Newsletter  (Feb 2019)  Page(s) 17. Vol 43, No. 1.  Includes photo(s).
 
Darrell G.H.Schramm.  Greetings to Rose Lovers. 
‘Gruss an Aachen’ is considered the first Floribunda, though when it appeared in 1909.....

Magazine  (2019)  Page(s) 51. Vol 41, No. 1.  
 
Margaret Furness.  Tea, Noisette and China Mislabels in Australia.
Poly-Teas and Chinas.
Roses sold here as Irène Watts are usually Grüss an Aachen or Pink Grüss an Aachen.

Article (newspaper)  (Jan 2015)  Page(s) 2.  Includes photo(s).
 
Patricia Routley: In the German language Gruss an translates to Greetings to. There were quite a few rose names prefixed by this salutation and I have two of them: ‘Gruss an Teplitz’ 1897 and Gruss an Aachen 1908. The town of Aachen in Germany is an ancient cathedral city, the imperial capital of Charlemagne, and is a stone’s throw from the borders of Belgium and the Netherlands. Incredibly, the city with such beautiful buildings was built in an old volcano crater and still has a rotting egg sulphurous smell. It is famous for its delicacy Aachener Printen, a hard crunchy and delicious gingerbread given as a Christmas treat. The rose ‘Gruss an Aachen’ was bred by Wilhelm Hinner who worked for Philipp Geduldig’s nursery in Aachen from 1906 to 1907. When Hinner bred ‘Gruss an Aachen’ in 1908, it was distributed by Geduldig and in the literature, it is usually attributed, incorrectly, to Geduldig. Hinner took the famous 1901 white Hybrid Perpetual rose ‘Frau Karl Druschki’ and put pollen on it from his second bred rose ‘Franz Deegen’ a yellow hybrid tea, also bred in 1901. At least that is what the books tell us, but there is some doubt about this cross as the 21 chromosome numbers of ‘Gruss an Aachen’ suggest otherwise. It sets no hips. (However there are two roses that are said to have ‘Gruss an Aachen’ as a seed parent. The 1915 ‘Frau Dr. Erreth’ and ‘Gruppenkonigin’ in 1935). ‘Gruss an Aachen’ produced three pink sports, three white sports, and two climbing sports. Over the decades it has been a much-loved rose. ‘Gruss an Aachen’ is fragrant, inexplicably, because it came from ‘Frau Karl Druschki’, which is renowned for its complete and utter lack of fragrance. But the old Frau could pass on fragrance. Either that, or there is more to the pollen parent ‘Franz Deegan’ than I know about. David Austin was so impressed with ‘Gruss an Aachen’ that he considered it to be the ideal look, or type, for the massive number of English roses he was later to breed. This 1908 bush is probably nearest to being a floribunda, but that term didn’t really take off until the 1940’s. It started out being called a polyantha, and then a hybrid tea. ‘Gruss an Aachen’ repeat blooms, is a full, cupped and flat-topped rose and the petals have a silky sheen to them. The colour is a pearly apricot pink, fading gently to creamy white. The upright bushy plant of 90cms is almost thornless and has tough, dark green foliage. I bought my rose on Fortuniana rootstock from Mostly Roses Nursery at Newlands in 1999, but it is not the lovely healthy bush it should be - I put it in the Great Southern Garden which is far too close to the karris, and I suspect karri roots have invaded the bed. In 2010 I struck another and put this new plant in the soft, deep, but fairly barren soil in the Rosary. I don’t see too many blooms throughout our dry summers, but in other gardens this 106 year old rose can hold its own with any rose of today.

Magazine  (2013)  Page(s) No. 45.  
 
p25. Harold Enders. The Conservation of Old German Roses.
Another prominent survivor of the world of German rose breeding is 'Gruss an Aachen' ('Frau Karl Druschki' x 'Franz Deegen'). Often attributed to P. Geduldig, who brought it into commerce, it was actually bred by Wilhelm Hinner....

p31. Ibid. One of the chief ironies of German rose history is the fact that Hinner's greatest success in rose breeding - indeed one of the most successful German roses of all in its time and even today - is not linked to him at all. His large-flowered Polyantha 'Gruss an Aachen' has been attributed to the Geduldig nursery, but Philipp Geduldig only propagated and introduced it. The rose was actually bred by Wilhelm Hinner.

Book  (Aug 2002)  Page(s) 45.  
 
Gruss an Aachen
Floribunda 1909
Rated 8.3

Book  (Apr 2001)  Page(s) 95.  
 
White Willow Glen #1 ('Gruss an Aachen'?) Found. San José

Book  (2001)  Page(s) 48.  
 
Grüss an Aachen Floribunda, light pink, 1909. Rating: 8.3

Book  (Apr 1999)  Page(s) 42-42.  Includes photo(s).
 
One of Rayford Reddell's choices for its cut-flowers... the greatest of all attributes inherent to 'Gruss an Aachen' is that it looks like an heirloom rose of considerable antiquity but blossoms like a modern fool... Buds and immature flowers are pearly pink. As blossoms mature, they turn creamy-white and take on an obvious silky sheen...

Book  (Apr 1999)  Page(s) 405-406.  
 
Gruss an Aachen Hybrid Tea. Geduldig/Hinner 1909. Translation: "Greetings to Aachen". Parentage: 'Frau Karl Druschki' x 'Franz Deegen'. The author cites information from different sources... Pale salmon shading white... makes an ideal compact Memorial Rose... Aachen, or Aix-la-Chapelle, was Charlemagne's capital city...

Book  (Apr 1999)  Page(s) 553.  
 
Gruss an Aachen Hybrid Tea. Philipp Geduldig 1909