Rose Eglantyne

In his book Devid Austin regarded this rose as “one of the most beautiful of the English Old Rose Hybrids”. The flowers are a soft pale pink with mid-pink reverse and lighter edges, gradually fading to the faintest pink, almost white. The form is beautifully old-fashioned, shallowly cupped quilled rosettes, filled with numerous petals and occasionally featuring a charming button eye or green pistil. The plant is bushy, slender, upright, and prickly, with medium-sized, matte green leaves. Blackspot can be a problem, but repeat flowering is not.

DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETY

Throughout this description of the rose variety 'Eglantyne' is provided with color descriptions using terminology of the The Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, except where common terms of color definition are employed. Phenotypic expression may vary with environmental, cultural and climatic conditions, as well as differences in conditions of light and soil.

FLOWERING

This rose variety has a recurrent flowering habit. Blooms in flushes with short breaks from summer until frosts. The number of blooms per plant during the growing season is profuse, but there are too many to count.

Flower bud:

The flower buds of 'Eglantyne' rose variety are medium sized, about 2.5 - 3 cm long and 2.5 cm in diameter when the petals start to unfurl. The bud form is pointed ovoid and globular. When the sepals first divide, the bud color is dark red (Group 53B) or red pink (Group 53C). When half open, the upper sides of the petals are light red pink (Group 49B or 49C) and the lower sides of the petals are light blue pink (Group 55D).

The sepals have a length of about 3 cm and a width of 1 cm. The shape of the sepals is lanceolate, the surface texture is smooth on the upper surface and downy on the lower surface. The colour on the upper surface is medium green (Group 144A) and on the lower surface is light green (Group 144B). There are 3 lightly appendaged sepals and there are 2 unappendaged sepals with downy edges.

The receptacle is medium green (Group 144A), goblet shaped and has a smooth surface. The size of the receptacle is medium, about 0.8 - 1.0 cm long and about 0.7 - 0.9 cm in diameter.

The peduncle is medium-sized, averaging to about 3 cm in length, bending and heavy, has a glandular surface. The colour of the peduncle is light green (Group 144B).

Bloom:

The flowers are medium to large, the average diameter of the open flower is about 7.5 - 8 cm. When first open, the flower form is cupped, quickly opening to form a perfect rosette with inner petals and petaloids forming a charming button-eye in the center. Flowers are very full, the number of petals under normal conditions is 130-140. They are born in small clusters of 3- 5 blooms having irregular shape. The flowering stem is strong, medium-sized and has an average length of about 60 cm.

When first open the colour of the upper sides of the petals is light blue pink (Group 56C) while the inner petals are slightly darker light red pink (Group 49C). The reverse sides of the petals are light blue pink (Group 56D). The base of each petal fades to white with a mid-yellow tip at the petal base. The major tonality of the flowers is light blue pink (Group 56D). On the flowers of 'Eglantyne' the variegation is not observed.

The general tonality at the end of the first day is light blue pink (Group 56C) or paler, less red. At the end of the third day the general tonality becomes lighter, light blue pink (Group 56D)but paler, fading further on to white.

Petals:

The texture of the petals is thin, soft and the surface is smooth; the shape of the petals is notched slightly, deltoid, and the tips are slightly recurved. The arrangement of the petals is quartered, with petaloids in the center forming a button-eye.

The petals of this rose variety normally hang on and dry. Under normal climate conditions the petals last fairly short, on the plant they last for about 2-3 days, as a cut flower their last for about 2 days.

Fragrance:

The fragrance of the rose 'Eglantyne' is moderate to strong, of a rich Old rose character.

Reproductive parts:

There are few stamens per flower, they are medium long and are mixed with petaloids.

The anthers have yellow colour.

The colour of the filaments is also yellow.

Pollen has gold yellow colour.

The colour of the styles is greenish-white.

Stigmas are yellow.

The hips of this rose variety have not been observed yet.

PLANT

The rose variety 'Eglantyne' is classified as a Shrub rose. The growth character is moderately vigorous. Mature plant is about 105 - 150 cm tall and 90 - 125 cm wide.

Foliage:

There is a normal quantity of the foliage on the plants of this rose variety. The number of leaflets on normal mid-stem leaves varies from 5 to 7, including the terminal leaflet. The foliage is medium to large sized, about 17.5 - 18.5 cm long and about 13 - 14 cm wide.

The colour of the juvenile foliage on the upper and on the lower sides is medium green (Group 144A) with reddish blush. The mature foliage on the upper and on the lower side is brown green (Group 147A).

Leaflets:

The size of the leaflets is large and the shape is pointed oval. The surface texture of the leaflets is leathery and matt. The edges are serrated, the type of serration is double and small.

The petiole has dark brown green colour (Group 147A) and has a rough, with prickles surface texture. The petiole rachis is dark brown green (Group 147A) and has prickles on the underside.

The stipules are 3.5 - 4.0 cm long, have serrated surface. The veins are dark brown green (Group 147A), the venation pattern is reticulate.

Wood:

The new wood of this rose variety has light green colour with reddish shade and smooth bark. The mature wood is green, streaky, the bark is smooth with some rough patches.

Stems:

Prickles:

There are ordinary prickles present on the main canes from base and on the laterals from main canes. The shape of the prickles is straight, the length is medium to long, about 10 mm. The colour of the young prickles is reddish and the mature prickles are gray.

Small prickles:

There are many small prickles on the main canes of this rose and on the laterals from the main canes of this rose variety, there are too many to count. The colour of the small prickles is the same as the larger.

Disease resistance:

The rose variety 'Eglantyne' has good resistance to most common rose diseases, in particular it is resistant to mildew, blackspot and rust under normal growing conditions. The pest resistance has not been tested yet.

Rose variety is very cold hardy, it is recommended for growing in climate conditions similar to USDA 5 and requires winter protection in more colder climates.

Named after Eglantyne Jebb, from Shropshire, who founded the Save the Children fund during World War I.

English Shrub Roses

Modern Shrub Rose, Central Ohio Rose Society Show, 1999;

Award of Garden Merit (RHS/RNRS), Royal Horticultural Society Show, 2001;

ORIGIN OF THE VARIETY

Rose variety ‘Ausmak’ / 'Eglantyne' originated by David Austin by crossing an unnamed, unpatented seedling with the English shrub rose ‘Mary Rose’.

BACKGROUND OF THE VARIETY

The primary objective of this rose variety breeding was to create a new rose variety having pink, scented, old fashioned shaped flowers on a repeat flowering bush.

SUMMARY OF THE VARIETY

The objective was achieved, along with other important improvements, and this rose variety incorporated the following unique combination of characteristics:

 Very full flowers, with about 130-140 petals;

 Pale pink flowers, with variation in tone across the flowers;

 Quartered arrangement of petals;

 Good repeat flowering qualities.

Asexual reproduction of this variety by budding showed that the foregoing and all other characteristics and distinctions came true to form, established and transmitted through the succeeding propagations.

COMPARISON WITH PARENTS

The characteristics of the seed parent are not disclosed.

The ‘Ausmak’ / ‘Eglantyne’ may be distinguished from its pollen parent by the following combination of characteristics:

 The pollen parent ‘Ausmary’ / 'Mary Rose’ has more upright plant with lighter and smaller foliage comparing to ‘Ausmak’ / ‘Eglantyne’;

 Also, the flowers of ‘Ausmary’ / 'Mary Rose’ have cupped rosette shape with fewer petals and deeper shade of pink while the flowers of ‘Ausmak’ / ‘Eglantyne’ are quarter rosette shaped of much lighter pink shade, and have more petals;

COMPARISON WITH THE CLOSEST COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE CULTIVAR

‘Ausmak’ / ‘Eglantyne’ may be distinguished from the ‘Ausecret’ / ‘Anne Boleyn’ variety by the following combination of characteristics:

  the ‘Ausmak’ / ‘Eglantyne’ has a more upright bushy and branching growth habit, with leaves that are less shiny than ‘Ausecret’ / ‘Anne Boleyn’.

USDA 5