Rosa 'Wife of Bath'

Rosa 'Wife of Bath'
Hybrid parentage 'Mme Caroline Testout' × ('Ma Perkins' × 'Constance Spry')
Cultivar group Modern shrub / English rose
Cultivar 'Wife of Bath'
Marketing names 'AUSbath', 'Auswife', 'Glücksburg', 'Rosarium Glücksburg', 'The Wife of Bath'[1]
Breeder David Austin
Origin England, 1969

Rosa 'Wife of Bath', also known as 'Rosarium Glücksburg', 'Glücksburg', AUSwife or 'AUSbath', is a common pink rose cultivar developed by David C.H. Austin in England in 1969. It was one of his early cultivars and is named after a character from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. 'Roarium Glücksburg' is a rose garden in the park of Schloss Glücksburg in Glücksburg, Germany.

'Wife of Bath' and 'Canterbury', the second cultivar Austin named in honour of the English author Geoffrey Chaucer in 1969, were the first repeat flowering varieties in his English Rose Collection. The rose cultivar was created from Joseph Pernet-Ducher's pink hybird tea 'Madame Caroline Testout' (introduced in 1890) and a cross between the floribunda 'Ma Perkins' (Boerner 1952) and Austin's first English rose 'Constance Spry' (introduced in 1961).[1]

'Wife of Bath' has old-fashioned medium-sized blossoms with an average diameter of 7 centimetres (2.8 in), and up to 55 petals.[2] They develop from red round buds, have a strong, sweet fragrance of myrrh.[1] The slightly cupped bloom form is double to very full with many small, informally arranged petals in the middle of the flower. The center is deep pink, and contrasts with the paler reverse and the outer petals, that fade to very pale pink. The flowers grow in clusters of 3-9, and appear continuously from early June throughout the summer.[1]

The robust shrub grows densely, and remains rather small, reaching only about 80 to 120 centimeters (2.5 to 4 ft) height at a width of 60 to 90 centimeters (2 to 3 ft).[1][2][3] The arching shoots bear small, matte, medium green leaves. 'Wife of Bath' is disease resistant and winter hardy down to -23 °C (USDA zone 6 and warmer), and half shade tolerant.[1] The variety is grown on its own roots and can be planted solitary, in groups, or as hedges, but is also suitable as container plant and as cut flower.[3] Due to its size and floriferousness, the cultivar is well suited for small gardens.

David Austin used the cultivar in the development of new English roses, for instance 'Gertrude Jekyll' (1986), 'Pretty Jessica' (1983) and 'Scepter'd Isle' (1989).

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Charles and Brigid Quest-Ritson (2010). Rosen - die große Enzyklopädie [RHS Encyclopedia of Roses] (in German). Dorling Kindersley. p. 422. ISBN 978-3-8310-1734-8.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "'Wife of Bath' rose Description". HelpMeFind. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Markley, Robert (2007). Die BLV Rosen Enzyklopädie [The BLV rose encyclopedia] (in German). BLV. p. 252. ISBN 978-3-8354-0272-0.
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