofficial, often based on the name of the locality where the rose was found; hence the use of inverted commas.  

 

"Ruskela".
A burnet. Collected some 20 years ago by a Mr Henriksson, lorry driver, and still growing in his garden in Ruskela, Vihti, some 40km NW of Helsinki. Mr Henriksson kept no record of when or where he found the rose, but has kindly donated suckers to several people, including some nurserymen, and the rose is becoming more available. It forms a vigorous, freely suckering bush of similar size to the 'Old Finnish White', but with slightly larger leaflets than usual for a burnet, lightish green. The flowers are a clear shell-pink with more petals than 'Poppius' but opening to a flat 6-7cm wide flower with the yellow stamens well displayed. The colour does not fade appreciably. The flowers are scented, though not so strongly as those of the 'Old Finnish White'. The hips ripen to dark wine-red in September. Winter injuries seldom occur, even near Tornio at 66°N.

We have not managed conclusively to match this rose with any of the officially registered pimpinellifolias, but Mrs Aila Korhonen has hazarded that it may be 'Lady Hamilton'.

 
 The beautifully shaped flowers of "Ruskela" (R. pimpinellifolia) appear on a vigorous, healthy bush.
Photo: Pirjo Rautio.

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