Would anyone happen to know if this rose was ever sold in the USA? Any record of how big it grew or still grows? We have a number of unidentified similar-to-'Lamarque' cultivars around.
I only have a couple of USA catalogues from the early 1900s Nastarana. For what it's worth, it's not listed in 1901 Dingee & Conard, or the 1907 or 1913 Biltmore catalogues . It was offered by a few Australian nurseries pre WWI (with the same generic description - "Pure satiny white, large and full; fine for cutting, of semi-climbing habit."), so I would imagine that at least a few USA nurseries would have listed it. Checked Google books and could see the name in a few American gardening publications, but all referred to a Peony of the same name, unfortunately. Are your Lamarque-like roses recurrent? From the refs, I understand 'Mai Fleuri' began/ begins blooming quite early in the season but did/ does not repeat its bloom.
No, ours, the CA' Lamarque', Thomasville 'Lamarque', "Brightside Cream" from Bermuda, and "Flores St. House Eater", found in San Antonio, Texas, are I believe all remontant.
I have only grown the CA 'Lamarque', and in a difficult setting at that. Vintage Gardens had both Lamarques and "Brightside Cream" as separate roses. VG was best in the business for correctly identifying obscure roses, unlike some nurseries which are even offering the same roses under two separate names, and still calling 'Sombreil' a tea rose. (sigh)
It is a pity "CA Lamarque" and "Flores St. House Eater, do not have pages of their own. In your plant of it, could you see any discernable difference between "CA Lamarque" and 'Lamarque'?
I hope it is acceptable to quote from the Vintage Gardens Book of Roses, by Greg Lowery and Phillip Robinson, 2003
About "California Lamarque": "This early Tea-Noisette has been grown for many years in the West under that name; lemon-white with a greenish center, large, fragrant, and very shapely flowers." p.93
Mine grew into a large bush in about two years. I did not see the greenish center, probably because the green faded in full sun.
"Brightside Cream" is a Tea-Noisette from Bermuda, I had it briefly and lost it to gophers. I seem to recall somewhat smaller flowers than the CL.
About "Thomasville Lamarque": " Not as large of flower as the 'California Lamarque', but with similar lemon-white blooms with a button eye, in clusters. This has been known as LAMARQUE in the South for a very long time." p.94 TL I have not seen.
See the comments tab at the page for "Thomasville Lamarque" for a possible identification as "Etendard de Jeanne d'Arc." If Mr. Hook is correct, that would make the "California Lamarque" likely to be the real 'Lamarque'.
'Flores Street House Eater' ought to have its own page. It used to live on Flores Street in San Antonio, TX. Unfortunately the property owner got fed up with rose poachers and put up a chain-link fence around the lot. By about 2009 or thereabouts, the house was empty and the rose had grown through the fence. It has since been eradicated and I hope whomever participated in that sacrilege got thoroughly scratched for their pains.
A goggle search yielded the following http://www.ph-rose-gardens.com/rr_floresstreethouseeater.htm
