Book  (Aug 2002)  Page(s) 45.  
 
Grey Pearl
Rated 4.9

Book  (2001)  Page(s) 48.  
 
Grey Pearl Hybrid Tea, mauve, 1945. Rating: 4.9

Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 227.  
 
Hybrid Tea, mauve, 1945, ('The Mouse'); ('Mrs. Charles Lamplough' x Seedling) x ('Sir David Davis' x 'Southport'); McGredy; J&P. Bud ovoid; flowers lavender-gray, shaded olive and tan, double (43 petals), high-centered, large (4-4 1/2 in.); fragrant; foliage glossy; vigorous growth.

Book  (1978)  Page(s) 123.  
 
'Grey Pearl' was an odd rose from McGredy, introduced  by J &  P in 1945, with a name which really needs no further description. It was rudely nicknamed The Mouse, from the greyness and the brown colour of its buds; its inability to grow also merited that title.

Book  (1971)  Page(s) 155.  
 
Grey Pearl 1949. Lavender-grey, shaded olive and tan, hybrid tea. To most people, a revolting colour, but a forerunner of many of today's lavender blues.

Website/Catalog  (1952)  Page(s) 74.  
 
From the 1952 Roses of Yesterday and Today catalog:

Grey Pearl. The catalog-writer is embarrassed. From first mention in edition 1949-1950 we have been promising Grey Pearl to a steadily increasing number of customers and have delivered a few, -- but the list grows faster than our supplies and we must again retire behind a barrage of ifs, buts, howevers, and never-the-lesses--at least until the harvest count is available in December. Grey Peal has the distinction(?) of bearing the lowest ARS rating in America -- a "smashing" 38%, but The Pearl's friend, Walter Bauer of Bremen, Indiana has a comback, --"I believe the reason so many do not like it, is too much rain on the ready-to-open bud. Just now, after a rainless period my flowers are perfect,-- a hot, dry climate for Grey Pearl." And Harris Darcy of Austin, Texas (where it is "hot and dry"), calls it his "Mona Lisa." And again from San Marino, California, --"Even my over-active imagination could not conjure up anything so lovely."

As for the catalog-writer, national rating notwithstanding, he's still waiting to pin one of these pale lavender-grey roses on a black draped shoulder. Needed now, only the lovely (and willing!) lady! $2.50
Later--at the Tulsa ARS convention, --I found her, Mrs. William H. Bies of St Louis.

Article (magazine)  (Dec 1951)  Page(s) 22.  
 
Grey Pearl, a controversial item in itself and of no distinguished popularity, has mothered a new and distinctly fashionable group of hybrids... Greying a color or shading, brings new color qualities not available with pure pigments. That is what 'Grey Pearl' contributes, as illustrated in the smoky pink-lavender of 'Lavender Pinocchio'.

Book  (1947)  Page(s) 128.  
 
Herbert C. Swim. An Evaluation of the Newer Roses in the United States
Grey Pearl is a curiosity but would have little appeal for anyone except the Rose collector. The colour is more depressing than pleasing.

Book  (1945)  Page(s) 223, 225.  
 
Grey Pearl Hybrid Tea. (S. McGredy & Son; introduced in the US by Jackson & Perkins Co., 1945). Unnamed seedling x unnamed seedling... A general grey tone with mauve and brownish undertones...
p. 225: Grey Pearl Hybrid Tea. Samuel McGredy & Son, Portadown, Ireland; [introduced by] Jackson and Perkins Company, Newark, New York.