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'Red-Letter Day' rose Reviews & Comments
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In Tasmania recently, I saw a named bush of ‘Red-Letter Day’ that a mother (or grand-mother) planted many decades ago. This was a tall bush (5 feet?) with green wood and some thorns. The foliage was dark and small with impressed veins. The one open bloom was crimson with a whitish or light reverse. They seemed to be mostly solitary but there was some clustering. There was a very prickly or sandpaper feel to the pedicel and receptacle. The small receptacle was long and of basically the same shape as that pictured below. There were no hips visible but the sepals were retained on the receptacles. New growth was brown, not red.
Does anyone else know if this clone sets hips? ‘Red-Letter Day’ was said to be a prolific seed-setter (1924 reference). And did anyone smell this clone? ‘Red-Letter Day’ was said to have no fragrance (1922, 1924, 1925 refs).
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#1 of 10 posted
6 NOV 20 by
 HubertG
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There's a tall HT in the Barbara May garden at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney of the 'Red-Letter Day' type which
I noticed, when I visited last winter, has strikingly narrow receptacles and buds. I mention this because even though I have no idea if it is 'Red-Letter Day' it did have quite a few hips on it. It wasn't labelled of course. I took some photos. Unfortunately the only open flowers were high up and I couldn't get a decent shot.
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I think that would be Rookwood "Jane Wellingham".
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I lean towards “Rookwood China” (R. Chinensis Sanguinea).
Standing near the center of the long bed, do you recall was it to the right, or the left?
Have you contacted the Rookwood office - or Heritage Roses in Australia, Sydney branch to ask the name or the “study name”?
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It will be simpler when the roses in the Long Garden are labelled.
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#5 of 10 posted
7 NOV 20 by
HubertG
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After posting those photos I noticed that the stems seemed to be very smooth unlike "Jane Wellingham" whose pedicels seem to be a bit bristly so, unless this is a very variable trait, I don't think it's "Jane Wellingham", although the bud shape is similar. Everything about its scale was too large for a typical China in my opinion. The flowers were HT or large Tea sized to me, although it also makes me think of Gigantea in some ways.
It was situated on the side on the bed furthest from the road where there is a retaining wall, hence it being too high to smell or photograph well, and more to the right side of the bed if you were looking towards the road. I haven't contacted anyone about it.
If it does have few prickles (and I'll have to go back sometime to check) perhaps 'Warrior' is a possibility, especially considering the reference that it was a popular winter flowerer in Sydney.
Sorry if it was inappropriate posting this under 'Red-Letter Day' but I guess discussion about any of these similar styled roses can help differentiate them.
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#6 of 10 posted
11 NOV 20 by
HubertG
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I returned to this garden today and labels have been added to many of the roses. Although it wasn't flowering today, the rose I posted photos of above was tagged "Rookwood Sanguinea".
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Thank you - that simplifies things. Except that I wish they wouldn't call it Sanguinea, which should be double according to early references. More likely Bengal Crimson.
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#8 of 10 posted
11 NOV 20 by
HubertG
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There's no file here for "Rookwood Sanguinea". I assume that it's the same as "Rookwood China" or would that be a wrong assumption? It's the biggest flower on a China that I've ever seen. I thought it was a Hybrid Tea at first, similar to the Irish ones. I collected nine ripe orange hips off the ground under the bush and they average 2cm in diameter. I have a photo of a hip with a fallen petal from last winter and using that scale the petal must be about 5cm long, so flowers roughly 10cm across. I'll have to go back when it's flowering.
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Yes, it was called "Rookwood China" in an article in the HRIA Journal several years ago.
There are a couple of other unknown Chinas that I'm aware of at Rookwood ("J. Datson", "Jane Vaughan") but they couldn't be confused with the big-flowered one.
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#10 of 10 posted
11 NOV 20 by
HubertG
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