Book  (Nov 1994)  
 
p4. At the outbreak of war Brian O. Mulligan, at that time Assistant to Mr. Harrow at the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens at Wisley, Surrey, drew my attention to the great collection of Old Roses gathered together by E. A. Bunyard, which was shortly to be sold. This awakened me to the treasure stored by this enlightend man, who was so great a loss to us all in his passing. And then shortly afterwards the only other big commercial collection of shrub roses fell upon the market, that of Messrs. G. Beckwith & Son of Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. Although this collection was mainly composed of species, many of which were of doubtful horticultural value, the entire collection was acquired in the spring of 1940.....

p4. Meanwhile, in 1941 I was lucky enough to find my way to Nymans, Lieutenant-Colonel L. R. C. Messel's beautiful home at Handcross, Sussex. It was my special privilege to be taken round the remarkable collection of Old Roses by Mrs. Messel, whose particular hobby it had been to collect these delights before the war. Here was my first introduction to them as garden furnishings..... At Nymans these roses were grouped in formal beds, set in grass and interspersed with apple- and mulberry-trees in a pleasing cottage garden style. It was a great experience to see them and hear all the delightful names of these rare old varieties from so knowledgeable and enthusiastic a gardener as Mrs. Messell. There was not much time during the war to look out for roses, but an occasional visit to Nymans and Wisley....

p5. ....and roses from Messrs. Bunyard's had found their way through E. A. Bunyard to Nymans.

p5. Another journey was to Colonel F. C. Stern's garden at Highdown, Goring-by-Sea, Sussex; good bushes of old-fashioned roses grew strongly in his chalky soil...... and on the same day I went farther, into Buckinghamshire, to Chetwode Manor. In this quiet country garden Mrs. Louis Fleischmann has preserved another collection of roses; these had been mostly gathered from old gardens in England and Ireland....., I described her garden at some length in Gardening Illustrated for July 1951.

Book  (Nov 1993)  Page(s) 25.  Includes photo(s).
 
Centifolia ... a tall arching rose with clear pink flowers deepening in colour in the centre and can be grown as a small climber with support ... richly perfumed flowers, which tend to hang downwards. Named after a French flower painter who lived from 1839 to 1904.

Book  (Sep 1993)  Page(s) 170.  Includes photo(s).
 
Fantin-Latour Centifolia. Description... one of the all-time great roses... soft pink... Little is known about its history; it was rediscovered and christened by the English rosarian Graham Stuart Thomas, who points out that it is not a pure-bred Centifolia, despite its official classification. Henri Fantin-Latour was the great nineteenth-century French painter of flowers. Parentage unknown.

Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 173.  
 
Centifolia (OGR), light pink, Original name, class and date unknown. Flowers blush, full, flat; fragrant; foliage dark, broad; vigorous, bushy growth.

Book  (Feb 1993)  Page(s) 62.  Includes photo(s).

Book  (1993)  Page(s) 14.  Includes photo(s).

Book  (1993)  Page(s) 58.  Includes photo(s).

Book  (1993)  Page(s) 28.  Includes photo(s).
 
Fantin Latour A centifolia-like hybrid. (Centifolia x China or Gallica x Hybrid Tea). Description. Known since the late 19th century.

Magazine  (Mar 1992)  Page(s) 5. No. 3.  
 
Graham Stuart Thomas. Rose Nomenclature. Many years ago I was given two exceptionally beautiful roses, which we know as .... and 'Fantin Latour'. After years of search I must admit to defeat in being able to verify either of these names in old books. There are no such names recorded....
As to 'Fantin-Latour', this was given to me by Mrs. Ruby Fleischmann, who had had it from Mrs. Messel at Nymans. Both gardens were rich in old roses in the early 1950s, having been preserved like those at St. Nicholas since before the war. Ruby Fleischmann always called it 'Fantin-Latour' because of the close resemblance to the many roses in his paintings, but once again there is no record of his having had a rose named after him. While of R. centifolia persuasion it is probably a throw-back hybrid of a China rose, vigorous and prolific. Both this and ....have become popular in the great revival of interest in these roses of the 19th century, and their names are best left as they are. .

Book  (1992)  Page(s) 112.  Includes photo(s).
 
'Fantin Latour' is a found child with a phantasy name, but she has beautiful centifolia blooms and is fragrant.