Website/Catalog  (22 Oct 2023)  Includes photo(s).
 
3 to 5 feet    Z7-11 R Fr pb. We found this rose growing near a grave on the grounds of an old fort (1714) in Natchitoches, to Louisiana, and it is a real gem. Medium sized, cupped, light pink flowers were bravely blooming in mid-December when we collected cuttings. The original plant of "Natchitoches Noisette" is five feet tall and fairly compact in spite of obviously not having been pruned for years. The myrrh fragrance is outstanding; foliage is neat and healthy. We cannot be certain this plant is a Noisette, but it has most of the outstanding characteristics of the class.

Book  (2009)  Includes photo(s).
 
p26 William (Bill) C. Welch. . ....I can't resist the opportunity to share my enthusiasm for a "found" rose of questionable origins that I believe should be much more widely known. I first came across it while visitihg with my wife's grandmother in Natchitoches, Louisiana, in about 1983. Natchitoches (pronounced Nak-uh-tish) is considered by some historians to be the oldest city in the Louisiana Purchase .... the city cemetery, which includes graves dating to the late 1600s, has been a favourite haunt of rose collectors for many years. I too wandered there in search of roses. In a partially shaded area of the graveyard that wasn't close enough to a headstone to relate it to a particular individual, I found an interesting plant with a few blossoms. It seemed a bit like 'Old Blush' but here are subtle differences in its fragrance, foliage and the coloration of the flowers. I liked it and took cuttings, which rooted easily and were shared with The Antique Rose Emporium. Since then, it has stood the test of time well and remains a favorite. A four to six foot tall specimen to the right of the entrance of my house gets good sun and blooms almost continuously from mid spring until hard frost. Its healthy foliage, fragrance, and vigor are welcome in my garden and make me wonder about its past. I have never been tempted to adopt a "real" name for it by anything I have seen or read in the literature. Thankfully, it is available from several commercial sources.
"Natchitoches Noisette" (photo by Gregg Lowery).

p42. Gregg Lowery: "Natchitoches Noisette". Found in Louisiana, USA, by Bill Welch in 1983.
In the observational phase of the Hampton Park Noisette Study, this rose struck the observers as truly distinctive: it seemed to differ markedly from the Noisette type. Though the plant is compact and branching like 'Champneys' Pink Cluster', the foliage is lustrous and dark, much closer to that of a China rose. The flowers are small - an inch across, cherry-rose fading to light pink - and reminiscent of the blooms of 'Old Blush China'. "Natchitoches Noisette" forms a broad shrub, 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide, with a clean and glistening appearance. Bill Welch discovered this in an old cemetery in the historic Louisiana town of Natchitoches, and passed it on to The Antique Rose Emporium, which reintroduced it in the 1980s.

Book  (2009)  Page(s) 48.  
 
Malcolm M. Manners. The Hampton Park Noisette Study.
"Natchitoches Noisette". bud similar color. Petals creamy white deepening to cherry on outer petals. Petals 21, plus 5 petaloids. Few prickles

Website/Catalog  (2008)  
 
As per website - "Originally found in 1714, growing near a grave on the grounds of an old fort in Natchitoches, LA, this plant found its way to Niche via Rosemary Sims. She says it's "the best landscape Rose" in New Orleans. Small, soft, double, pastel-pink blossoms appear spring through summer on 3-5' shrubby plants. The subtle blue-tinted foliage is an added enhancement; this Rose sails through the rigors of a zone 9 New Orleans summer with ease; and yes, it's fragrant too. Add to the shrub or mixed perennial border for repeat blooms all summer long and into fall. Not native."

Book  (2006)  Page(s) 97.  
 
"Natchitoches Noisette" Noisette. Good, reliable rebloom. Outstanding fragrance. Compact. Unknown, found. ..One of my loves is this rose with its large globular pink flowers, very pink for us, more blush in the South, with sweet, peppery fragrance.

Newsletter  (Aug 2001)  Page(s) 4. Vol 26, No. 3.  
 
Rev. Douglas T. Seidel, Pennsylvania. Those fabulous Foundlings: the No-Name Noisettes.
"Natchitoches Noisette" is a curious pale pink foundling originally distributed by Antique Rose Emporium and available from a number of own-root nurseries. First discovered at an old fort in Natchitoches, Louisiana, this four foot shrub constantly produces clusters of cupped blooms marked at times with deeper rose tones. The plant seems to be a Noisette x China and the flowers look like the well-known Polyantha, 'La Marne'. One of "Natchitoches" distinctions is its fragrance. When I asked garden writer Liz Druitt to smell a bloom at Monticello last May, her first reaction was, "Ugh!"; with a second sniff her reaction was, "Anise!". The old writers spoke of just such a quality in 'Bisson a odeur d' Anisette'. Time and more research will solve the matter. "Natchitoches" is one of the few Noisette foundlings that is tender for me - seldom amounting to anything on the cold side of Zone 6. But just south of here it is a worthy addition to the garden.