Last year I purchased a banded rose, what I thought was ‘Souvenir d’Alphonse Lavallée’, a Hybrid Perpetual from France, 1884, with deep, dark red blossoms and repeat bloom. Excited and surprised by it’s vigorous growth (so much so that I had to move it into the garden last spring) I was even more thrilled when it bloomed: dark, purplish mauve blossoms with romantic, quartered form.
Something didn’t seem right, though. The color seemed “off”, not as red as it should have been, and the habit more lax than I expected. (Plus, SDAL is supposed to be thornless and this one was not.) Sure enough, soon after uploading a couple of photos to HMF, they were flagged as being “inaccurate.” After I got over my initial embarrassment, I was pleased to receive an education about rose mix-ups and how in this case, it’s seems nigh impossible to actually receive the real ‘Souvenir d’Alphonse Lavallée’; it is more often than not sold as ‘Erinnerung an Brod’ or ‘Souvenir du Docteur Jamain’ which is how I ended up with my rose. (If you’re curious, you can read more about this discussion on my comments page at HMF.)
Still, ‘Erinnerung An Brod’ is a gorgeous rose and not to be demeaned. Although not a repeat bloomer, this rose is proving to be vigorous and disease resistant. (I’ve seen pictures of ‘Erinnerung An Brod’ in a mature size and it can get very large so do as I say and not as I do and prepare for that if you decide to grow her.) Bred by Rudolf Geschwind who was no slouch in the hybridizing department, his roses are often sought by collectors. A win for me! Oh and by the by, I also have ’Souvenir du Docteur Jamain’, so it will be interesting to see how it compares to ‘Erinnerung An Brod’ when it blooms. I love to solve a good mystery, don’t you?
Edit: Someone on HMF pointed out that the photo on the top seemed too bright and the coloring off. I think it’s just a bad photo. (Still learning how to use my camera!) If you click HERE, that will take you to some much better images of this rose.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Beautiful rose! Love the colour.
Thanks Marian! I was having a heck of a time capturing the color on camera. In person, the coloring is even deeper/richer.