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'Midnight Sun' rose Reviews & Comments
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Available from - Wild Rose Nursery
www.wildrosenursery.com.au
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There is no proof Patrick Grant's 'Midnight Sun' was named after a racehorse, though a New Zealand horse of that name won big races in Australia 1911–1914. Searching through contemporary newspapers, you find that "Land of the Midnight Sun" was variously Alaska, Norway, Finland or Antarctica (where Mawson and Edgeworth David had been in 1909 and Mawson was 1911–13). The rose came out in 1921.
According to Wikipedia's entry for "Midnight Sun", the 24-hour sun inside the Arctic Circle at the summer solstice is actually a pale apricot colour, not the rich, glowing red–black of Grant's rose. But we get what he meant.
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Not too sure about any connection with the sun at the Arctic Circle. I sort of lean towards the blackness of the world at 11.59pm without a moon. And Harry Hazlewood who said in the ARA 1935-14 "it is in the intensity of the "fire" such as may be seen in 'Midnight Sun' or 'Marchioness of Linlithgow'."
Actually the only blackness or fire I am seeing in the photos is in the one from Rob Peace of the bud.
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Well the outer parts of the petals are distinctly black-tinged and they stay that way. At the same time the crimson really glows. I haven't yet caught a bud before it unfurls yet the sepals have fallen away.
Anyway, the Maddingley Park bush has scores of buds on it still and the return fare on the train is $6.70.
The other striking thing to me is that it is such a beautiful bush and would be if it never flowered. Like the new growth on a lilly-pilly if you have such a thing in WA. Has anyone ever seen a hedge of it?
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From the AMerican Rose Annual 1923
article-Roses of the World
page 154
Australia
*Midnight Sun, H.T. (Grant; intro. by Kershaw, 1921.) Star of Queensland
X Red-Letter Day. Type, Red-Letter Day. Bud large; flower large, open,
semi-double, very lasting; deep maroon; slight fragrance. Foliage leathery,
disease-resistant. Vigorous, upright, dwarf (4 to 5 feet); continuous bloomer.
First-Class Certificate, National Rose Society, N. S. W.
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Thanks for that Sandie. We've added this reference.
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Earlier references (Hazlewood Bros catalogue 1922 and Modern Roses III) give the parentage as 'Red Letter Day' x 'Star of Queensland'.
Modern Roses V and more recent refs have the reverse - 'Star of Queensland' x 'Red Letter Day'.
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