The mysterious origin of Mr Doncaster's Rose

Rosa "Doncasteri" is a particularly good form of Rosa macrophylla, the big hip rose.

Graham Stuart Thomas (one of the all time great rosarians) gives the origin of this rose as follows:

"A form of Rosa macrophylla put on the market between the wars by Mr Doncaster of Messrs J. Burrell and Co. of Cambridge, but probably one of Dr Hurst's seedlings. It has narrower, darker green leaves than the type, and smaller darker flowers and a less free and graceful habit. Its chief glory is the sumptuous display of large red, flagon-shaped hips in early autumn." - The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book (1994).

Graham Stuart Thomas studied in the University Botanical Garden in Cambridge and therefore knew Dr C.C. Hurst (1870-1947) the rose geneticist with close connections to Cambridge. When he ascribes this rose to Dr Hurst he is likely right. That Hurst worked on this plant is beyond doubt because he published chromosome details (diploid, 2n=14) in his "The Mechanism of Creative Evolution" of 1932.

But what is Rosa "Doncasteri" and how did it arise? Probably the best guess is that it is a hybrid between R. macrophylla and some other, unknown, diploid species, and it is sometimes written as Rosa x doncasteri to indicate that fact. Whatever the origin, the hips and dark flowers make it an excellent garden plant.

Rosa cinnamomea - the cinnamon rose

The cinnamon rose of gardens is so called because of its supposed cinnamon scent, which is present but often faint. It is rather low rose, 3-4 feet, with greyish foliage. It is an early flowerer (mid-May) with pink single flowers (the cultivar "plena" has attractive semi-double flowers).

As a denizen of northern Europe it is very hardy and was much planted in New England where it not only withstood the winters but formed long-lived suckering thickets. Outlasting houses the rose is often the sole remnant of past settlement and it is consequently considered naturalised in many States of the northeastern USA.

Rosa primula - the Incense Rose

Rosa primula (formerly called Rosa ecae in garden literature) is a beautiful shrubby rose (1-2 m high) with pale yellow flowers and scented foliage.

According to the Flora of China, it is found growing on scrubby hillsides between 800 and 2500m in various Chinese provinces (Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Sichuan). It extends West from China and is said to have been originally introduced from Samarkand in Uzbekistan, on the old Silk Road from China.

Flowering in early May it is one of the earliest roses to flower, perhaps the earliest in many regions. In 2010 (a generally early year admittedly) it was in full flower in the Arnold Arboretum in Massachusetts on 6 May.

The leaves are delicate and fern-like, with glands that are the source of the scent, released well from young leaves in warm damp weather and said to smell of incense. The red hips and distinctive stems provide some winter interest.