Rose 'Henry Hudson' and the Explorer series

The Canadian 'Explorer roses' are a triumph of plant breeding, combining long blooming season with extreme hardiness.

They were bred by Dr Felicitas Svejda at the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa. Svedja's work started in 1961 and lasted until her retirement in 1987.

Photo: Rose 'Henry Hudson'

Henry Hudson (after whom Hudson's bay is named) is a good example - it is a vigorous very free blooming rugosa. The buds are pink and the flowers open white. It is indestructible and excellent. Schneezwerg, from which it is derived, is in itself one of the best of the rugosas, bred in Germany by Lambert (1912). However, Henry Hudson is a better repeat flowerer.

The 26 "Explorer series" roses fall into two main groups:

• rugosa hybrids (e.g. 'Martin Frobisher', 'Henry Hudson', 'Jens Munk', 'David Thompson' and 'Charles Albanel')
• kordesii hybrids (e.g. 'William Baffin', 'Frontenac', 'Alexander Mackenzie' and 'Louis Jolliet')

The rugosas were the first to be bred using the Rosa rugosa cultivar "Schneezwerg" ("Snow Dwarf") and other rugosas. The resultant roses were all named after explorers of Canada.