(2011)  
 
Jacques Mouchotte of the illustrious French House of Meilland in Le Luc En Provence was no upstart. He had already hybridized several great roses - the All-America Rose 'Carefree Delight,' a Landscape rose of exceptional beauty....

(2011)  
 
'Eden' is the second of the climbers, also the second Romantica hybridized by Mouchotte (1987). It was with this rose, he claims, that he was first convinced that a new "line" was about to develop. More heavily petaled than 'Colette' (up to 60 petals per blossom), cupped blooms are quintessentially old-fashioned and deliciously fragrant. Flower color ranges from pastel pink to cream-verging-on yellow. Plants are robust and well clothed in dark green foliage.

(2011)  
 
Then, Mouchotte hybridized 'Polka,' a climber that took the Western United States, particularly California, by storm. Not only were its fragrant, soft-apricot, frilly blossoms appealing, so was the vigorous, disease resistant plant on which they flowered.

(2011)  
 
Jacques Mouchotte of the illustrious French House of Meilland in Le Luc En Provence was no upstart. He had already hybridized several great roses - the All-America Rose 'Carefree Delight,' a Landscape rose of exceptional beauty, and 'Summer's Kiss' a soft apricot Hybrid Tea that smells distinctly of anise.

(2011)  
 
Such successes surely pleased Mouchotte, but he was haunted by a rose that he introduced in 1984 named 'Yves Piaget.' Although he recognized that it was beyond routine classification, in order to get it into commerce and test its marketability, Mouchotte classed 'Yves Piaget' as a Hybrid Tea. It caused an immediate sensation among French gardeners. Mouchotte couldn't drive the image of what he had created out of his mind and believed that Monsieur Piaget might be the first of a new "line" of roses for the mighty Meilland empire to promote....Small wonder the image of 'Yves Piaget' consumed him - this rose knows no shame where showiness is concerned. Not only are blossoms sassy shades of hot-to-mid, mauve-pink, they're ruffled and fragrant as all get-out. They're also huge - easily equaling oversized saucers. Those are merits enough for a successful new rose, but 'Yves Piaget' was yet more. Its plants were exceptionally hardy, robust, notably disease resistant, and smothered in handsome foliage. Mouchotte declared 'Yves Piaget' the first of a new breed of roses to be called "Romantica" and set about hybridizing similar new varieties in an array of colors.