Article (newspaper)  (Aug 2008)  Page(s) 10.  
 
Patricia Routley: I have a red rambling rose called Bloomfield Courage growing on a fence here and the same rose grows at the old tea rooms on Muirillup Road. Unfortunately, Northcliffe with its cloudy skies is not its spiritual home, although it certainly grows better at the old tea rooms than it does at our place. This rose, growing in the hot alkaline conditions at Renmark, South Australia, is the most famous rose in Australia and there it grows massively over a huge arch and captivates all who see it in full flower. I walked happily under it to go and lunch nearby in the garden with other rosarians in 2003 and seeing it in full flower like that, is one of my treasured memories. My bush came as a cutting from the Pinjarra Heritage Rose Garden in 1998 and I put it on a fence at the far corner and the only attention it ever had is a nibble or two from the kangaroos, so it is probably no wonder it never reached the Renmark proportions. ‘Bloomfield Courage’ is a dark green leaved, wichuraiana rambler that has a long flowering season of about four to six weeks. It is thin caned, and almost thornless and in the right climate, produces excessively long canes off its old wood with relatively few basal breaks. It has a different form from the thicket of basal canes that the other wich’s, 'Excelsa' and 'Dorothy Perkins' produce, so with this one, preserve those old main trunks. It can climb a tree and can quickly get out of hand on a pillar or an arch, so perhaps the kangaroos were doing me a favour. The blackish scarlet, five-petalled flowers are only about 3cm wide but the plant is so floriferous that it is literally covered with blossom like dark crimson butterflies. It is said to have white centers with prominent yellow stamens, but all I recall (in the depths of winter) is the crimson effect. It blooms in graceful, open clusters of up to twenty-five blossoms. Like most of the wichuraiana roses, it has no scent. It is best not to deadhead, as that will remove the wonderful hips that appear in winter. This simple rose has an airy look and I like it planted on its own where it is not overpowered by anything more showy. It looks good with a backdrop of conifers and is simple to propagate from cuttings. ‘Bloomfield Courage’ was created in 1925 (about the same time as Northcliffe) by an American, Captain George C. Thomas, Jr., who named it after his family estate, Bloomfield, in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania. It was a combination of R. wichuraiana and ‘Turner’s Crimson Rambler’, (see – there is that famous ancestor appearing yet again) There were over 40 roses bearing the Bloomfield name and it is said that his wife burned all the Captain’s roses, books and manuscripts the day after he died. Methinks he spent perhaps a little too much time out there with the roses.

Book  (2000)  Page(s) 121.  Includes photo(s).
 
‘Bloomfield Courage = Grimpant liane… Sur la quarantaine de rosiers nommés Bloomfield par le capitaine George Thomas, du nom de son domaine de Pennsylvanie, trois sont restés très populaires… myriades de petites fleurs simples en bouquet, rouge sombre velouté éclairé d’un œil blanc et d’étamines jaunes. Chaque bouquet compte au moins 20 fleurs et l’effet est éblouissant, mais ce coloris un peu cru est difficile à marier. Peu épineux, le rosier est aisé à palisser, mais exige beaucoup d’espace. Il refleurit parfois en automne et des fruits rouges prolongent sa saison… Thomas US 1925. Rosa wichuraiana x Crimson Rambler.

Book  (Apr 1999)  Page(s) 293.  
 
Bloomfield Courage Wichuraiana. Capt. Thomas/Bobbink & Atkins and Howard & Smith, 1925. The author cites information from different sources... Deep red and white, small, single... A prodigious bloomer that occasionally produces a second crop... scarlet hips in autumn. Has developed an everblooming character in California, but is once-blooming only in the North and East...

Book  (1994)  Page(s) 132.  Includes photo(s).

Book  (Sep 1993)  Page(s) 80.  Includes photo(s).
 
Bloomfield Courage Rambler. Captain George S. Thomas 1925. Description... dark red color... the name honors the place of residence of the raiser... Parentage undisclosed...

Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 55.  
 
Bloomfield Courage Rambler, dark velvety red, center white, prominent yellow stamens, single, 1925, Thomas. Description.

Book  (Feb 1993)  Page(s) 137.  Includes photo(s).
 
Bloomfield Courage Cluster-flowered climber. Parentage unknown. Australia/USA 1925. Description and cultivation... Single, deep, velvety red flowers appear in clusters. They have white centres and yellow stamens...

Website/Catalog  (1947)  Page(s) 47.  
 
General List. Wichuraiana Class.  Bloomfield Courage (Thomas 1932) Bright crimson single flowers with a white centre and produced in bunches.  Fine disease-resisting foliage and altogether the best red Wichuraiana yet sent out. 

Book  (1940)  Page(s) 21, 22.  
 
Page 21: All the Bloomfield roses were produced by Capt. George C. Thomas, Jr., at his home of that name in Chestnut Hill, Pa., until he removed to Beverly Hills, Calif., where he continued his hybridization until his death in 1932.
Page 22: Bloomfield Courage Rambler. (Thomas, 1925; introduced by Bobbink & Atkins and Howard & Smith)... dark velvety red, white center, prominent yellow stamens...

Website/Catalog  (1938)  Page(s) 13.  
 
Rosa Wichurana. Bloomfield Courage (Wich.) (Capt. Thomas 1925). Dark velvety red with white eye and yellow stamens, double, quite large clusters, early-blooming, hardy, healthy.