Hiawatha Rose: A Rambling Rose Shading From Glowing Crimson to Maroon Pink

One of the most popular Wichurana ramblers is 'Hiawatha.'

'Hiawatha' rose's parentage is 'Turner's Crimson Rambler' x unknown. 'Turner's Crimson Rambler,' also known as 'Crimson Rambler,' was introduced by Charles Turner of the Royal Nurseries Slough in 1893. Its ancestry includes Rosa chinensis, Rosa multiflora, and Rosa wichurana.

'Hiawatha' flowers are sized about 1.8 inches (4.5 centimeters) and open in outstandingly floriferous clusters of 15 to 40.

White centers with golden stamens illuminate the rich crimson of freshly opened 'Hiawatha' roses. The glow fades, though, with maturity, as stamens are browned and petals shade into maroon pink. The American Rose Society color classification for 'Hiawatha' is red blend.

Its flowering, which occurs only once in the season, takes place late.

Glossy, dark greenness of foliage provide an aesthetically striking contrast. Unfortunately, growing 'Hiawatha' against walls seems to coat leaves with mildew as is typical for Wichuranas.

Its height tends to be twice its width. Maximum height is around 13.1 feet (4 meters), with a spread of 6.6 feet (2 meters).

Its minimum hardiness zone, which indicates the preferred climate for 'Hiawatha,' is Zone 5, which has a range of -20° to -10° Fahrenheit (-29° to -23° Celsius).

'Hiawatha' rose and its parent, 'Turner's Crimson Rambler,' belong to the wild rose species Rosa wichurana. A native of East Asian countries of China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, Rosa wichurana was named in honor of German jurist and botanical explorer Max Ernst Wichura (January 27, 1817 - February 24/25, 1866), who brought back to Berlin a specimen that he had retrieved from Japan in 1861 during the Prussian Expedition to East Asia, 1859 - 1862. Credit for describing the species is given to François Crépin (October 30, 1830 - April 30, 1903), a rose specialist who directed the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (Jardin Botanique National de Belgique) in Meise, Flemish Brabant province, central Belgium.

As progenitor of the plethora of Wichurana ramblers bred by nurseries worldwide in the early twentieth century, Rosa wichurana has left its mark in the sophisticated arena of rose breeding.

Rosa wichurana attains a height which is almost double its width. Maximum height is about 16.4 feet (5 meters). Spread maximizes at 9.8 feet (3 meters).

Long shoots, which root as they trail along the ground, also display enthusiastic agility as climbers in scaling artificial supports such as arches, trellises, and walls, as well as natural props such as bushes and trees. Indeed, Rosa wichurana consistently sets the standard for roses, not only as climbers and ramblers, but also as ground cover.

Flowering occurs late and only once each season.

Flower size is small, measuring 1.6 inches (4 centimeters).

Rosa wichurana blossoms as single white flowers in panicles (branched clusters with short floral stalks) of 5 to 10.

Foliage appears usually as nine small, dark, glossy leaflets, with two curved prickles on every leaf-node. Rosa wichurana's distinctive foliage provide a glittering contrast to its profuse, pure white flowers.

Another of Rosa wichurana's many appeals is its strong, sweet fragrance redolent of musk. This tantalizing scent, however, was not bequeathed to Rosa 'Hiawatha,' which, nevertheless, has beauty to spare in its visual appeal.

The minimum hardiness zone for Rosa wichurana is Zone 6, which ranges from -23° to -18° Fahrenheit (-10° to 0° Celsius).

Born in Wales on January 18, 1848, Michael H. Walsh emigrated to the United States in 1875. Educated in horticulture and experienced as a gardener, Michael honed his skill in his adopted homeland, finally settling as head gardener on the estate of Joseph Story Fay (December 8, 1812 - June 14, 1897) in Woods Hole, a village in the Town of Falmouth in southwestern Cape Cod. Three acres on the property were dedicated to gardens and greenhouses for growing thousands of roses for testing and hybridizing. Michael is credited with popularizing ramblers on Cape Cod.

Sadly, Michael's exquisite, rosy gardens are no longer in existence. Mr. Fay's house, which was known as "The Homestead" under his ownership, still stands, however. Renamed "Challenger House" in honor of the nineteenth century pioneer oceanographic research ship, H.M.S. Challenger (first launched February 13, 1858; ignominiously scrapped in 1921), Mr. Fay's manse now belongs to the world renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

In 1943 the Falmouth Garden Club, founded in 1931, honored Michael Walsh's achievements with the placement of a memorial stone between Challenger House and the Woods Hole Historical Museum. The memorial states:

"Near this place lived Michael H. Walsh, who made the rambler rose world famous."

The Song of Hiawatha, an epic poem comprising an Introduction and twenty-two chapters, was composed by American multi-linguist poet-translator-writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882). Published in 1855, Song of Hiawatha met with instantaneous success and injected Native American legends and places into the popular vocabulary not only of the United States but also throughout the world. Basing his hero on the Ojibwe trickster figure and culture hero, Nanabozho, Henry substituted the mellifluous name of Hiawatha in the mistaken belief that the names were synonymous. In fact, however, Hiawatha referred instead to a presumably historical personage instrumental in the founding of the Iroquois League, which was formed sometime between 1100 to 1600 and based primarily in the area of upstate New York. Pictured Rocks, 15 miles (24 kilometers) of colorful sandstone cliffs rising up 200 feet (60 meters) along the picturesque south shore of Lake Superior, is the traditional setting for the adventures of Nanabozho in Ojibwe legends.

Symbolic of the high esteem with which Henry was regarded in the nineteenth century, a marble bust of his likeness was unveiled in 1884, two years after his death, in the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. The bust was sculpted by Sir Thomas Brock (March 1, 1847 – August 22, 1922), who had garnered recent acclaim for his 1881 bronze statue, "A Moment of Peril," now housed in the Leighton House Museum, and for his completion of the bronze statue of Albert, Prince Consort (August 26, 1819 – December 14, 1861), begun by his mentor, Irish sculptor John Henry Foley (May 24, 1818 – August 27, 1874), for the Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens, west central London, commissioned by Queen Victoria (May 24, 1819 – January 22, 1901). Placed on a pillar, the memorial is located near the tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400), the great medieval English poet who was the first poet to be buried in the Poets' Corner. Thus far, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow holds the unique honors of being the first non-British poet as well as the only American poet to be memorialized with a marble bust in the Poets' Corner.

The enchantment of the tale of Hiawatha, from his descent from Nokomis, who falls to earth from the moon, to his eternal love for Minnehaha, inspired Michael Walsh in the early twentieth century to breed extraordinary namesake Wichurana ramblers. In 1905, five decades after the first printing of The Song of Hiawatha, Michael introduced the satiny pink 'Minnehaha,' which was preceded in 1904 by 'Hiawatha.' In 1918, Michael completed the legendary trio with the introduction of 'Nokomis,' a delightfully fragrant confection of rose pink.

Both 'Hiawatha' and 'Minnehaha' are included in the exquisite rose garden begun in L'Haÿ-les-Roses, north central France, as la Roseraie de L'Haÿ by Jules Gravereaux (May 1, 1844 – March 23, 1916) and now maintained as la Roseraie du Val-de-Marne.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

illustration by Antony Ludovic Régnier (1851-1930): Journal des Roses (1912), opp. p. 44, Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9562406

Rosa wichurana: Kurt Stüber, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rosa_wichuraiana0.jpg

Nobska Light, Woods Hole, Cape Cod: first built in 1828, rebuilt in 1876: Massachusetts Office Of Travel & Tourism, CC BY ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/masstravel/6963451820/

1846 crayon and chalk on paper portrait by Eastman Johnson (July 29, 1824-April 5, 1906); Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Cambridge MA: Public Domain, via National Park Service @ https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery-item.htm?pg=3535435&id=ce239013-fee1-4209-a894-0dde785c0787&gid=538669D0-E10B-4FFB-AF91-212A5FCBE63F

Bridalveil Falls cascades down the Pictured Rocks: springtime waterfalls slow to a trickle by summer: Public Domain, via National Park Service/Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore @ https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=FAA5F269-155D-4519-3EA879FDD1B45850

"Westward, westward, Hiawatha sailed into the fiery sunset"; The Story of Hiawatha (1910), opp. p. 310: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/storyofhiawatha00longiala/page/n348/mode/1up?view=theater

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hiawatha_-_Eakins.jpg

southward view on School Street toward Woods Hole Inn on Water Street, Woods Hole: Doug Kerr (Dougtone), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr: Doug Kerr (Dougtone), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/7327243@N05/5711947214/

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• Available via Comcast.net at:  http://home.comcast.net/~capecodheritageroses/walsh_page.htm

Brown, Vernon H. "Michael Walsh Originator of the Cape Cod Ramblers." Cape Cod Historic Roses > Walsh Catalog. 2013. Vernon H. Brown. Web. Comcast.

• Available at:  http://home.comcast.net/~capecodheritageroses/walsh.htm

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• Available via Google Books at:  books.google.com/books?id=JqEhAQAAIAAJ

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• Available at:  http://www.annchapman.net.nz/content/barbiers-and-their-roses

du Clos-Jollet, Marie. "Rose Hiawatha." Journal des Roses, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Mars 1912): 44-45.

• Available at:  http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9562346

"Garden Records. No. XI. Mr. Charles Turner's, The Royal Nursery, Slough." November 1870: 509-511. In:  William Thomson and Richard Dean, eds., The Gardener: A Magazine of Horticulture and Floriculture. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, MDCCCLXX (1870).

• Available via Chest of Books at:  http://chestofbooks.com/gardening-horticulture/Gardener-1/Garden-Records-No-XI-Mr-Charles-Turner-s-The-Royal-Nursery-Slough.html#.UpZmK965VQE#ixzz2lstdr9nz
• Available via Internet Archive at:  https://archive.org/details/gardeneramagazi00deangoog

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• Available via CybeRose at:  http://bulbnrose.x10.mx/Roses/breeding/Walsh/walsh.html

"Hiawatha." Rogue Valley Roses > All Roses. Rogue Valley Roses LLC. Web. www.roguevalleyroses.com

• Available at:  https://www.roguevalleyroses.com/rose/hiawatha

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• Available at:  http://woodsholemuseum.org/giffordpaintings/pages/parker.html

Laxton, T.T. "Cross-Fertilizing and Raising Roses from Seed in England." Gardener’s Monthly, November, 1880: 322-325. CybeRose & Bulbs > Roses > Breeding. Web. bulbnrose.x10.mx

• Available at:  http://bulbnrose.x10.mx/Roses/breeding/LaxtonRoses1880.html

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. The Song of Hiawatha. With illustrations and designs by Frederic Remington, Maxfield Parrish, and N.C. Wyeth. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1908.

• Available via Internet Archive at:  https://archive.org/details/songhiawatha00wyetgoog

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• Available at:  http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=ROWI&mapType=nativity

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"Scene in Little Harbor, Woods Hole, 1845 (with Red Schoolhouse)." Woods Hole Historical Museum > Historical Paintings of Woods Hole and Falmouth by Franklin Lewis Gifford. Woods Hole Museum. Web. woodsholemuseum.org

• Available at:  http://woodsholemuseum.org/giffordpaintings/pages/lhroad.html

Stokes, Winston. The Story of Hiawatha. Adapted from Longfellow. With the original poem. Illustrated by M.L. Kirk. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1910.

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• Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28424626