All the charm of old roses
‘Salet’ is a bush of real charm and an essential variety for any rose lover. Created in 1854, its slightly rumpled pink flowers and sugar-sweet fragrance will imbue your garden with the scent of old roses…
>>> Download the background ’Salet’ (1280 x 1024).
Category: Old horticultural variety (Centifolia muscosa).
Foliage: Brilliant, light green foliage. Little moss and few thorns.
Flowers: Quite large flowers (7 cm in diameter), bowl-shaped blooms with slightly confused segments. Deep pink at first, their colour lightens over time. Finally, double roses with the sustained sweet fragrance typical of old roses.
Flowering: from mid-June until the first frosts. Remontant.
Growth: average – 1.50 m in height and 1.20 m wide.
Positioning: Sun to mid-shade.
Care: A balanced, clumpy and hardy bush that supports poor soils. It can be planted in a pot and may also be used in hedges.
Breeder: François Lacharme.
Year first marketed: 1854.
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Location of ’Salet’ in the Roseraie: Flowerbeds 74 et 81. |
In his book “Les Rosiers”, François Lacharme regarded ‘Salet’ as one of the very best creations in the centifolia muscosa category.
Moss roses are characterised by the presence of a delicate “moss” composed of fine entangled outgrowths on stems and buds. But moss roses are not known for their reflowering qualities. The earliest roses of the kind were obtained from centifolia roses, and like them, did not flower more than once a season. Crosses were therefore carried out with reflowering varieties, in particular with ‘Rosa X damascena’, a sport of the Damask rose. A few varieties were obtained thereby, but only with somewhat meagre reflowering qualities.
Nonetheless, there is one remarkable exception. As well as being a particularly prolific flowerer, ‘Salet’ provides almost continuous flowering! Abundant in June, it is rather sparser in summer and finishes in beauty in September, when its blooms are yet more sustained than the first flowers of June, making its autumn flowering all the more interesting. |
The "moss" is particularly visible on the buttons.
(Photography : F. Joyaux)