Gottfried Keller, Hybrid Tea

Gottfried Keller, Hybrid Tea (Pernetiana type)

GERMANY, Müller, 1894
Claude Monet

    If there is one rose whose loss to our collection I mourn the most it is this ground-breaking introduction from the German rose breeder, Dr. Franz Hermann Müller. Müller is best known in America for his popular Rugosa hybrid, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, a hefty, tall growing rose with large and very seductive rose pink blooms.

Müller worked throughout his breeding days on bringing the brilliant coloring of Rosa foetida into new hybrids with the roses of his day. Overshadowed by the popular introductions of Joseph Pernet-Ducher, Müller's "Pernetiana" Gottfried Keller actually preceded Pernet-Ducher's first great introduction, Soleil d'Or. Certainly the impact of Pernet-Ducher's work is not diminished by this earlier German hybrid. Many of Müller's creations were purchased by Jules Gravereaux to add to his great collection at l'Haÿ-les-Roses in France, including one named in honor of Gravereaux's own special circle of rose friends, 'Les Rosati'.

To preserve this rare and lovely variety is to preserve a story that makes our knowledge more accurate; cherishing this honors Dr. Müller's life's work with roses. But above all I love the flowers, broad peach-apricot bowls that fade to buff veined pale orange. They are nearly single, often with wisps of small petaloids curled round the golden stamens. The plant is small, slender of stem and difficult to keep well foliated.

I believe that this rose has vanished completely from US gardens after its brief 5 year appearance in our collection. Roses like this need to be sought out again and added to the history we preserve. I hope that soon some collector will appear with the wherewithal and desire to continue the flow of rare old roses to this country.