Old masters
Once home and inspiration to artist Hans Heysen, the garden at The Cedars, in the Adelaide Hills, has many beautiful roses, some more than 100 years old.
Roses have inspired artists for as long as they’ve been grown, including Australian artists Hans Heysen (1877–1968) and his daughter Nora Heysen (1911–2003). Although Hans is well known for his landscape watercolours, the Heysens also drew inspiration from the roses that grew in their garden at The Cedars. Here are some of the dreamiest cultivars, with notes on their rose type and date of introduction.
THE ROSES ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’
Bourbon, 1842 A much-loved subject painted by both Hans and Nora. Ten bushes of this pale pink rose still flourish in the garden, most planted in the 1920s and 1930s and brought back as cuttings from the local Hahndorf cemetery. This rose is the subject of Nora Heysen’s 1946 painting Souvenir Roses (left).
‘Mme Isaac Pereire’
Bourbon, 1881 Rich, dark-pink full flowers with an intense fragrance. Another much-loved (and painted) Heysen rose.
‘Mme Ernst Calvat’
Bourbon, 1888 Large bush with full pink blooms and a strong fragrance.
‘Penelope’
Hybrid Musk, 1924 A large bush that produces a profusion of semi-double flowers of creamy pink.
‘Peace’
Hybrid Tea, 1945 A classic favourite, with large blooms of yellow blushed with pink.
‘Jacques Cartier’
Portland, 1868 The deep pink buds and blooms are borne among attractive dark green foliage on a compact bush.
‘Charles de Mills’
Gallica, circa 1790 Large, carnation-like flowers of purple and deep crimson surrounded by bright green foliage on an almost thornless bush.
‘Anna Pavlova’
Hybrid Tea, 1981 Large, shapely pink blooms borne on a tall bush. Named to honour the famous Russian ballerina, who visited the Heysens at The Cedars with her ballet company in 1926.
‘Ophelia’
Hybrid Tea, 1912 Surely among the most admired roses ever bred. It freely bears clusters of high-centred blooms of the softest flesh pink with a tinge of apricot at the base.
‘Jardins de Bagatelle’
Hybrid Tea, 1986 One of the best cream roses with a light apricot centre and a soft pink tinge to its outer petals. This relatively recent addition to the garden blends beautifully with Heritage roses.
‘Duchesse de Brabant’
Tea Rose, 1857 Clear-pink, shapely double flowers of a cupped form. The Heysen family has always referred to this rose as ‘the bell’ due to the pendulous nature of the blooms.
‘New Dawn’
Hybrid Tea Climber, 1930 A rambler with free-flowering blooms of blush pink and a semi-double form. Can be trained as a climber. Attractive glossy-green foliage.
‘Crepuscule’
Noisette, 1904 Spreading shrubby climber with thick, glossy-green foliage and twilight blooms of apricot through to warm gold.
Massed with heavy flower clusters in spring and again in autumn.
‘Lady Hillingdon’
Tea Rose, 1910 Long, elegant buds of buff yellow borne on bronze-coloured stems. Lovely perfume and foliage, which is glossy and a distinctive dark purple-ish green.
‘Felicia’
Hybrid Musk, 1928 Spreading shrub with dark-green foliage. The double flowers present themselves as a charming mixture of rich pink with salmon shading, which fades to a paler cream or pink.
‘Fritz Nobis’
Modern Shrub, 1940 Wonderful display of spring blooms of salmon pink that cover the bush in an elegant display.
‘Gertrude Jekyll’
English Rose, 1986 Clusters of large, fully double blooms in a rich, glowing pink with a heavy, old-rose fragrance. Introduced after Hans’ time.
‘Paul Bocuse’
Shrub, 1997 Cupped blooms of apricot fading to pink, with a fruity fragrance on an upright bush. An excellent picking rose, with multiple flushes throughout the season. Introduced after Hans’ time.