Notice

Colin Mills, compiler of the Hortus Camdenensis, died in late November 2012 after a short illness. As he always considered the Hortus his legacy, it is his family's intention to keep the site running in perpetuity. It will not, however, be updated in the near future.

Rosa ‘Unique de Provence’

Moss rose.  Thomas Rivers wrote of this rose: ‘We have now also what was at one time thought to be impossible, viz., the Old Rose Unique mossed; this is called Moss Unique de Provence.  I cannot learn its origin; if from seed or otherwise; but am inclined to think it is a sport from our old favourite the Unique Rose; its habit is exactly similar and equally robust; its flowers of the same pure white, and blooming in the same large clusters; its flowers are however often imperfect.’  [Rivers (1854, 1857, 1863), Paul (1848, 1863, 1888)].

 

 

Horticultural & Botanical History

In a review of Lane’s Nursery in The Gardeners’ Chronicle in 1842, ‘Unique de Provins’ was described as ‘a facsimile of the favourite old ‘White Provins’, but the calyx is prettily studded with moss-like appendages’.  Another report in the same year was enthusiastic: ‘Among the new Moss-roses, however, one has been introduced peculiarly distinct and beautiful, namely the ‘Moss Unique’, or ‘Mousseusse Unique de Provence’, exactly like our favourite ‘Unique’ Rose, in its robust habit and tendency to bloom in large clusters; its flowers are pure white and abundantly mossy’.

 

 

History at Camden Park

Included in a handwritten list of roses dated 1861, probably intended for a new edition of the catalogue that was never printed.  [MP A2943].

 

 

Notes

Published Feb 12, 2010 - 10:16 AM | Last updated Jul 28, 2011 - 05:04 PM

Family Rosaceae
Category
Region of origin

Garden origin, probably France

Synonyms
Common Name
Name in the Camden Park Record

Unique de Provence

 

 

Confidence level high