a
t the beginning of the 80's, we had in our selection fields a beautiful climbing rose-tree under the code name of "Ingres" with a delicate nacre white colour and light pink tones, but the shape of its blooms was causing some trouble compared to our other varieties just because the new standard of Romantica ® roses or "English Roses" was not yet born. "Ingres" was too much in advance on these "old fashioned roses" which are so popular today in our rose world. Our German agent, Klaus Strobel invited to a visit of our rose fields in June 1983 a famous german nurseryman Mr. Horstmann who was at that time the owner of an important mail-order company in Germany. Being aware of a new mainstream evolution by rose amateurs looking for the charm of old fashioned rose varieties Mr. Horstmann stopped in front of "Ingres" and declared this new variety was so different from all the varieties on the market that is had to be commercialized as soon as possible.




At the same time, the city of Paris decided they would pay a tribute to Pierre de Ronsard, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death in 1985. One of our friends at the Parks Department, Christine Jossien, suggested that Meilland should name a rose Pierre de Ronsard for this special celebration.

It was then suddenly clear in our mind that this new variety with such a charming shape and so delicate colour was the rose to be named after Pierre de Ronsard. This rose is one of the last creations of Manou Meilland who passed away in 1987, it has been identified in our fields by Jacques Mouchotte, and commercially selected by our german partners and finally put on the market with a name suggested by a former employee of the company. This is quite typical of the way we are working in the House of Meilland, in synergy with various influences from inside and outside and in close cooperation with specialists from different countries.




If the name Pierre de Ronsard ® was full of meaning in France, this was not the case in foreign countries and there again, Klaus Strobel helped us by proposing the name Eden Rose ® / Eden Climber ™ as the exceptional beauty of this rose was for him "a certain idea of paradise".

Pierre de Ronsard ® is in fact the very first rose of the Romantica ® line created by Meilland gathering new varieties with the charm of old roses but qualities of modern ones.




20 years later, more than 3 millions of Pierre de Ronsard ® have been planted in amateur or city rose gardens all over the world. Year after year, this variety is always in the top ten sellers, which is quite excellent for a climber / shrub. The new trend is now to grow Pierre de Ronsard ® as a cut rose for florists. Due to the climate of countries like Ecuador, it is today possible to have all year round Pierre de Ronsard ® blooms in the high quality florist shops , for amateurs, to make luxurious flower arrangements, and for professionals through Maxi-Fleurs (France and Europe, tel +33.(0)1.46.86.93.77, Fax +33.(0)1.49.78.01.56 maxi-fleurs@wanadoo.fr, for the rest of the world through Gallica in Ecuador (gallica@uio.satnet.net). To know where to get a Pierre de Ronsard ® plant anywhere in the world : www.helpmefind.com.



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