Magazine  (Dec 1936)  Page(s) 143.  
 
Déjà, en 1933, la « Societa Italiana Amici dei Fiori » (La Société Italienne des Amis des Fleurs), accueillant une de mes propositions, annonça un Concours International pour roses hybrides de la « R. Moyesii » et de la « R. Bracteata » ; ensuite l' « Ente Mostre Floreali » (L'Entité des Etalages Floraux) de San-Remo, annonça le concours, qu'on n'a pas oublié, pour des hybrides de « R. Gigantea », de « R. Banksiœ » et de « R. Odorata ». Le but principal de ces concours est de diriger le travail des chercheurs de « nouveautés » selon un but déterminé en primant ceux qui ont obtenu les meilleurs résultats.....Prof. Br. BRASCHI, Directeur des Jardins de la Ville de Rome.

Article (misc)  (7 Mar 1935)  Page(s) 97, 98.  
 
p. 97: Hybrids of R. gigantea: aside from the work of Paul Nabonnand, Father Schoener, Alister Clark, and Captain Thomas, very little has been done in this field. The botanical species, R. gigantea, is reputed to have been discovered in Burma in 1887, but, in reality, Gilbert Nabonnand was already growing R. gigantea at Golfe Juan about 1875... The first hybrids, one of which was 'Etoile de Portugal', were obtained in 1898 at the Botanic Garden of Lisbon, by Henri Cayeux, now Director of Gardens and Walks at Havre...
p. 98: Although not remontant, the hybrids of climbing Giganteas have another great advantage -- they bloom ahead of other roses, even Teas. Besides, their vigorous growth covers a large surface quickly. The botanic type easily reaches a height of sixty feet, and hybrids ten years old cover a surface one hundred and fifty feet square, so they are not suitable for small rose gardens...

Magazine  (Jul 1933)  Page(s) 146.  
 
Le Comité d’organisation des Expositions florales « Ente autonomo Mostre floreali » de San-Remo (Italie) institue un concours pour les meilleures nouvelles variétés de roses ayant été obtenues par hybridation des espèces suivantes : Rosa gigantea, R. Banksiæ et R. odorata ou R. indica major.
Il vient de créer à cet effet le Prix de San-Remo, qui consiste en deux plaquettes en or, l’une décernée à la meilleure rose italienne, l’autre à la meilleure rose étrangère ayant été obtenue par hybridation des espèces ci-dessus mentionnées. Des médailles d’or seront en outre attribuées aux roses qui auront été classées deuxième et troisième.
Les plantes présentées devront être adressées à l' « Ente autonomo mostre floreali di San-Remo », avant le 28 février 1937. Au printemps 1938, un Jury international décidera de l’attribution des prix.

Book  (1933)  Page(s) 211.  
 
Rosa Odorata Gigantea. Rehder. Probably the ancestor of the Hybrid Giganteas...It is all mixed up with species like R. macrocarpa, R. xanthocarpa, and R. gigantea. Nobody knows what the difference between these varities is except the botanists, and they successfully keep the information to themselves by hiding it in a mass of technical language.

Magazine  (Jun 1932)  Page(s) 56.  
 
Le Rosa odorata Gigantea, décrit par CRÉPIN, Sir G. WATT et H. COLLETT, en 1890, dans son mémoire sur les plantes du Haut Burna et des Shan Estates, est originaire de ces contrées. Le docteur Augustus HENRY et W. HANCOCK l'auraient trouvé également dans le sud de la Chine, à Ichang, au Yunnan, mais nous croyons que ce type diffère de celui de COLLETT.
Il est généralement admis qu'il a été introduit en Europe en 1888. Il est pourtant incontestable que le R. G. existait et fleurissait à Cannes, entre 1870 et 1880, dans les cultures de M. Gilbert NABONNAND, et il est possible que ce dernier, à qui nous sommes redevables de l'acclimatation sur la Côte d'Azur des Mimosées, de l'Eucalyptus, arbres et arbustes de la Nouvelle-Hollande, Palmiers de différentes origines, etc., ait été son introducteur en Europe.
...Dans le sud de l'Europe, le R. G. atteint de 10 à 15 mètres de hauteur. Multiplié par semis, il ne donne pas de fleurs avant cinq ans au minimum ; par greffage de trois à quatre ans, il ne fleurit que sur le bois de deux ans.

Magazine  (1929)  Page(s) 305-307.  Includes photo(s).
 
Rosa Gigantea And Its Hybrids by H. Cayeux
Henri Cayeux describes how Rosa gigantea bloomed in Europe for the first time in April 1896 in the Lisbon Botanical Garden. Cayeux recommends grafting a flowering branch to Rosa indica to obtain flowering much earlier than from plants grown from seed, which grow so vigorously, up to 8 to 10 meters a year, that they flower very little. He also reports even more generous bloom by top grafting Rosa gigantea on Tea roses that have been grafted on Eglantine, thus allowing hybridizing without using a ladder.

Website/Catalog  (1923)  Page(s) 52.  
 
Rosa gigantea (Collett). Native of Burma, Siam.

Book  (1916)  Page(s) 86.  Includes photo(s).
 
Rosa gigantea. Communicated by Edward Mawley, V. M. H. President N.R.S., from: a note supplied by Mr. Algernon Dunn Gardner.
Mr. Algernon Dunn Gardner of Denston Hall, Newmarket,. has kindly sent me a few particulars respecting his success last year in flowering Rosa gigantea, and has asked me to communicate them to the Society's "Rose Annnal for 1916."
When first in flower last year he sent me a few blooms which I took up to a meeting or the Publications Committee of the N.R.S., which happened to be held on the following day. Several members of the Committee recognized the Rose by the foliage, but I think only one of those present had ever seen a flower of it before. In fact, I have never before heard of its flowering in this country except in one of the greenhouses in Kew Gardens, *

*Footnote; "Dr. Stapf has kindly informed me that so far as he is aware the only place where Rosa gigantea has flowered in this country, except at Kew, is at Albany Park, Guildford, where it is grown under glass. See “ Bot. Mag." 7972.-Ed.

which shows how much Mr. Dunn Gardner is to be congratulated upon his unique success with this Rose. He wrote:-
"I obtained my plant of Rosa gigantea from Messrs J. Veitch & Sons, of King's Road, Chelsea, in 1909, and planted it in a cool greenhouse 40 feet by 24 feet and 15 feet in height. It was trained up one of the iron stays and in a short time reached the roof, and now covers a space 25 feet in length along it. The circumference of the stem three feet above the ground is 5 ½ inches. The soil in which it is planted is a very rich and stiff loamy clay that has never had any manure. The plant makes very gross young shoots that are for the most part cut off by the gardener. With me it seems to flower on the second season’s wood and on the small branches coming from the old shoots. It flowers at the latter end of March or early in April. It bloomed for the first time in 1914, when it had only one flower, which you will remember I sent you. In the spring of the present year (1915) there were eighteen blooms.”

This is Mr. Dunn Gardner’s clear and excellent description of his wonderful Rose, which I hope may lead some of the readers of this Annual to follow his example and try themselves to grow and flower this tantalizing variety, which will grow fast enough, but seldom flowers*

*Footnote: Anyone making this experiment should be careful as to the soil employed. It appears that Rosa gigantea first flowered at Kew in 1910, after having been grown there for some years. This took place after the soil had been changed, for the benefit of other plants, from a rich loam to a soil of a more peaty and lighter nature. See “Gardeners’ Chronicle,” 11th May, 1912, Vol. li., p.314 Ed.

About twenty years ago I planted a Rosa gigantea against a south wall in my garden, where it lingered on for about a year, and then gradually faded away on the approach of winter. My next experience was almost equally as unsatisfactory. An officer sent me some seeds which he had gathered from some wild Roses in Burmah. He did not know, or at all events did not say what Roses they were. These I distributed amongst some of my Rose-growing friends, amateurs and nurserymen, but only in one case did I receive an account of the results obtained, and that was from a lady in my own neighbourhood whose gardener is very clever is raising out of the way foreign plants from seed. He showed me about eight healthy plants in pots from two to about five feet in height. He said he had tried all he knew for a couple of years to make them flower, and then when I told him I gathered from the foliage that they were Rosa giganteas, and how seldom they were known to flower in England, he said he could neither spare the time nor the space to try any further to flower them, and so they were at once done away with.
Rosa gigantea is thus concisely described in one of the supplements to “Nicholson’s Dictionary of Gardening”: “Rosa gigantea (gigantic). This is something in the way of Rosa indica chinensis, but larger, and differs in having solitary lemon-white flowers five inches in diameter when expanded, but golden yellow as a bud, with entire outer sepals and unarmed floral branches. Introduced from Burmah in 1888.

Book  (1915)  Page(s) 338-339.  
 
Rosa odorata var. gigantea Rehder & Wilson
This variety is the wild form of the Tea Rose; it is widely dispersed in Southern Yunnan and has been reported from Mengtsze in the east to the frontiers of the Shan States in the extreme southwest. The flowers vary from white to yellow or pale buff or to pale pink and are delightfully fragrant. In tall thickets and margins of woods it is a tall and rampant climber, but on the open plateaus it forms a bush with arching stems and is often not more than 2 m. tall.

Website/Catalog  (1915)  Page(s) 17.  
 
Jessie Clark The Pink Gigantea Seedling.
The many who have tried to establish Rosa Gigantea and have failed, will be glad to hear that in the new rose - ‘Jessie Clark’ - they have a fine pink form with a constitution that ensures success wherever it is planted.