Article (newspaper)  (Mar 2010)  Page(s) 2.  Includes photo(s).
 
Patricia Routley: You will recall me talking of Mrs. Sheila Gravett’s roses. The lady gave me cuttings of yet another old rose, Souvenir de Claudius Pernet and this now grows on its own roots in my garden. I vividly remember the history behind this rose, but my memories are for the breeder, rather than for the person it was named for. Joseph Pernet-Ducher lived his span from 1851-1928 and he eventually became known as the wizard of Lyon as he was the genius who brought the clear sparkling yellows into roses. Before his time, roses were pink with only a pastel yellow coming from the tea roses. When he produced ‘Soleil d’Or’ in 1900 it was the first hybridised strong yellow rose the world had seen. He went on to breed so many glorious roses in the new sunset colours that they became known as Pernetiana Roses. Joseph Pernet-Ducher named his 1920 clear yellow rose in memory of his oldest son Claudius who had died on October 25, 1914 in the 1st World War. (The following year, 1921, he named a pink rose ‘Souvenir de Georges Pernet’ after his other son, also killed in action in the same war.) ‘Souvenir de Claudius Pernet’ proved a good parent and is an ancestor of most modern yellow hybrid teas. Joseph Pernet-Ducher died just eight years after producing this rose and it became known as his masterpiece. Here is the path ‘Souvenir de Claudius Pernet’ took to arrive.
1833 Persian Yellow – a wild rose, introduced from Persia to England
1900 Soleil d’Or (‘Antoine Ducher’ 1866 x Persian Yellow)
190? Unnamed Seedling (‘Soleil d’Or’ 1900 x unknown)
1910 Rayon d’Or (‘Mme. Melanie Soupert 1905 HT x Soleil d’Or Seedling)
1915 Constance (Rayon d’Or’ 1910 x unknown)
1920 Souvenir de Claudius Pernet (Constance 1915 x unknown)
The rose is rather lanky and bare about the legs for me, but I have been reluctant to prune it much for fear of dieback. The blooms have never looked so good as they have this summer. In the past I have enjoyed it for its history – this year I am enjoying the utter beauty of this pure yellow rose. Occasionally it will have blooms where the outer petals are edged in part with white. The rose was said to have black centers and sometimes I see this but it is the stamens ageing in a not very pretty way. Mostly I see the massive untidy receptacles being left after flowering. I have never detected any perfume, but my nose is perfidious. The pedicel is visibly glandular, almost looking like tiny prickles and this seems to be a sign of the Pernetiana blood in a rose, as do the deep green leaves, and the unfortunate susceptibility to the constitutional dieback that the Pernetianas are renowned for. My unpruned bush is 1½ m high. In hot, dry late summer, when my energy is flagging and I almost give up on almost everything, I turn around and suddenly see the happy exuberance of this rose that revels in such weather, and my spirits are revived.

Book  (Dec 2000)  Page(s) 411.  
 
Souvenir de Claudius Pernet Pernetiana. Joseph Pernet-Ducher (Lyon, France) 1920

Book  (Apr 1999)  Page(s) 487-488, 559.  
 
Pages 487-488: Souvenir de Claudius Pernet Translation: "In Memory of Claudius Pernet". Pernetiana. Pernet-Ducher 1920. 'Constance' x an unnamed variety. [The author cites information from many sources...] Pure sun yellow... Deep yellow... It came into its own only when it was worked on Odorata stock... The name was given by Monsieur Pernet-Ducher to perpetuate the memory of his eldest son, who gloriously fell on the battlefield
Page 559: Souvenir de Claudius Pernet Pernetiana. Joseph Pernet-Ducher 1920

Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 564.  
 
Hybrid Tea, medium yellow, 1920, 'Constance' x Seedling; Pernet-Ducher. Bud long, pointed; flowers pure sunflower-yellow, center deeper, double (28 petals), large; long, strong stems; fragrant; foliage glossy, rich green; vigorous growth. GM, Bagatelle, 1920

Book  (1993)  Page(s) 114.  
 
Named for one of Joseph Pernet's (Pernet-Ducher) sons who was killed in the First World War.

Book  (1990)  Page(s) 85.  
 
Souvenir de Claudius Pernet Pernet-Ducher 1919... named after his son, who lost his life in World War One... deep yellow...

Book  (1986)  
 
p116 Even the casual observer cannot fail to notice how few of the large-flowered roses popular today are survivors from the first quarter of this century. Souvenir de Claudius Pernet (Pernet-Ducher, 1920), corn-cob yellow) is among the ones that come readily to mind.

p144 The Pernet-Ducher nursery continued to produce excellent roses well into the present century - in particular, ‘Sourvenir de Claudius Pernet’, a beautiful, if tender, true yellow rose with a darker centre, which has imparted its good looks to many other modern large-flowered varieties; it won a gold medal at the Bagatelle contest. This rose was introduced in 1920 to commemorate Pernet-Ducher’s son. Because his regiment remained inactive during the early days of World War 1, he had resigned his commission in the French army and joined the ranks; he was mortally wounded soon afterwards. Pernet’s other son, Georges, was also killed in action, in 1915, and he too was commemorated with a rose, ‘Souvenir de Georges Pernet’, which also won a gold medal at the Bagatelle trials. But Pernet-Ducher himself never really recovered.

Book  (1967)  Page(s) 10.  Includes photo(s).
 
Souvenir de Claudius Pernet (H.T., Pernet-Ducher 1921) - Excellent rose variety, which had real triumphs in her time. She is vigorous and her blooms have a pronounced fragrance.

Book  (1965)  Page(s) 92.  
 
L. A. Wyatt. The Wizard of Lyon. ....Pernet-Ducher continued to raise fine roses after the First World War. The fact that, with the exception of 1918, he was awarded the Bagatelle Gold Medal uninterruptedly from 1916 to 1926 when he was approaching the end of his career, shows that he never lost the master’s touch. In England, however, fewer of his post-1914 roses achieved the popularity of their forerunners......It was a disappointment to Pernet-Ducher that the roses he raised and named in memory of both his sons, who were killed in action during the first World War, did not find favour in this country as they had done elsewhere. Subsequently one of them, ‘Souvenir de Claudius Pernet, (*) became an outstanding parental variety.
*This would not stand rain. The other one ‘Souvenir de Georges Pernet’ used to grow and flower very well with me in the late 1920s – editor.

Website/Catalog  (1960)  Page(s) 13.  
 
SOUVENIR DE CLAUDIUS PERNET (Pernet Ducher 1921). Jaune pur pâlissant à la défloraison.  FL [feuillage luisant].  O[dorante]. VH [grande végétation].