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"NZ Lady Roberts" rose Reviews & Comments
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Does anyone, eg in New Zealand, have a hip photo of this rose? I'd like one for a booklet on Mystery Teas in Aus. Thanks,
Margaret
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#1 of 8 posted
13 OCT by
 HubertG
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A bit too late I'm afraid, but I notice a hip peeking out from behind the bloom in the photo here (id340253, 15 Feb 20).
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Thank you, yes, that's the photo I ended up using. A couple of the Tea ladies keep an eye on the plant at Araluen, and it hasn't cooperated. "Stiff Lady Roberts" must set very few hips, and if the one in the photo is representative, they're much smaller than the big lobulated ones produced fairly often by Anna Olivier/Lady Roberts. The Tea ladies say its growth pattern is different, too.
Overall SLR is unlikely to be a sport of Anna Olivier, and may well be Souvenir of Stella Gray, as you suggested.
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#3 of 8 posted
14 OCT by
HubertG
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Margaret, this winter I ordered a plant of 'Lady Roberts' from Ross' actually hoping it would really be "Stiff Lady Roberts" as I had read that's what someone else had received from them. It's too early to tell yet for sure, but it's looking encouraging as the plant was quite small and twiggy, and the new growth has been quite reddish, and the leaf shape more like "Stiff Lady Roberts" than 'Lady Roberts'.
If it does become apparent that I've received "Stiff Lady Roberts" I'll keep an eye on hip development for you.
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My "Stiff Lady Robert" came from them. I did give them the "Nannup Bridge Lady Roberts" (Anna Olivier) a few years ago but they're not keen on changing labels.
I'll be interested to know how your plant goes. If it sets a hip, would you please post me (and post) a photo of hip and seeds when it's ripe, and try planting the seeds.
Souv. of Stella Gray has no descendants recorded on hmf.
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#5 of 8 posted
14 OCT by
HubertG
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I'll update on my plant and watch out for hips, in fact I'll probably actively pollinate it, and I'll happily post anything that it produces. I also suspect the plant labelled 'Lady Roberts' that I saw at Parramatta Park years ago was probably "Stiff Lady Roberts" and as I intend to return soon to photograph the Gallicas there, I'll check for hips on their 'Lady Roberts' too.
I suspect 'Souvenir of Stella Gray' might not have been very fertile if it was a Tea-Hybrid Tea mix, or if it did readily produce hips it might not have been used in anyone's breeding programme in that period when Teas were going out of style.
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#6 of 8 posted
24 OCT by
HubertG
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Margaret, I recently checked out the bush labelled as 'Lady Roberts' in the Rumsey Rose Garden in Parramatta Park. I remembered it years ago as being low growing, bushy and somewhat sprawling but instead of getting bigger it seems to have gone backwards in growth. It appears to have been cut back hard at some point and there wasn't a lot of new growth. No flowers or hips present. I couldn't tell by the foliage which Lady Roberts it was but I suspect it's "Stiff Lady Roberts".
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#7 of 8 posted
10 days ago by
HubertG
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It's still too early to tell with certainty what exactly I have but the second bud on my plant is distinctly rich yellow splashed and veined with pinky crimson. I'm leaning towards it being "Stiff Lady Roberts".
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#8 of 8 posted
today by
HubertG
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One thing I've noticed about the few flowers so far on my plant is that the buds have distinctive red sepal tips (see my recent photo). I'm not sure if this is seasonal or cultural or a characteristic of the plant but I can see it on other photos here too. It would be interesting to know if anyone who grows the real 'Lady Roberts' or 'Anna Olivier' also observes this characteristic. If not, it could be something diagnostic for "Stiff Lady Roberts".
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Re the 2020 reference: I may have been mistaken about the hip, thinking of the true Lady Roberts/Anna Olivier.
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From the description page: 'The scent becomes unpleasant as the flower ages.'
I haven't noticed that on mine. The scent just fades, but doesn't seem to get unpleasant as such. It starts to smell more like vegetation than 'floral' the more it fades, but it's not what I would call unpleasant.
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Take a look at the 1926 Hazlewood reference for 'Souvenir of Stella Gray'.
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OK, that's definitely not what mine does. No trace of carnation/clove as the bloom ages, or not that I have noticed. Mine seems to go more like lawn clippings. The rose/Tea/floral notes fade out, and it just smells like vegetation.
Although it is interesting that SoSG is supposed to have mildew-proof foliage. There has been quite a bit of milge rampaging around my place recently, but I haven't noticed any on Lady Roberts's stiff. Will take another look tomorrow.
(I can't help thinking that Stiff Lady Roberts is an unfortunate choice of study name.)
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#3 of 6 posted
14 AUG 21 by
HubertG
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"(I can't help thinking that Stiff Lady Roberts is an unfortunate choice of study name.)"
I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking that! :-D
On a more serious note, the more references I read about 'Souvenir Of Stella Gray', the more it seems to me to match "Stiff Lady Roberts", or at least there isn't anything in the references to serious contradict such an identity.
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I have a vague memory of a conversation that when the tea ladies first saw this rose at Ruston’s labelled ‘Lady Roberts’. someone commented something like “stiff cheddar” on the impertinence of this incorrect labelling.
Adding Stiff before the name allowed one to distinguish the correct and the incorrect 'Lady Roberts'.
HubertG, I am fairly convinced too, but we need to sit and wait for others to add their thoughts. I have put a Note in both the "Stiff Lady Roberts" and 'Souvenir of Stella Gray' files.
Back to retirement and the pruning.
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#5 of 6 posted
15 AUG 21 by
HubertG
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Thanks, Patricia. Even though I do think that 'Souvenir of Stella Gray' is the most likely contender for "Stiff Lady Roberts" true identity, I'd hate for anyone to start calling it that, in case it isn't.
I do want to return to Rookwood after the covid lockdown and reassess this orange foundling Tea growing there, as going by my memory of it and looking at the photos of "Stiff Lady Roberts", I don't think they are the same rose, and there were never too many orange Teas.
Lastly, I found the following 1939 newspaper article interesting. From the 'Townsville Daily Bulletin' 21 Feb. 1939, page 5:
"ROSES OF MANY YEARS AGO. [...] There is before the writer a rose catalogue of 1915.[...] Tea roses were once grown extensively, but of the 40 varieties listed, only Lady Hillingdon, Mrs. Herbert Stevens and occasionally Souv. de Stella Gray are asked for today."
It goes to show that 'Souvenir of Stella Gray' must have had enough appealing qualities to survive the classical Tea period in the company of those other two great survivors.
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Apparently that story of the study name is urban myth. A pity, it's a good story.
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Maybe this might be 'Souvenir of Stella Gray', the Tea from Dickson,1907??
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It certainly could be HubertG. I will add a few references tomorrow.
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#2 of 2 posted
13 AUG 21 by
HubertG
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The 1907 reference for 'Souvenir of Stella Gray' from 'Gardening Illustrated' mentions purple stems and handsome dark foliage something which seems to match "Stiff Lady Roberts". That reference also calls it a Hybrid Tea, although 'Souvenir of Stella Gray' is usually classed as a Tea, so perhaps it was a HT with a lot of Tea blood. In any case, the photos of "Stiff Lady Roberts" do seem to show some characteristics of both a Tea and a Hybrid Tea. It does look like a lovely rose.
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