This distinctive rose was discovered by Charles Walker growing on a roadside in Georgia in 1984, and he gave it the study name “Thomaston Road Dwarf China.” In 1998, Doug Seidel, after seeing it in Marie Butler’s Virginia garden, believed it had the characteristics of a deep pink Noisette rose (Rosa noisettiana purpurea) illustrated in Les Roses (1817-1824), by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, the French artist who painted all the roses of the Empress Josephine’s garden. This mystery rose is now being grown and observed by heirloom rose experts, including Ruth Knopf in Charleston, South Carolina, and the “Léonie Bell Rose Garden” at the Center for Historic Plants. Charleston is the home of the Noisettes and there has been a great deal of interest in identifying and preserving these old garden forms in recent years.
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