'Rose à Parfum de l'Hay' and 'Roseraie de l'Hay': Sumptuous Tributes to Incomparable Rose Garden

'Rose à Parfum de l'Haÿ' and 'Roseraie de l'Haÿ' are two roses that were cultivated specifically for their fragrance. That they would be breathtakingly beautiful as well was a secondary goal. Both roses were bred as the result of a research expedition in 1901 to the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe, specifically to Bulgaria (България [Balgariya]).

Bulgaria leads the world, at 80 percent, in the production of attar of roses, also known as rose oil, which is the  liquid essential oil distilled from rose petals. Collection takes place rapidly during the early morning dew, with 2,000 rose buds producing 0.035 ounces (1 gram) of attar of roses. The expensive oil is a vital ingredient in perfumes, liqueurs, cosmetics, foods, and pharmaceuticals. The French mission to Bulgaria was concerned with gleaning contexts, procedures, and strategies for application to the French perfume industry.

Both roses honor Roseraie de l'Haÿ, a rose garden of incomparable beauty, redolent of the more than two dozen scents which may contribute to a rose's fragrance, from citrusy to fruity to sweet, spicy, or musky.

'Roseraie de L'Haÿ' is a Hybrid Rugosa rose. Native to Japan and east Asia, Rosa rugosa is valued for its hardiness in storms and for its compatibility in hybridizing with other types of roses. Although rugosas may sulk in hot climates if they are not allowed to overwinter, they flourish in temperate maritime climates. Their tolerance of salty sea spray endears them to coastal gardeners. Because their flowers are  remontant (French: remonter, "to come up again"), they bloom more than once in a season. The ending of the season's flowering is heralded by autumnal, bright yellowing of rugosa foliage.

'Roseraie de L'Haÿ' spreads to 6.6 feet (2 meters) and reaches a height of 5.7 feet (1.75 meters). The exuberant fullness of its shrubbery qualifies 'Roseraie de L'Haÿ' as "one of the best hedging roses ever." (Peter Beales, p. 233)

The American Rose Society classifies the coloring of 'Roseraie de L'Haÿ' as dark red. Its long, scrolled buds open in a large ruffle of crimson red and change stunningly to rosy magenta. Flowering occurs continuously throughout the summer and into the fall.

Flower size is 3.5 inches (9 centimeters).

Dense flowering is matched by a vigorous abundance of leaves, which are dark green. Autumn's joyous yellow foliage follows an exquisite, lengthy blooming season of continuous flowers.

'Roseraie de L'Haÿ' has an intense, distinctive fragrance that is intoxicatingly redolent of cloves.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zones Map classes plants according to the coldest temperature at which they remain viable. Accordingly, the minimum hardiness for 'Roseraie de L'Haÿ' is Zone 4 (-30° to -20° Fahrenheit; 34° to -29° Celsius).

'Roseraie de L'Haÿ' was bred and introduced in 1901 by Charles Pierre Marie Cochet-Cochet (1866 - 1936), scion of a long line of nurserymen (pépiniéristes) and rosarians (rosiériste) with a rose plantation in Grisy-Suisnes, a quaint village, southeast of Paris and L'Haÿ-les-Roses, in the department of Seine-and-Marne (Seine-et-Marne). Charles' great-grandfather, Pierre Christophe (April 20, 1777 - October 12, 1819), established the family business in 1799 with the support of explorer-navigator Admiral Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville (November 12, 1729 – August 31, 1811), whom he had served as chief gardener.

Admiral de Bougainville was intrigued, as was the entire countryside, by Pierre Christophe's incessant fascination with grafting roses. Pierre Christophe's extraordinary varieties decorated the Admiral's local properties, the seventeenth-century Suisnes manor house (château de Suisnes) and the Priory of Vernelle (Le Prieuré de Vernelle). Jocularly described as "an empty bottle" (un vide bouteille) in reference to its basically unfinished state between floor and roof, the Suisnes manor house provided a timeless setting for the timeless beauty of Pierre Christophe's roses. As well, the Priory, which had been founded in 1172 by monks of the Benedictine Order (l’Ordre de Saint Benoît), was located on a site once dedicated to Venus. The Roman goddess of love was also known as the goddess of flowers, with red roses as her chosen favorites.

By 1802, the Cochets were headquartered in le Plouy, a country manor where they devoted about 12 acres (4.85 hectares) to roses and about 62 acres (25 hectares) to trees, shrubs, and flowers. At the time of Pierre Christophe's death in 1819, le Plouy entertained at least 75 rose varieties. By 1840 le Plouy featured 675 varieties of roses. By 1896 the rose population had almost tripled to 2,000 varieties. In 1909 -- eight years after the introduction of 'Roseraie de L'Haÿ' -- rose varieties numbered over 3,000.

In 1877 Charles' Uncle Scipion (1833-1896) had founded a monthly journal for amateur and professional rosarians, Le Journal des Roses, later known as Journal des Roses (Rosa Inter Flores), Revue d'Arboriculture Ornementale. In 1889 Charles married his cousin Clara Cochet, daughter of Scipion's son Pierre Cochet (September 14, 1858 - September 6, 1911). In 1911 Charles took over Journal des Roses, which continued to be published through August 1914. In addition to carefully researched and written articles on rosy history and culture, Journal des Roses interspersed its pages with superbly precise color lithographs and photographs, totalling 458 over its publishing lifespan of over three and one-half decades.

'Rose à parfum de l'Haÿ' is a Hybrid Rugosa rose. Oftentimes its name is shortened to 'Parfum de l'Haÿ'.

Its excellent parentage is a hybrid of Damask rose (Rosa x damascena), 'Général Jacqueminot', and Rosa rugosa. Also known as General Jack or Jack Rose, 'Général Jacqueminot' is a hybrid perpetual rose that, true to its type, repeatedly blooms from summer to autumn.

Its fragrance, which is of superb intensity, is generously exuded with each frequent nod of its scarlet crimson heads.

Almost all of today's crimson roses are descended from 'Général Jacqueminot'.

In turn, the pedigree of 'Général Jacqueminot' includes 'Gloire des Rosomanes', an 1825 China rose introduction to which almost every modern rose is traced.

Damask rose is a species with distant ancestry in Asia Minor that has beguiled the world for centuries with its legendary fragrance.

'Rose à parfum de l'Haÿ' spreads to 4.9 feet (1.5 meters) and attains a height of 5.7 feet (1.75 meters).

The American Rose Society classes the floral coloring of 'Rose à parfum de l'Haÿ' as medium red. Large flowers open as cherry to carmine red or purple pink or magenta and acquire blue tinges as they mature. Flowers are borne singly or with up to four in a cluster.

Flower size is 3.1 inch (8 centimeters).

Rugosas generally display rugose leaves, that is, leaves that are wrinkled or crinkled with serrated edges and that are indented with veins. Atypically, 'Rose à parfum de l'Haÿ' presents smooth, pale, glossy leaves which heartily emerge from thick stems.

The sumptuous fragrance of 'Rose à parfum de l'Haÿ', which is easily bestirred, casts an unshakable spell.

The minimum hardiness zone for 'Rose à parfum de l'Haÿ' is Zone 5 (-20° to -10° Fahrenheit; -29° to -23° Celsius).

'Rose à parfum de l'Haÿ' was bred by Jules Léopold Gravereaux (May 1, 1844 - March 24, 1916) and introduced in 1901, after Jules returned from the mission to Bulgaria, to which the Minister of Agriculture (Ministère de l'Agriculture) had appointed him. Upon his return home, clearly Jules immediately set to work applying what he had learned. Additionally, typical of Jules, he immediately shared his findings with any and all interested parties. Charles Cochet-Cochet, whose family rose plantation in Grisy-Suisnes was only about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Jules' test laboratory, enthusiastically partook of Jules' findings.

A quintessential name for a fabulously fragrant rose would reference the celebrated rose garden (roseraie) that Jules created at his country home in l'Haÿ, a small city about six miles (9 kilometers) south of Paris. Jules' test gardens were located there as well as his cherished test laboratory and Rose Museum (Musée de la Rose) in a Norman-style pavillion. Only seven years had passed since Jules started the rose garden in earnest in 1894, and yet the rosery had quickly catapulted to worldwide renown.

Jules' masterpiece was this rose garden, then known as Roseraie de l'Haÿ. By 1910, only sixteen years after its inception, Roseraie de l'Haÿ was thronged with rosy admirers in awe of Jules' accomplished goal: to gather together from the four corners of the world all known representatives of this most fragrant of flowers, totaling over 8,000 types and varieties. Jules' living history of the world's roses was presented in a series of collections within a rosery that he described in 1914 as "in the form of a huge fan. . .nearly five acres in extent." (Jules Gravereaux [1914], p. 24). Roses were pleasingly displayed as shrubs, in garlands, and on archways, pergolas, towers, and trellises.

Jules' rosy inspiration motivated other rose gardens, such as creating an impressive rose garden in Paris' Parc de Bagatelle. Opened in 1907, Parc de Bagatelle's rose garden was established with Jules' generous donation of 1,200 different types of roses from Roseraie de l'Haÿ.

Another rosy venture to which Jules' expertise was invited was reconstituting the lost, celebrated rose garden of Joséphine de Beauharnais (June 23, 1763 - May 29, 1814) at her beloved Château de Malmaison, in Rueil-Malmaison, about 7 miles (12 kilometers) west of Paris. Joséphine, the first wife of France's first emperor, Napoléon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769-May 5, 1821), loved flowers.

Adoring roses most of all, Joséphine set the same goal at the beginning of the nineteenth century as Jules set at the end of that century: gathering together all known roses. Of the 250 types of roses ascertained to have grown at Malmaison, Jules was able to reconstruct 198. Once again, Jules generously donated roses from Roseraie de l'Haÿ to replenish Malmaison. Thanks to Jules' careful research the charm of an historic garden was lovingly restored.

The twenty-two years which Jules devoted, in his retirement from a spectacular, meteoric career at Paris' fabled Au Bon Marché department store, to his second career as a rosarian (an expert cultivator of roses) and rhodologist (a specialist in studying and classifying roses) astound for the sheer perfection and vastness of Jules' valuable accomplishments and endless creativity. Throughout his pursuit of this rosy passion, Jules displayed immense generosity and intelligent dedication. Jules' impeccable reputation, wrought from unfailing comaraderie of spirt and meticulously reliable research, was acknowledged worldwide.

Now owned and managed by the Department of Val-de-Marne, Roseraie de l'Haÿ, renamed Roseraie du Val-de-Marne, is tended and attended respectfully and admiringly. Through the vision of one man, generous in spirit and conscientious in outlook, a veritable paradise of roses was created and made available to all who seek the beauties of nature, for edification, for inspiration, for enjoyment, or as a respite.

This page is dedicated to the memory of Jules Gravereaux in recognition of his grand contributions to the history, culture, and appreciation of roses and in honor of his great, amiable spirit.

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

"View of the city of Sliven and the eastern Upper Thracian Plain from southern Balkan Mountains": Evgeni Dinev (Evgord), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Karandila2.jpg

Flower Festival Commemorative Park, Kani, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan: T. Kiya, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/38217580@N05/7169012377/

"Autumn Colour": Amanda Slater (amandabhslater), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/pikerslanefarm/8105679449/

illustration by Louise-Cécile Descamps-Sabouret (1855-?): Journal des Roses(Sept 1894), Tome XVIII, opposite page 136: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9558906; via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/journaldesroses1820pari/page/n162/mode/1up

Rosa 'Général Jacqueminot', Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid: A. Barra, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rosa_'General_Jacqueminot'.jpg

illustration by J.R. Guillot (?): Journal des Roses, Tome XXVII (Février 1903), opposite page 24: Public Domain, via Internet Archive, Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/journaldesroses00unkngoog/page/n37/mode/1up?view=theater

painting by Claude Sébastien Hugard de la Tour (April 1818-1886): Jules Gravereaux, Les Roses cultivées a l'Haÿ en 1902, opposite page 38: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15285004; via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/lesrosescultiv00rose/page/n50/mode/1up?view=theater

Norman pavillion and reflecting pool, Roseraie du Val-de-Marne (formerly Roseraie de l'Haÿ): Capodel (C. Potez-Delpuech), CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pavillon_normand.jpg

Hermitage Museum collection, St Petersburg, northwest Russia: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emprjose.jpg

painting by Claude Sebastien Hugard de la Tour (April 1818-1886): Jules Gravereaux, Les Roses cultivées a l'Haÿ en 1902, Plate 5, opposite page 90: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15285081; via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/lesrosescultiv00rose/page/n108/mode/1up

"Gathering Roses at Kazanlik": William Le Queux, An Observer (1907), Chapter V,opposite page 224: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/observerinnearea00lequrich/page/n324/mode/1up?view=theater; via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65766/65766-h/65766-h.htm#Page_225

"Testing Otto [Attar] of Rose at Kazanlik": William Le Queux-An Observer (1907), Chapter V, opposite page 224: Public Domain, via Internet Archive; via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65766/65766-h/65766-h.htm#Page_225

"Rose botanique "Roseraie de l'Hay" / Cochet ~ La roseraie du Val-de-Marne (l'Haÿ-les-Roses)": Annie Dalbéra anniedalbera, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/20651668@N07/7256754272/

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