Newsletter  (Oct 1981)  Page(s) 7-9.  
 
Tea roses seem to have been strangely neglected by old rose collectors in New Zealand.  This is probably because most of our old rose books are English and in northern Europe most teas are delicate treasures to be grown in glass houses or anxiously nursed through the winter.  However, the New Zealand climate is not the English climate.  The tea rose is ideally suited to the North Island. Here, it is evergreen and not only grows but flowers generously during the winter.  It is also almost entirely disease free and aphis do not seem to like it!  What more can anyone want? Since tea roses, especially those on their own roots, are very long lived there are interesting finds to be made.  It is always worth saving a tea, no matter what the bush looks like.  They have amazing powers of recovery and the most elderly wood will often strike and grow into a healthy bush.
The grandfather of my collection is Lord Tarquin.  My bush was bought by an uncle, some time in the first decade of the century and planted in my grandparents' Devonport garden.  It is a much travelled plant.  From Devonport it moved to Epsom, then in turn to Glen Eden, to two gardens in Otahuhu and finally to Howick.  It has one of the most beautiful buds I have seen, creamy white, tipped with pink, long and slender with gracefully poised outer petals. The stalk is firm but curving.  It is a good rose for cutting, but, because of its curving stalk, it can be difficult to arrange.  A ring vase or a long narrow one suits it best.  The open flower is less attractive as the very full centre is untidy and the pink tinting fades.
Its name presents a puzzle.  I consulted book after book in a growing collection without result and I began to wonder if it was wrongly named.  Then, by chance, under a description of Niphetos in Foster-Melliar's "Book of the Rose" I found a reference to "Bougere, known in Australia and elsewhere as Lord Tarquin".  If this is correct my rose is one of the oldest teas.  Bougere was bred at Angers in France by the grower of the same name and released in 1832.                                              
I found Bougere listed in three of my older books, but the descriptions added to the confusion.  William Paul (The Rose Garden) says "flowers deep salmon colour, very large and full, the petals of unusual substance."  Henry Ellwanger (The Rose) says "bronzed pink, large and full, thick petals."  T.W, Sanders (Cultivated Roses) says "carmine pink."  None of these sound at all like my rose.
Had Lord Tarquin changed names with another rose, either in the nursery that sold the plant or in the first Devonport garden?  Then Mrs Steen showed me a description from an early catalogue which disposed of this possibility.  My rose was undoubtedly the rose sold here as Lord Tarquin.
Is Foster-Melliar wrong then, in stating that Lord Tarquin and Bougere are one and the same?  He may be, but there is a possible explanation, I think.
The biggest difficulty in accepting the identification lies in the size and petal texture.  Most tea roses are variable in colour and Tarquin does sometimes come pink or even slightly bronzy pink and may well do so regularly in a different climate, but it could never be described as a large rose — in fact, my uncle probably chose it in the first place because he liked to wear a rose in his buttonhole.
I think the explanation may lie in the way size was judged in the older books.  William Paul gives the following scale:  very small about 1 inch in diameter; small l to 2 inches; medium size 2 to 3 inches;  large 3 to 4 inches;  very large 4 to 5 inches.  Ellwanger's scale is almost identical.  In other words, size was judged by the diameter of the fully expanded bloom.  On this classification, Lord Tarquin does just come into the "large" group.
Owing to the fact that the outer petals are very long, the diameter is often over three inches.  I would not describe the petals as "thick" or "of unusual substance" but in a good bloom they are crisp and firm and they are certainly thicker than some teas.
Journal of New Zealand Heritage Roses Vol 2 No 2 October 81 pp 7 – 9
 

Book  (1955)  Page(s) 63-66.  
 
from 'Old Fashioned' Roses by Jocelyn Brown
Not quite so old are the Teas, which have a characteristic brilliant red in their young foliage. It has been my experience that the Tea rose generally is very hardy and disease resistant, showing no black spot and in some cases holding its leaves throughout the Winter. Here in my garden at Appin I have two of the Safrano type, one collected in Tasmania and one at the Appin school house which flowered until the end of June and commenced again before any other in the garden. At no time were the plants without foliage. The plant makes a tall shapely bush and the blooms last well indoors, though the bud rushes into a full-blown flower in an hour or two. Neither Maman Cochet, General Gallieni, White Lord Tarquin nor Madame Lombard lost their foliage during a very cold Winter. As a garden designer, it seems to me that this is a very desirable characteristic in a rose, and, without sacrificing the glories of the modern rose, breeders of new varieties must be able to strive for better form of plant and interesting foliage variations.
 

Book  (1947)  Page(s) 54.  
 
Thomas Hogg. An Old Grower Looks Back.
 ….The writer dealt with the question: Which was the better Rose, D’un Ami or Lord Tarquin, as champion of the day? D’un Ami had the habit of dropping its head, whereas Lord Tarquin boldly looked everyone in the face, and was therefore selected champion.

Website/Catalog  (1946)  Page(s) 7.  
 
Pink Lord Tarquin (HT). Pink sport of white variety.

Book  (1931)  Page(s) 49.  
 
Editor. Roses of Australia. ‘Mathews Surprise' (T). [Prior to 1890] Henry Matthews, Queensland – Colour most delicate white, faintly tinted with pink. Very similar to Lord Tarquin in type. Good strong grower.

Book  (1930)  
 
p36. Alister Clark: Roses in (Sir Heaton Rhodes garden) New Zealand. …..I recognised old friends in …. and Lord Tarquin.

p97. E. Gray, Curator, Kyneton Gardens, (Vic): Other classes of old time roses are represented by …. and Lord Tarquin.

Book  (1928)  Page(s) 68.  
 
Bryan Watkins, Q’ld: Roses in Brisbane. Pink (teas) are represented by Maman Cochet, Comtesse de la Barthe, Lord Tarquin, (and) Mme. Antoine Marie.

Website/Catalog  (1913)  Page(s) 59.  
 
Lord Tarquin Pale flesh color, shaded; large, full and good form; free blooming and vigorous.

Website/Catalog  (1912)  Page(s) 77.  
 
Lord Tarquin flesh colour, large, full, an old favourite.

Website/Catalog  (1911)  Page(s) 16.  
 
Tea-Scented Roses. Lord Tarquin Pale flesh, constant bloomer, lasts well. Mod.