My garden has been neglected in the last year, but this rose has thrived in spite of everything. It has intense damask scent, much like Perfume Delight, and it’s easy to grow. I’d be happy to send out cuttings to get this rose back into commerce, as it is a great climber!
Gardening Illustrated (November 3, 1906) p. 497 ROSE LA FRANCE DE '89. Many growers miss a fine pillar or wall Rose when they ignore this variety. I believe the way to display its undoubted charms is to plant the variety against an eastern or western wall, or even a north wall. The blossoms droop by their great weight and a weakness of stem, but when against a wall this is not so evident. For covering a moderate space, say 7 feet to 8 feet each way, it is a far more useful Rose than Reine Marie Henriette, beautiful as this is when doing well and free from mildew, which is very seldom. The foliage shows this Rose to be a hybrid, but from what it is difficult to say. Of course, the old La France has no relation to it whatever. Rather do I think it sprang from Mme. Isaac Pereire, the Hybrid Bourbon. The form is of the "Cabbage" sort, and it is not a very double flower. The colour is a rosy-red, of a very dazzling hue when in its summer freshness. There was a variety sent out a few years ago named Marguerite Appert, which, if not the same as La France de '89, is much too near. Rosa.
