BOOK OF THE MONTH: MAY 2014

                                                  

Italian journalist and author Andrea di Robilant's new book, Chasing the Rose  is a charming account of his quest to trace a mysterious rose. The book shows why collectors are hot on the scent of roses! Old roses have these extraordinary scents that are just inebriating, but we've lost almost of all those scents.

Since the growth in demand for new hybrids, from say the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century, thousands of old varieties have become extinct. Roses with a name, a history, specific scent and specific appearance have disappeared. Only in the 1970s, people began to look for lost species. There were more than 3,000 varieties of Allica roses. Today there are only 300.

It is the story of the roses in general and how Chinese roses revolutionised the staid world of European roses. Chinese roses only arrived in Europe in the second half of the 18th century and they had a huge impact on European roses. They brought remontancy, for one: the ability to flower several times a year. Chinese roses also brought new colours to Europe: red and yellow, most importantly.
 
Four roses in particular revolutionised the staid world of European roses from the late 18th to the early 19th centuries. They are the so-called stud roses: Slater's Crimson China, Parson's Pink China, Parks' Yellow Tea-Scented China and Hume's Blush Tea-Scented China. It was thought the four stud roses were species: they were in fact horticultural varieties, which had been bred by Chinese gardeners many centuries earlier. 

Chinese roses were all shipped to England via the East India Company, and the only roses they had access to were in the nurseries of Canton. The history also includes India, the East India Company buying roses from Chinese nurseries and then bringing them to Calcutta. And there was a lot of trade between England and France, until Napoleon established Continental Blockade in 1806.
 
Review Courtesy: http://www.scmp.com