Article (newspaper)  (Mar 2011)  Page(s) 2.  Includes photo(s).
 
Patricia Routley: In 1946 there was relief and hope for a future again and in Ireland Mr. Sam McGredy the 3rd released his new hybrid tea rose Rubaiyat. How he managed to build up enough stock for a new rose release at that time is beyond me, but life was returning to normal and people were eager to have beauty and fragrance again. I have been lucky enough to find four separate plants of ‘Rubaiyat’ and it was well known in Western Australia. My first plant came from Sheila Gravett at Mooney’s Bridge, south of Manjimup in 2001. It was her rose No. 78 and that dear lady had a painted wooden name-post in front of her rose ‘Rubaiyat’. I planted my cutting grown plant in a good position, but unfortunately it used to get appalling rust and when I could later see it was the same as the rose in the next paragraph, I took it out and threw it away. I would certainly not do that sort of thing these days, but instead move it to a more congenial spot. My second plant came from Elsie Roberts in Bridgetown in 2003. (Elsie died on April 4, 2010, less than two months before her 100th birthday). It had been Elsie’s father’s (Humphrey Gifford) rose and she had propagated and loved it too. She no longer recalled the name but because of the saucer-size of the blooms, she called it “my cabbage”. Later I was able to look at Humphrey’s garden diary to find he had planted ‘Rubaiyat’ in July, 1951. Because of this, and my first rose from Sheila, mentioned above, I have no doubt at all that this rose is ‘Rubaiyat’. The third plant came from an old house, now no longer there, on the corner of Bath & Ipsen streets, Manjimup in 2004. I have many roses from that site that I struck from cuttings before they all went to the big garden bed in the sky. This particular rose completed completely disappeared in about 2008, possibly being dug up and hopefully replanted somewhere. Gardens only last as long as their owners I am afraid. 'Rubayiat' is also at David Martin’s garden (Rose No. 37) at 44 Somerville St., Manjimup and was planted by his mother in 1959 or 1960.
What a rose! Most people loved it because of its extremely strong fragrance. The clear cerise-pink or rosy-red flowers with the reverse a lighter shade, are large and a little loose, forming an open cup of 25 petals. It grew to massive bushes in W.A. - two and three metres high. Mine are about 2m on their own roots. In Brisbane in 1962 a nurseryman wrote “Terrific growth. Birds build nests in it”. The rose was named after Omar Khayyam’s poetic work The Rubaiyat....... The moving finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on; nor all thy piety nor wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.

Book  (2006)  Page(s) 222.  
 
‘Rubaiyat’. HT. Good reliable rebloom. Outstanding fragrance. 4[habit of growth] . McGredy, 1946. [Provenance: Edmunds]
Deep rose red, spiralled blooms with a pale rose reverse; intensely scented of Damask and spice, flowers opening broad and large with a ruby glow.

Website/Catalog  (2003)  Page(s) 25.  
 
‘Rubaiyat’. Hybrid Tea. Dark pink. McGredy, 1946.

Book  (Dec 1998)  Page(s) 526.  
 
Rubaiyat Hybrid Tea. McGredy 1946. Description... large, high-centered, double flowers that are rose red with lighter undersides...

Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 525.  
 
Rubaiyat Hybrid Tea, rose-red, reverse lighter, 1946, ('McGredy's Scarlet' x 'Mrs. Sam McGredy') x (Seedling x 'Sir Basil McFarland'); McGredy. Description.

Book  (1993)  Page(s) 356.  Includes photo(s).

Book  (1991)  Page(s) 29.  
 
David Ruston. It was then on to …. Peppermint Grove [W.A.] to the small garden of roses at the Bowling Club. I was pleased to see such old warriors as ‘Rubaiyat’ – huge bushes three metres high.

Book  (Aug 1990)  Page(s) 94.  Includes photo(s).
 
Rubaiyat Hybrid Tea. Description... large, deep pink flowers with high centers... lighter pink on the reverse...

Book  (1984)  
 
p56-6 Dr. Merlin L. Cooper. Ohio. Blind Wood, Its Causes. Some varieties, such as ‘Rubaiyat’ have never developed blind canes in my garden.

p56-10 ibid. Is an inherent or genetic cause of blind wood indicated by the apparent insusceptibility of ‘Rubaiyat’, the marked susceptiblity of ‘Chrysler Imperial’ or …..

Book  (1978)  Page(s) 58.  
 
Arbel M. Aldous. The Rose and Omar Khayyam.
.,...The rose 'Rubaiyat' is described in Modern Roses thus: 'Rubaiyat'. Hybrid tea (McGredy, int. J. & P., 46) ('McGredy's Scarlet' x 'Mrs. Sam McGredy' x (seedling x 'Sir Basil Macfarland'). Bud long pointed; large (4 1/2 - 5 in.), dbl. (25 petals), high centred, very fragrant, rosy-red, reverse lighter; Fol. dark, leathery. Very vig., upright; abundant bloom. Quite hardy, Portland Gold Medal '45.
I bought it from Cants and used it often at the National Rose Show but it did not survive the move to Oxford in 1957. Now no one seems to list it. why? I wrote to Sam McGredy in New Zealand and he replied that 'Rubaiyat' was raised by McGredy but, having no demand at first, it was sold to Jackson and Perkins. Then they bought it back in 1946 but it was not a success because, like most reds, it did not do well in our climate. He said that it is still fairly widely grown in the USA