This article is from the Rose Gardening FAQ, by Bill Chandler chandler@austin.ibm.com, Jolene Adams jolene@cchem.berkeley.edu, Brent C. Dickerson odinthor@csulf.edu, Karen Baldwin kbaldwin@veribest.com, and many contributors
Ah, me. Here one is, a breeder in, say, the late 1860's, trying to
breed a "different" HP among the hundreds coming out every year, one
with shapely blossoms to win at shows, one that blooms more to attract
those looking for garden decoration, maybe one that's white or even
yellow! The obvious answer, and one that occurred to several
breeders--but most notably to Lacharme of France and Bennett of
England--was to breed the Tea into the Hybrid Perpetual; they were
willing to risk some loss of hardiness to gain something "different."
Though the occasional HP x T cross had been made before and released,
the first long-term programs of such were made by Lacharme and Bennett.
From the mid-1870's on, others tried their hands at it increasingly;
and, by the 1890's, Hybrid Teas were replacing Hybrid Perpetuals in the
gardens of "modern"-thinking rosarians. The Hybrid Teas bloomed more,
were bushier, had more beautiful leaves and better-shaped flowers, and
the color-range, somewhat limited in the HP's, was extended into the
warm, exotic range of the Teas; the HP's mainly held ground where their
greater hardiness made them more desirable. The problems with these new
HT's was that they were, as we just saw, more tender, and they carried
with them the problem that many Teas had of nodding on the stem;
further, the color range, though wide, was muted: milky whites, creamy
pinks, pale coral pinks, dull rose-coloreds, no real full-bodied reds
at first; worst, perhaps, they were no improvement in health. And yet .
. . and yet . . . they are beautiful, delicate creatures.
(Traditionalists remind me to cite 'La France' as "the first Hybrid
Tea"; it was introduced in 1867, as a Bourbon hybrid.) `Captain
Christy', `Mme. Lacharme', `Antonine Verdier', `Jean Sisley', `Julius
Finger', `Grace Darling', `Viscountess Folkestone', `Mme. Caroline
Testout', `Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria', `Antoine Rivoire', `Mme. Wagram,
Comtesse de Turenne'.
 
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