Happily, many “Found” roses find their way into commerce. We’d be the poorer if that process waited on the often unlikely possibility of matching a foundling with a historic identity. No authority or formal rule applies, but in most cases, a “Foundling” is listed under a “study name,” selected by the person who found or “rescued” the rose in the first place.

This reasonably orderly informal custom dissolves into chaos when a rose is assigned multiple study names by multiple people, in multiple places. Over some time, knowledgeable rosarians usually sort out dual and triple identities, but the information doesn’t necessarily filter down to people who buy roses for their gardens. (It also does not filter down to American Rose Society judges and officials – but that is not our main concern.)

This sort of confusion is illustrated by the rose sold as “Grandmother’s Hat,” by some vendors, and as “Barbara Worl” by others. The same rose has also been marketed as ‘Mrs. R.G. Sharman-Crawford,’ and as ‘Cornet.’ No consensus has been achieved for either of the latter two names. The general public is not made aware that the four names refer to one rose.

“Manchester Guardian Angel”
One Rose – Three Names

“Manchester Guardian Angel” is another rose which has entered commerce under multiple identities. This lovely rose was first discovered in the small town of Manchester, on California’s North Coast. Along this part of the coast, temperatures seldom rise above 72 nor dip below 50, but heavy winds throughout the year may make 72 feel much chillier. The rain falls heavily here, from September to May, and mornings and evenings find the cliffs wrapped in fog.

The town of Manchester was born in 1857, when a general store opened on part of an 1844 Mexican Land Grant. For more than a century, logging and dairy farming sustained Manchester. These days, its major “industry” is tourism.

In 1980, Joyce Demits and her sister Virginia found a rose of curiously-mixed ancestry, growing vigorously in Manchester’s old Evergreen Cemetery. The healthy, vigorous, thorny, climbing rose still covers its family plot with healthy foliage and fragrant blooms. Delicate petals the hue of antique ivory contrast with the aged marble of the Guardian Angel monument for which the rose was study-named.

Rich moschata fragrance announces an unmistakable connection to the Noisette clan. A sharper undernote to the scent hints at other influences. Mahogany-colored new growth speaks of Tea Rose breeding. Distinct fringing on perhaps 25% of the stipules advertises multiflora influence. Is there a Polyantha in the Pedigree? Possibly. This is a rose of very complex ancestry!

The earliest burial associated with “Manchester Guardian Angel” dates to 1886. The final interment is dated June, 1911. It seems unlikely that the rose was planted much before 1886. It could have been planted between 1886 and 1911, or added later by surviving family members.

Like many other delightful Demits foundlings, “Manchester Guardian Angel” has long been available from Joyce’s Mendocino-based “Tanglewood Farms,” located near Fort Bragg, California. It is also available from Vintage Gardens in Sebastopol, where it is listed among the Noisettes.

“Georgetown Lemon-White Tea”
Study-Name No. 2

“Georgetown Lemon-White Tea” is the study name assigned by Clair Martin¹, to his 1987 find. Martin’s discovery is one of several still-unidentified roses which have been collected in an 1850 Georgetown, California cemetery. No association with a particular plot or burial was recorded for this rose, but the first burial here took place in 1848. The oldest remaining marker dates to 1850, and burials continued into the present time.

Grown for some years in the now-dispersed Huntington Study Plot, the lovely and vigorous rose with the moschata fragrance, and the Tea-like mahogany growth was spotted there by Bob Edberg.

Edberg propagated the rose, grew it in his San Fernando Valley garden, and offered it through his “Limberlost Roses.”

No mention was made of a connection with “Manchester Guardian Angel,” but some researchers were aware that the Georgetown discovery and the Manchester one were identical.

Bob Edberg provided budwood of “Georgetown Lemon-White Tea” to Paul Zimmerman’s South-Carolina-based Ashdown Roses. Ashdown has distributed it as a Climbing Tea Rose.

“Legacy Of Joseph Marcilino”
Study-Name No. 3

“Legacy Of Joseph Marcilino” seemed an appropriate study-name for a rose found on the 1858 grave of Joseph Marcilino², in the Pilarcitos Cemetery, near Half-Moon Bay, California. Ed Wilkinson, former curator of roses for the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, found the rose there in ?????. We do not know when it was planted, but 1858 or later seems to be a safe guess.

The Pilarcitos Cemetery was established in 1820, to serve as a burial place for Christianized Indian people. When the city of San Benito was established in the 1840’s, this small Campo Santo became the Pueblo’s cemetery, and the resting place of the town’s founders. Early Mexicano and Chileno settlers rest there, near the site of the 1854 Church of Our Lady of the Pillar (de Nuestra Senora del Pilar)³.

The Pilarcitos Cemetery was closed to burials after 1923, except for previously-purchased plots. The latest burial took place in 1964. The cemetery today is said to be in a sad state of disrepair.

As curator of the collection of the Heritage, Ed was afforded an excellent opportunity to observe both his own foundling, and the older “Manchester Guardian Angel.” It didn’t take long for this trained observer to realize that he was looking at two plants of the same cultivar. His “Legacy of Joseph Marcilino,” he concluded, was identical to the rose Joyce Demits had long ago named “Manchester Guardian Angel,” (and identical, by extension, to “Georgetown Lemon-White Tea”).

Ed subsequently withdrew the study-name, “Legacy of Joseph Marcilino.” Nevertheless, “Legacy Of Joseph Marcilino is still listed by Ashdown Roses, as a “found” Noisette.

Three’s A Charm

Ed Wilkinson’s discovery of a third plant of this cultivar is significant. Three discoveries, so widespread geographically, indicate to experienced researchers that this rose was – probably – once in commerce in California. This offers some hope that the “real” name might yet be determined.

In the meantime, this delightful rose remains in commerce. Confusingly, it is in commerce under ALL THREE NAMES. As someone who bought both “Manchester Guardian Angel” and “Georgetown Lemon-White Tea,” I quite naturally believe something should be done to alleviate the current state of confusion.

Remember – all listings of “found” roses are informal. There is no registering body for “foundlings.” Perhaps, though, we could agree on a “convention” or “rule” that would make life easier for those of us who buy roses.

Which Name Should Prevail?

It seems to me that the first Study-Name applied to a foundling should, in most cases, (and if it is suitable) be recognized as the preferred one. (Ed Wilkinson followed this thinking, in withdrawing his own study-name from the rose he found in the Pilarcitos Cemetery.) This seems to me to be both courteous and logical.

PLEASE List All Synonyms!

This is a small thing, but it would make life infinitely simpler for the rose buyer:

Where multiple study-names are known, could we PLEASE list the additional names as Synonyms? Thus, in a catalog that includes “Found” roses, we might see something like:
· “Grandmother’s Hat” “Found” class, date of introduction unknown (Synonym: “Barbara Worl,” May be ‘Mrs. R.G. Sharman-Crawford,’ May be ‘Cornet’)
and
· “Manchester Guardian Angel” “Found” class, date of introduction unknown (Synonym: “Georgetown Lemon-White Tea,” “Legacy Of Joseph Marcilino”)

There is, again, no central authority to REQUIRE such a listing. (Nor will organizing our Foundlings inspire the American Rose Society to recognize them.) This is only a small courtesy, but it is one that would, I think, be greatly appreciated by those who buy “Found” roses.

Many thanks to Fred Boutin for his advice and consultation. (JMJ)

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