Magazine  (1989)  Page(s) 17, Vol 11, No. 2.  
 
Deane Ross.   Stand up the Correct La France.    
At the risk of stirring a hornet’s nest, I would like to make some observations about the famous, and generally accepted first Hybrid Tea, La France.   ​I will not dwell on the history of the rose for its place in the development of the modern rose is documented in most books on the subject.    However, there is an especially detailed article in the 1983 American Rose Annual by Dr. Charles G. Jeremias (pp 122-133).   It was the photograph of La France opposite p128 that caught my attention.    The photo was clear and true, but it was not my La France. Shown was a rose of soft salmon-pink tones, blushed slightly deeper at the edges.    Where had I seen it before?    Three years ago my friend, the prodigious rose collector Trevor Griffiths of New Zealand, had sent me the same rose.    I had requested a new strain of La France, as mine was a weakling.    When it flowered, I wrote to Trevor saying,  in my most diplomatic way, that he had sent me the wrong rose, and I described it.    Trevor maintained that his La France was from two sources and was correct.  
​ I turn now to my La France.   My late father was brought up in a rose nursery from 1904 and through a lifetime in the industry, became one of the leading authorities on rose identification in Australia.    He grew La France commercially in the early days, and when we re-introduced it into our list to meet the demand for the old garden roses, he was quite happy that our variety was true to name, though the growth habit had declined.    The blooms on our plant are quite distinctive.    The shape is globular, with cupped petals that roll their outer edges into two or three tight reflexing scrolls.    The colour is silvery pink inside and rich pink on the reverse.   Typical photos of my La France appear in “Rose Growing for Pleasure” p91 (Ross);  “Classic Roses (Beales);  “A Heritage of Roses (Austin),  “Roses” p124 (Phillips and Rix).   The Book of the Rose” p69 (Gibson) and “Roses at the Cape of Good Hope”p179 (Fagan).   It is very precisely described by Dr. Pal in “The Rose in India.” `​​On the other hand, the photo to which I referred in the `1983 Rose Annual appears the same as that illustrated in Griffith’s “My World of Old Roses”p102 and “Taylor’s Guide to Roses”, p217. ​​​Mutations can often help with identifications, and there is a white sport of La France called Augustine Guinoisseau.    Mine is growing beside La France and is identical in all respects except for the colour and the healthier, more vigorous growth. ​​It appears that the roses known as La France in U.S.A. and New Zealand is different to that in England, South Africa and Australia.    If our variety is true to name, what is going under that name in the U.S. and N.Z.?    Compare the lithograph reproduction in “Classic Roses” (Beales) p39 of Lady Mary Fitzwilliam!    Can anyone throw light on the subject?
​​​​​………………….
An American book which correctly (thereby I agree with Deane!) La France is “Old Roses for Modern Gardens” (Thomson, 1959).    I have found this an extremely useful guide to rose identification.    Though not in colour, there is no doubt that this is the La France we know in Australia.   Nancy Steen says “Large full, fragrant flowers of silvery pink deepening to rose-pink on the outside of the petals”.    No reference to salmon tonings.    This descriptions also seems to tally with Australian stock.    To further agree with Deane, the colour, shape and perfume of this rose are unmistakable;    once seen it is not easily mistaken.    I have seen some very large, healthy and vigorous bushes of La France in central Victorian gardens.    Keep trying for a good bush, as not all seem to grow away freely after transplanting;    it is worth the trouble.  ​​​R. Peace (Vic.) 
 

Book  (1988)  Page(s) 124-125.  Includes photo(s).
 
La France Hybrid Tea. Guillot Fils 1867. Description. Parentage: unrecorded.

Book  (Jun 1986)  Page(s) 423.  
 
La France Description... Silvery pink with bright pink reverse... Disease resistant and winter hardy...

Website/Catalog  (1986)  Page(s) 24.  
 

La France (Hybrid Tea) Of great historical importance as the first H.T., of great beauty, except in wet weather. 1867.  (C) 3 x 3’.

Book  (1985)  Page(s) 17.  
 
Reverend Henry Honywood D'Ombrain [an English clergyman who at one time had been Curate of Bray was] commissioned by a Mr. Bull of Chelsea to enquire about a yellow Hybrid Perpetual, supposed to have been raised by François Lacharme in Lyon... [while he was in France in 1865 or 1866, he visited Jean-Baptiste Guillot and saw 'La France']

Book  (1983)  Page(s) 129.  
 
Dr. Charles G. Jeremias,   La France:  The First Hybrid Tea?
…..Being a triploid as would expect, it is very infertile but not completely so.    

Book  (1983)  Page(s) 46.  
 
Dr. Thomas:  
La France H.T. (Guillot, 1867), is another triploid and so has few if any descendents.  It is regarded as the first hybrid tea.  Its two-tone, pink blooms are of excellent form but the petals are thin in texture causing many blooms to ball.

Book  (1983)  Page(s) 132.  
 
Dr. M. J. Cameron:  
finally, in 1867 ‘La France’ was created - a cross between a Hybrid Perpetual and a Tea Rose.   It has large, well shaped, silvery-pink blooms, perpetual flowering and strong fragrance.  It marked a tremendous improvement and was the foundation of the current Golden Age of the Rose.

Website/Catalog  (1982)  Page(s) 22.  
 
La France  H.T of great historical importance as the first H.T. of great beauty, except in wet weather. Incapable, one would suspect, of bearing such vulgar progeny as some of our modern varieties of H.T.  Silver pink and scented. 1867. (C) 3 x 3’.

Magazine  (19 Nov 1981)  
 
Humphrey Brooke: A Rose Prophecy Fulfilled, The Resurgence of the Hybrid Perpetual.
La France (1867), recognised as the first HT, was classed as an HP for 10 years.