Class: Damask

Autumn Damask Photo © Barrie Collins (www.barriecollins.net) used with permission

"Damask Roses are supposed to be from a hybridization between R. gallica and R. phoenicia which occurred in Asia Minor and became distributed throughout Syria and the Near East and Middle East generally. The Crusaders--according to tradition--brought it back to Europe from Damascus (hence the name) in 1254. However, there is a most daunting and seemingly impenetrable fog around R. damascena. References can be found to "the common Damask" as late as the 1820's, and yet what an author is referring to by this term remains elusive. It indeed frequently seems that "the Common Damask" is rather a Damask Perpetual! Worse, cultivars which we today consider as defining the group--`Leda', perhaps, and 'Mme. Hardy'--seem to have been hybrids. 'Celsiana', a most beautiful and popular rose, is possibly "typical" Damask; and yet, even it has its mystery (current research seems to indicate that the "pre-1750" date usually put forward is whimsical). Even 'York and Lancaster', frequently considered to be a sport of the original (red?) Damask, is supposed by one authority to be an Alba on the basis of a sporting back to something like the Alba 'Semiplena'! The cultivar used for the rose oil industry in Bulgaria, `Trigintipetala', supposedly a long-ago import from Turkey, is perhaps dependably R. damascena . . . . That said, characteristics associated with our concept of what a Damask should look like are: upright frequently arching canes, grayish-green somewhat rugose somewhat hirsute leaves, large fragrant blossoms in few-flowered clusters, delicate in appearance, and ranging in color from white to deep pink depending on the cultivar. 'Ville de Bruxelles', `Celsiana', `Mme. Hardy', 'Mme. Zoetmans', 'Kazanlyk'."
- Brent C. Dickerson odinthor@csulb.edu, author, "The Old Rose Advisor"

Describing Damasks as a whole is unfair to some of the parts, but in general, Damasks are once-blooming, tall (5-6 feet or more), with relatively flexible canes and elegant habit. Leaves are disease resistant, and many Damasks are cold hardy to -20 degrees Fahrenheit.

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