I have two foundling roses which have turned out to be the same. Their "signature" is the perfect new green foliage they put out very early in the season. Because of this trait I thought they may well be an Alister Clark rose and 'Mrs. Harold Brookes' seemed the most logical. However, I have recently read the references again and find that Alister Clark, in the 1935 reference wrote "we are within a month of the shortest day. Mrs. Harold Brookes and ....are all full of young, fresh foliage and buds". The shortest day in Australia is between June 20-22 so he would have been writing about the young fresh foliage just after May 20. There is one of my photos in this file showing my early beautiful foliage on September 7, 2011. There is such a big time differences between May 20 and Sept 7, that my rose cannot possibly be 'Mrs. Harold Brookes'. I will make a new foundling file for "Alice Red" and "Birte Venske No. 2" and move my photos.
