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'Bella Donna' rose Reviews & Comments
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Available from - Roses Unlimited www.roseunlimitedsc.com
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"[Léonie Bell's] 1969 article “A Recipe for Roast Crow” poked fun at her misidentification in The Fragrant Year of the rose she had by then become the first to correctly identify as the Damask ‘Bella Donna’ (Thomas and most other experts knew it as ‘Queen of the Centifolias’)." https://www.monticello.org/site/blog-and-community/posts/lioness-musk-and-monticello’s-bell-garden I don't have access to the above-referenced article; if anyone can provide the relevant reference, I think that would be useful.
Thanks, Virginia
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While the words "roast crow" sound familiar to me, I wonder if it is the 1969 American Rose Annual page 66 article by Leonie Bell entitled 'The Rose That Is Not Kazanlik' that you are after?
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Very possibly it is the same article, and the "citation" I had was incorrect. If not, the title you have sounds like the content is probably much the same.
It sounds like Bell believed that the rose that was (and still is?) in commerce as 'Centifolia Queen' ('Reine des Centfeuilles') was actually the Damask 'Bella Donna'. I'm not sure how 'Kazanlik' ties in unless that was her first guess when she decided the Centifolia Queen was actually a Damask.
What I'm wondering is what her sources were for the 'Bella Donna' ID. There are very few early references that I can find; they are all in English from the 1840's, and not very detailed. Did the French really not have this rose, or did they call it something else? It's a puzzlement.
Thanks, Virginia
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I'll get the article to you.
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Thanks for scanning and sending, Patricia- that was very kind.
After reading through the article, it sounds like Bell studied descriptions of Damask roses in the catalogs of Buist and Prince, ruled out most of the Damasks listed as not describing her foundling, and was left with two candidates that might be her rose: 'Bella Donna' and 'Grand Triomphe'. In this article, she was leaning towards 'Grand Triomphe' as the correct ID for her rose, so I'm guessing that in the 'Roast Crow' article, she favored 'Bella Donna' as an ID?
She felt that the 'Grand Triomphe' of Buist and Prince in America corresponded in description to 'Le Triomphe' as described by Mrs. Gore. I guess I need to add that plant record...
Thanks again, Virginia
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#5 of 5 posted
14 MAR 19 by
HollyH2
Hi. Did you read Nicole Juday’s Article about Bella Donna in the book Mystery Roses? She sheds some light on the info Ms. Bell had in I’d-ing this rose in the ‘70’s...
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Bella Donna is a wonderful rose for z6b in Virginia and is well adapted to our climate. She blooms once and is covered in fragrant blooms that pull her canes to the ground. When she is well fertilized she suckers freely. She gets some blackspot but not until after the spring flush.
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This rose has some of the most incredible structured blooms, but the plant is not very vigorous in my garden. Also seems somewhat subject to canker.
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