Rosa 'Old Blush'

Rosa 'Old Blush'
Details
Cultivar group	China
Cultivar	Rosa 'Old Blush'
Origin	about 1790

Rosa 'Old Blush', also known as 'Parsons' Pink China', 'Old Blush China', 'Old China Monthly' etc., is a China rose derived from Rosa chinensis, and is generally accepted as the first East Asian rose cultivar to reach Europe. It is recorded in Denmark in 1752 and England in 1793.^[1]

'Old Blush', together with 'Slater's Crimson China' and the tea roses 'Hume's Blush Tea-scented China' and 'Parks' Yellow Tea-scented China', introduced to European gardens roses which would bloom repeatedly from spring to fall, whereas the Old European roses tend to bloom only once, on the previous year's wood. The Chinas and Teas became the foundation of numerous new classes of roses, including the Bourbons, Noisettes, Hybrid Perpetuals, and thence the Modern Roses.

'Old Blush' itself was parent to two of these classes: a natural cross of 'Old Blush' with 'Autumn Damask' on the Ile de Bourbon gave rise to 'Rose Edouard', the first Bourbon rose; and John Champneys' hybrid of 'Old Blush' with the Musk Rose was 'Champneys' Pink Cluster,' the first Noisette.

References

1. ^ http://www.roseinfo.com/oldblush.html