May is Rose Month in the Lowcountry

Since roses are at their peak bloom in May in the Lowcountry, the Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society is celebrating May as their Rose Month instead of June. In some areas of the country, the Rose reigns supreme in the garden in June but not in the Lowcountry.

As in the past four years, the Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society is having an exhibition of members’ roses and other rose-related items at Johns Island Public Library’s Display Cabinet just as you enter the library to your right. You can pick up brochures about growing roses and membership application forms both to Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society and the American Rose Society from the display.

The Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society holds their monthly meeting on the third Mondays of the month at James Island Town Hall at 1122 Dills Bluff Rd on James Island, SC 29412. Social starts at 6:30 pm with meeting at 7:00 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend and the admission is FREE.

Our members enjoy the benefit of the American Rose Society Consulting Rosarians who give pro bono service answering various questions on rose culture for free. Consulting Rosarians are nationally accredited rose authorities. They take classes from the American Rose Society sponsored schools and take continuing education every three years to maintain their status.

Some gardeners have the wrong notion that roses are difficult to grow. It is not so. The Rose has been around for millions of years and has grown naturally throughout North America. If it survived millions of years, it can survive anywhere provided you give them what they need – water, food and sunshine. Just like us. If you provide them with their basic needs, you’ll be rewarded with the most beautiful flower there is. The Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society will teach you how to grow beautiful roses. There are so many roses on the market that growing roses is not that difficult as choosing the varieties to plant.

President Ronald Reagan signed the proclamation declaring The Rose as our National Floral Emblem on November 20, 1986. Several states have it as their state flower. Charleston is home to the only class of old garden roses, the Noisette Rose, that was bred, evaluated and introduced to the world by the United States.

Let’s celebrate May as the Rose Month in the Lowcountry! We are blessed with this beautiful flower in our midst so let’s all grow roses. At least One Rose for Every Home!

For more info on growing roses, visit the following sites:

www.charlestonlowcountryrosesociety.blogspot.com

www.rosegardeningworld.com

www.rose.org

www.heritagerosefoundation.org.

NOISETTE ROSES

Marechal Niel

Photo taken at Rosalinda's Garden in Charleston, SC

The Noisette roses, a class of old garden roses, was the first class of roses bred, evaluated and introduced to the world by the United States. The Noisette class started in Charles Town (Charleston), South Carolina by John Champneys. John Champneys was the son of a well-to-do loyalist who decided to remain loyal to England during the revolutionary war and was forced to flee back to London after Charles Town fell. His estate at that time was worth around 20,000 pound sterling. After the war he tried to return to Charles Town but was not received with open arms. Being forced to flee back to England he was able to seek restitution for his estate for only 5,000 pound sterling. On his way back to Charles Town for the second time, his ship had been hijacked twice and in the process he lost two family members.

When he finally made it back to Charles Town he was not able to get the family estate back. He did purchase a piece of property just down the river, which had a well-known pleasure garden. This is where he was landscaping, and hybridizing. Somewhere between 1800 and 1814, John Champneys crossed Rosa moschata ‘Musk Rose’ and Rosa chinensis ‘Old Blush’. The resulting seedling was called ‘Champneys’ Pink Cluster’. It was given to his friend and neighbor, Philippe Noisette whose family in France was in the nursery business and eventually hybridized a rose called Blush Noisette. Philippe sent cuttings to his brother, Louis Claude, who was running the family business in France. Pierre Joseph Redoute, the famous botanical artist included in his paintings of early 19th century roses one labeled “Rosa Noisettiana” and “Rosier de Philippe Noisette.” The name, Noisette, spread throughout the world by way of the painting. Philippe Noisette came to Charles Town from France by way of Saint-Dominque to work in America’s first botanical garden developed by the Medical College of South Carolina.

Noisette roses are very vigorous plant, with arching canes and include both bushes and climbers and are very sweet scented.  They are noted for their ease of maintenance. They require very little care and are very disease- and pest-resistant and drought tolerant. Noisettes produce small to medium-sized, double flowers with pastel colors and come in clusters and very fragrant flowers all summer long. Some can grow as high as 20 feet and can be trained to climb trees, pergolas or trained to wrap around pillars. They need plenty of room to spread out. Their most romantic quality is their nodding flowers looking downwards unlike the regular climbers whose blooms look upwards. They tolerate poor soil and light shade but flower better in full sun. Some are not hardy.

 Here is a list of widely known noisettes :

Aimee Vibert – 1828 - white

Alister Stella Gray – 1894 – light yellow

Blush Noisette – before 1817 – white

Celine Forestier – 1842 – light yellow

Champneys’ Pink Cluster – before 1810 – light pink

Crepuscule – 1904 – apricot blend

Lamarque – 1830 - white

Mme. Alfred Carriere – 1879 - white

Marechal Niel – 1864 – medium yellow

Mary Washington – before 1892 - white

Nastarana – 1879 – white

Princesse de Nassau – 1835 – light yellow

Reve d’Or – 1869 – medium yellow

The Charlestonian – 2000 – white

Triomphe des Noisette – 1887 – deep pink

Visit our website - www.charlestonrose.com
 

To join, check Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society