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• Rosa mulliganii Boulenger

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White, near white or white blend Species.
Exhibition name: R. mulliganii

Species / Wild.  

White.  Strong, fruity, green grass fragrance.  Average diameter 2".  Medium, single (4-8 petals), in large clusters bloom form.  Once-blooming spring or summer.  

Armed with thorns / prickles.  Large, glossy, dark green foliage.  5 to 7 leaflets.  

Height: 15' to 30' (455 to 915cm).  Width: 10' (305cm).

USDA zone 6b through 9b (default).  Can be used for specimen.  Produces decorative hips.  Disease susceptibility: very disease resistant.  Needs little care; relatively disease-free and quite hardy.  Prune dead wood.  

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R. mulliganii Boulenger (1937) became famous as the rambler that covers the arbor at the center of Sissinghurst Castle's White Garden which was designed by Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson when they acquired the castle.

R. mulliganii may be a selection or form of Rosa rubus and is conspicuously absent from Flora of China.

R. mulliganii was raised in the UK from seed collected in Yunnan and sent to Wisely by George Forrest. The rose was named in honor of Brian Mulligan, then Assistant to the Director at Wisley, by Boulenger, who named and described the species. Brian Mulligan was then assistant director of the Royal Horticultural Society's garden at Wisely. Mulligan was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1907. While working at Wisely, Mulligan noticed that a seedling grown from seed collected by George Forrest did not match any of the species familiar to Mulligan. He provided plant material to Boulenger, who named the species for him. Mulligan moved to Seattle, Washington, USA, in 1946, where he ran the Washington Park Arboretum from 1946 until 1972. See References.