Lady Mary Fitzwilliam

class: Hybrid Tea Rose
breeding: Bennett, 1882
photographed by Daphne Filiberti in her garden

'Lady Mary Fitzwilliam' is a gorgeous rose with light pink, intensely fragrant blooms. Jack Harkness stated that the rose should be classed as a 'stud Hybrid Tea' because it was the pollen-parent of no less than 1300 Hybrid Teas. He also noted that the plant had perfect flowers, and he forgave it for being feeble in growth. The parents of 'Lady Mary Fitzwilliam' are 'Devoniensis' and 'Victor Verdier'. The rose was developed by Henry Bennett in 1882.

I have had a few of these roses for several years. They are about two and a half feet high and wide. The own root roses are just as strong as the budded ones. I enjoy this rose and feel that it must go down in rose history as a monumental rose. It is the parent of such beauties as 'Antoine Rivoire', 'Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria', 'Mme Caroline Testout' and 'Souvenir du President Carnot'.