Magazine  (Sep 2019)  Page(s) 16. Vol 41, No. 3.  Includes photo(s).
 
Editor:  'Penelope' Tea and 'Miss Rita Petersen'
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Magazine  (Mar 2019)  Page(s) 51. Vol 41, No. 1.  
 
Margaret Furness.  Tea, Noisette and China Mislabels in Australia.
Poly-Teas and Chinas.
"Rita Petersen", beloved in Queensland, is Archduke Charles

Article (newspaper)  (Dec 2014)  Page(s) 2.  Includes photo(s).
 
Patricia Routley: There is a small China rose in my garden named after Archduke Charles of Austria who lived from 1771 to 1847. The rose name is often simplified as ‘Archduke Charles’ but the correct spelling of the rose, I understand, is Archiduc Charles. (This funny name once lead my wandering mind to a “hybrid vigour” (Rouen?) drake that Jan Joddrell gave us. His colouring is magnificent, very Archduke-like, and I named him irreverently, Archy Duck, unfortunately changing his sex in the naming). A few China roses arrived in England between 1766 and 1789 and for the first time, gardeners had roses that repeated their blooming all summer. One of the four so-called stud Chinas was ‘Parsons’ Pink China’ and Jean Laffay at Auteuil, France looked closely at his plant and realized that part of his plant had darker blooms with a few more petals. He introduced this darker rose under the name of ‘Archiduc Charles’ in 1825. (Recent genetic studies confirm that this rose is a sport of ‘Parson’s Pink China’ and genetically identical.) ‘Archiduc Charles’ was among the first China roses to be sold in Europe and Laffay went on to introduce 14 chinas in his first ten years. (I am astounded to look at my garden records and realize I am growing another 10, perhaps 12 roses from him. ‘?Celine’ 1824; ‘Le Vesuve’ 1825; ‘Amadis’ 1829; ‘Fabvier’ 1829; ‘Camellia Rose’ 1830; ‘Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseux’ 1831; ‘Laure Davoust’ 1834; ’?Great Western’ 1838; ‘La Reine’ 1842; ‘Nuits d’Young’ 1845; ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’ 1847; and ‘Henri Martin’ 1862.) A China rose is a neat and tidy bush with shiny, small and dainty, pointed foliage on a twiggy and bushy plant that has smooth bark. ‘Archiduc Charles’ is no exception and it has dark green foliage. The main canes are straight and nearly upright and there are a few broad-based thorns. The receptacle is smooth and oval in shape. Below the smoothness is a pedicel with small glandular bristles. The blooms of China roses usually darken in colour with age. ‘Archiduc Charles’ can show the same pink of the parent in the centre and be surrounded by dark plum-coloured outer petals. They usually occur in clusters and the cupped blooms are richly coloured, 4cm wide and each bloom can change from pink to deep pink or crimson. The bush can look multi-coloured and studded with blooms. Henry Curtis, whose 1850 illustration is reproduced here, recommended it not be grown on its own roots for fear of suckering. Something has gone wrong because in the 15 years I have been growing ‘Archiduc Charles’, I have lost one plant and the other two are not all that vigorous. The bush in deep loam gets dieback but the one in sunny gravel does better. My cuttings came from the Pinjarra Heritage Rose Garden in 1999. A China rose is really not suited to our heavy cold soil, but if I didn’t grow it, I wouldn’t know it. I just wait for the long hot days of summer when Archy Duck flops in the shade from heat and ‘Archiduc Charles’ revels in the high temperatures.

Booklet  (2009)  Page(s) 35-36.  
 
Perhaps the most easily noted detail revealed about the China Roses by the similarity matrix though, was how many accessions had identical SSR profiles. The "C25 grp" on the dendrogram represents the China Rose cultivar Old Blush, with the group's oldest recorded date of introduction into Europe of around 1752 (Cairns (ed.), 2000), and the eight synonyms or sports found in this study: 'Climbing Old Blush', 'Green Rose', 'Single Pink', 'Rouletii' [all ex Antique Rose Emporium], 'Pompon de Paris' [ex Ralph Moore], 'Bengale d'Automne' [ex Vintage Gardens], 'Archduke Charles' [ex ARE], and an R. chinensis var. semperflorens [ex Flower Research Inst., Yunnan]. This large group of synonyms and sports still actively propagated and sold in the trade demonstrates how important 'Old Blush' continues to be, long after being used as a parent of importance in the breeding of modern roses.
......'Archduke Charles' also looks reminiscent of 'Old Blush', and shares the characteristic pale pink blushing, changing to much darker pink flowers, but with more exaggerated colors and a higher petal count (Dickerson, 1992). 'Archduke Charles' has been referenced as a possible seedling of 'Old Blush', but the accession in this study had the same SSR profile as Old Blush, and would therefore be a sport.

Booklet  (2009)  Page(s) 28.  
 
Diploid....Archduke Charles, heterozygous loci 74% [Provenance: Antique Rose Emporium]

Magazine  (Jun 2005)  Page(s) 9. Vol 27, No. 2.  
 
Seeking Rita Peterson. Following Editor Stewart’s article which was reprinted in the Winter Journal there was a question about the identity of “Rita Peterson" – we have some sleuths on the job. One of our members is a librarian at the State Library and she is directing some research into the matter. It seems that the “Rita Peterson” that T. A. Stewart describes is definitely not ‘General Gallieni’. The investigation continues. Jennie O’Brien Lutton

Magazine  (Mar 2005)  Page(s) 18. Vol 27, No. 1.  
 
In Queensland Hospitality, the first part of Sue and John Zwar’s account of their holiday among the heritage roses of Queensland (HRIA journal, Summer 2004). Sue noted a rose named “Rita Peterson” growing in the New Farm Park Rose Garden in Brisbane. She wrote, “…. I was particularly impressed with an Australian China called “Rita Peterson”, a large bush covered with soft red blooms.” We see above that ‘Editor” Stewart also noted a rose by that name in 1938: “I was amused, however, to see our old friend ‘General Gallieni’ labelled everywhere as “Rita Peterson”, evidently a name of local origin.” Present day Brisbane rosarians do not agree with ‘Editor’ Stewart so we would be very interested to know if the “Rita Peterson” grown today is the same rose ‘Editor’ Stewart saw in the 1930’s, and whether anyone can shed more light on the history of the rose grown under this name.

Magazine  (2004)  Page(s) 35. Vol 26, No. 4.  
 
John and Sue Zwar. ……and I was particularly impressed with an Australian China called Rita Peterson, a large bush covered with soft red blooms

Book  (2002)  Page(s) 22.  
 
Hybrid China. Rated 8.3

Book  (2000)  Page(s) 89.  Includes photo(s).
 
‘Archduke Charles’/’Archiduc Charles’ = Ancien – Chine – tons rouges, remontant… pétales extérieurs, pourpre cramoisi lavé de rose au centre, tendent de tourner au cramoisi uni, mais le soleil brûlant les fait virer à l’incarnat. De longue durée, bien pleine et fleurant la banane, elle s’évase en coupe, les larges pétales du pourtour enserrant des pétales plus petits, rose pâle ou blanc rosé vers le cœur. Bien remontant et peu épineux... Durant longtemps, aux Bermudes, il a été pris pour ‘Seven Sisters’. Liffay, France, avant 1837.