‘Red Moss’ and ‘Old Red Moss’ are two different roses…

Sometimes rose names and their actual identities give me a brain scramble. The plant you think you’re buying isn’t what you’re getting–remember this? It happens. These days I find that if a rose’s identity is dubious (HMF is a good source for that info) I just avoid it altogether. I don’t need the stress! 😉 However, a couple of years ago I purchased the rose seen in these photos with no more thought than I just wanted to add another Moss to our garden. Little did I know that it would turn into another question of identity. Sigh. Not again!

Mystery: Heirloom Roses calls this rose I purchased, ‘Red Moss’ and in the description writes, “Rated as the second best of all old garden roses by the American Rose Society.” Hmm. Well, there was an Old Garden Rose in the ARS handbook that was rated as second best of all OGR’s but it is called ‘Old Red Moss’. Same rose? I emailed Heirloom, twice, to ask for clarification, and never heard back. (I don’t mean to be snarky, but I’m glad I didn’t email them with an actual product problem, because geez.) So then I emailed the American Rose Society, and got a lightning quick response from the Assistant to the Executive Director who wrote, “They are, indeed, two different roses.”

She also gave me this info from the Modern Roses Database in case you’re interested:

Registered Name: ‘Old Red Moss’; Synonyms: ‘Muscosa Rubra’
ARS Approved Exhibition Name: Old Red Moss
M, mr; flowers carmine-red, medium, very dbl., moderate fragrance; heavy bloom; nonrecurrent; vigorous (5 ft.) growth.

Registered Name: ‘Henri Martin’; Synonyms: ‘Red Moss’
ARS Approved Exhibition Name: Henri Martin
M, mr, 1862, Laffay, M.; bud sparsely mossed; flowers shining crimson, fading to deep pink, semi-dbl. to double, borne in clusters of 3 – 8, moderate fragrance; non remontant; growth upright (5 ft.) growth

My guess is I was sold  ‘Henri Martin’ which is a synonym for ‘Red Moss’ not ‘Old Red Moss’ (‘Muscosa Rubra’), which is a different rose.* I wonder if the ARS members who rated ‘Old Red Moss’ in the past were actually growing ‘Henri Martin’ (‘Red Moss’) and were just as bamboozled about it as I was. (And to really lay it all out there, I just looked at the ARS handbook for 2014: ‘Henri Martin’ didn’t make the cut for top-rated OGR’s and I can’t even find ‘Old Red Moss’ (‘Muscosa Rubra’) in the handbook anymore.)

Are you still with me? Did I scramble your brain, too? Well, let’s just say that these photos depict ‘Henri Martin’ otherwise known as ‘Red Moss’ and leave it at that. This is a lovely rose. If you haven’t tried growing Moss roses yet, I think this is a good one to start with. It hasn’t shown any disease, it’s covered with fragrant flowers in late spring/early summer–taking the win for longest blooming OGR in our garden–followed by fuzzy hips in autumn. Also, it grows like the dickens. See how it’s about knee-high in these photos? Well now it’s about 5′ tall. Goodness gracious!

*{Edit: For my own sanity, I am labeling this rose as ‘Henri Martin’ (i.e. ‘Red Moss’) but that doesn’t mean I’m right. The flowers are quite full and I’m not sure I would categorize these buds as “sparsely mossed” which makes me wonder. If anyone stumbles upon this post and has some insight into this mystery I’d love to hear your input!}

Looking to buy one for yourself? High Country Roses is labeling ‘Henri Martin’ (‘Red Moss’) correctly…here’s the link. (As for the rose ‘Old Red Moss’ (‘Muscosa Rubra’), Burlington Rose Nursery in California say they have it if you live out that way.)

PS: Someone out there is probably wondering “Well, what is the number one highest rated OGR among ARS members?” For 2014, that honor goes to ‘Rêve d’Or’.

Last year’s results HERE.