Book  (2007)  
 
Durham Pillar 'Durham Pillar' registered name. HMult, mr, 1960, Risely. Includes description. Chevy Chase x seedling. Intro.: 1958. [Ed. note: this parentage is at odds with the report of the New Hampshire Agricultural Station, which describes the parentage as open pollinated Chevy Chase.]

Book  (1959)  Page(s) 14, 17.  
 
The objective of the breeding program on rambler roses has been the development of canes which would withstand temperatures as low as -20° or -25℉ without injury. Among the seedlings raised, selection has been made also for disease resistant leaves, vigorous growth, easy of propagation and a tendency to repeat blooming all summer long. To accomplish this purpose, a collection of species and hybrid roses from various parts of the world was made at the Horticultural Farm of the N.H. Agr. Exp. Station starting in 1950...
Durham Pillar Distributed for testing as N.H.#536, this is an open pollinated seedling of Chevy Chase rambler. The unique feature of Durham Pillar is its apparent freedom from both blackspot and mildew diseases. The leases are a glossy, olive green and are thick and relatively rigid. In the greenhouse the plant is an evergreen and continues growth all winter at 70℉ but will not flower under glass. In the garden it blooms continuously from June to frost in large clusters terminal to the pillar-length canes. The flowers have five petals and are red. The canes winter-kill to the soil line at temperatures below 17℉ but growth and flowering are satisfactory from the short basal canes as from a floribunda rose when it has been protected by mounding with soil. The variety seems to have some drought resistance and seems to grow more vigorously in warm seasons. Durham Pillar has 14 somatic chromosomes. It is a second generation seedling of Rosa soulieana Crepin by a dwarf China Rose hybrid which had the appearance of a Polyantha variety.