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"Port Arthur" rose Reviews & Comments
Discussion id : 153-837
most recent 4 NOV 23 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 4 NOV 23 by petera
The rose I have as "Port Arthur" can't be Lady Waterlow if the plant as Mottisfont is correct. I photographed that plant at Mottisfont 18 May 2023; it is stunning and I dearly wish I did have it. If the original found plant was really LW then it must have been switched at some stage in the chain by which it came to me. My plant came from John Nieuwesteeg with budwood, I believe, sourced from the HRIA collection at Ruston's.
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Discussion id : 139-155
most recent 9 MAR 23 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 7 MAR 23 by petera
My plant has shown zero inclination to climb. It looks like a typical HT rather than a Noisette and is very slow growing. My experience with Noisettes is that even the ancient ones are still capable of demolishing buildings. My plant supposedly came from the tea-Noisette collection at Ruston's via John Nieuwesteeg but there might have been a mix-up in the ID. Does anyone know the original plant?
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Reply #1 of 2 posted 7 MAR 23 by Margaret Furness
The plant at Renmark was planted in 2012 (in the HT section, not the Tea-Noisette-China bed). It didn't get tall either in the time we had to observe it. Provenance was Port Arthur Policeman's Res-S-rock wall -> Naomi B (Pt Arthur gardening staff) -> Adrienne C (HRIA member) -> Paringa igloo. Best to ask the Hobart HRIA group to ask the Pt Arthur gardening staff if it's still there, and if so, to photograph it.

In the HRIA Journal 32.4 There is a condensed reprint of an article, 'The Old Roses of Port Arthur' by Isabel Chapman from The Australian Garden Journal 6. 4 of 1987. It says, "Lady Waterlow (1903) is a rich, soft warm pink with a tinge of apricot: it has the typical faint Tea scent and is quite a strong climber". The writer describes it as a Tea, and says that Climbing Lady Hillingdon and Climbing Mrs Herbert Stevens were on the same wall. It isn't clear from the article whether there was a planting list of the roses, or whether the IDs were guesses.

In the HRIA Journal 35.4 there is a reprint of an article, 'Three Ladies and their Roses' by Odile Masquelier, from the proceedings of the 13th International Heritage Rose Conference at Sangerhausen in 2013.

There may be two roses passing as Lady Waterlow (apart from "Pt Arthur"), as the earliest references to it describe it as soft pink with carmine edges to the petals: some photos show this.

Attached are two photos sent to me by Eric T on 11/2/2014, of a presumed Lady Waterlow growing on a veranda in Tasmania. He photographed a rose labelled Lady Waterlow at the Victoria State Rose Garden, which still lists it. I think both roses are identical in bud colour and flower colour with the Renmark plant.
Also attached is a photo of Naomi taking cuttings for HRIA in 2009: I don't know who took the the photo. The other climbing roses have disappeared since 1987.

Edit: Eric T says the rose was on a house bought by a now-late friend at Exton 20 years ago. Eric says he IDed it as Lady Waterlow, with no historical evidence, and it was a beautiful rose.
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Reply #2 of 2 posted 9 MAR 23 by petera
I think you are right about two roses being confused as Lady Waterlow quite apart from what we have as "Port Arthur". The carmine edges are not very prominent on Eric T's plant, to say the least.
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Discussion id : 95-383
most recent 13 OCT 16 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 13 OCT 16 by Margaret Furness
There is ongoing discussion about its ID.
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