Souvenir de La Malmaison

Introduced:   1843, Beluze, France
Class:  Bourbon
Zones: 5-9
Parentage:   'Mme. Desprez' x Unknown Tea Rose
Flowers:  Creamy, light pink, fully quartered
Height/Width:  3 feet x 3 feet
Fragrance:  Excellent
Of note:  Classic blooms on a hardy, healthy shrub.
Reliable re-bloom.
A legendary rose.
Note:  Picture is of Climbing 'Souvenir de La Malmaison'.

'Souvenir de La Malmaison' is a prototype for what an old rose can be: Beautiful, large fully quartered blooms which last well on a disease resistant bush and in vase. Blooms repeatedly throughout the season. Disease resistance is good and hardy (to -10 degrees Fahrenheit). Truly a rose for every garden.

'Souvenir de La Malmaison', also called 'Queen of Beauty and Fragrance,' is a compact plant, 3 feet high and wide. Leaves are large, leathery, and fairly disease resistant. Habit is slightly spreading and bushy. Flowers are creamy light pink, almost a blush and have 65 to 75 petals. Fragrance is excellent, apple, clove, and cinnamon (although I don't smell the cinnamon). Balling can be a problem in cooler, rainy climates (if you have trouble with balling, try the semi-double sport 'Souvenir de St. Anne's').  Regarding the whole balling issue, I would give 'Souvenir de La Malmaison' even if I lived in a tropical rain forest!

Make no mistake, this rose will out-bloom many of the newer roses, including many Hybrid Teas.

Chateau at La Malmaison
'Souvenir de La Malmaison' is named in tribute to Empress Josephine's garden at her chateau, Malmaison, located outside of Paris near Versailles. Her garden attracted many visitors who left with a new understanding of the great diversity of roses and the possibilities these plants for the landscape. Malmaison means 'House of Sickness,' and is named so because the site was the home of a former leper colony. Josephine lived at Malmaison from 1799 until her death in 1814. Josephine's thirst for new plants was enough to provide English gardeners with safe passage through military blockades during the English/French wars if they were bringing new stock for the garden at Malmaison. While the garden at Malmaison has declined, if one goes to the park in Reuil-Malmaison, the village where Josephine is buried, there is a statue of her...with a single rose in her hand.

Photograph copyright, Mr. Allan Rinkus.