Louis Lens is a name that's synonymous with Hybrid Musks. You'll find more information under
Breeders: LENS and
Suppliers: Louis Lens.
[From Climbing Roses, by Stephen Scanniello, p. 4:] Developed by the Reverend Joseph Pemberton in England during the early part of the 20th Century... small-flowered shrub roses that are everblooming and can be used as climbers... they are only distantly related to R. moschata.
[From Roses, by Eleonore Cruse, p. 9:] a group discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century by a clergyman, Joseph Pemberton, and developed by him and his gardeners... very remontant. These roses are descended from Rosa multiflora, Rosa x noisettiana and Rosa chinensis. However, Rosa moschata, from which the group derives the word "musk" in its name, goes very far back in time.
[From Gardening with Old Roses, by Alan Sinclair and Rosemary Thodey, p. 35:] Hybrid Musk blooms tend to become paler as the flowers age... in warmer climates they frequently take on the dimensions of small climbers and are often treated as such...
[From Peter Schneider on Roses, by Peter Schneider, p. 147:] Although a few hybrid musks, including 'Robin Hood', display a compact habit, most are limber growers bearing huge clusters of small blooms... most are content in dappled shade. They are all repeat bloomers, and as a group have an excellent health record... Schneider discusses how they came to be named, refer to source for this information.
[From Fifty Favourite Roses, by Michael Gibson, p. 19:] the hybrid musks were a pretty mixed bag, being sold at first as hybrid teas. When entered as such in a show of the National Rose Society (not yet Royal) the then secretary would have none of this and the story goes that it was he who suggested the name hybrid musk simply because of the new roses' good scent...
[From Fifty Favourite Roses, by Michael Gibson, p. 55:] There is a saying that it does not matter what colour hybrid musks start out; they all end up white...
[From The Old Rose Adventurer, by Brent Dickerson, p. 362:] The Reverend J.H. Pemberton, in England, originated a group of varieties which he called Hybird Musks. They are large bushes, in bloom more or less continuously, bearing flowers of varying size and doubleness, mostly white, pale pink, and pale yellow, in gigantic clusters.
[Ibid, p. 362:] The Musk strain was perpetuated in the everblooming climbers produced by Captain George C. Thomas, Jr., who used some of Pemberton's roses as parents in his early hybridizing work. His roses, or his earlier varieties at least, are continuous-blooming shrubs which are reasonably hardy. The flowers are mostly single, and although he introduced them as hardy everblooming climbers, they never really climb much or bloom freely after the early summer display.
[From Beautiful American Rose Gardens, by Mary Tonetti Dorra, p. 10:] Hybrid Musks... came on the scene in 1918 and were formerly called Pemberton roses after the English hybridizer Reverend Joseph Pemberton, who produced several of the earliest varieties... hardy to 15F, vigorous, disease-resistant, and profuse-blooming...
