''Rosa'' Papa Meilland is a

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

of hybrid tea

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

, bred by Alain Meilland in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1963.

Description

Flowers of dark velvety crimson open from pointed, almost black, buds. The blossoms are large and high-centered, with 35 petals, and are borne mostly singly on strong stems. They have a rich scent. Flowering is very sustained over the summer to early autumn. The foliage is glossy and bright green. It is a vigorous rose, but not as disease-resistant as it once was. In the bush form it is high, and it also exists in climbing form (developed by the nursery rosarian Louis Dima in

Doué-la-Fontaine Doué-la-Fontaine () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. On 30 December 2016, it was merged into the new commune Doué-en-Anjou. It is located in the heart of Anjou, a few kilometres from the great châteaux ...

, the French capital of roses ).

Ancestry

This cultivar is the result of the breeding 'Chrysler Imperial' x 'Charles Mallerin','Roses and gardens', Marie-Thérèse Haudebourg, Hachette, Paris, 2005 , P. 133. both highly scented, velvety, rich-red roses. It was the first cultivar of roses officially registered in France, under the name of "Meicesar". Alain Meilland named the rose in honor of his grandfather, rosarian,

Antoine Meilland Antoine '("Papa") Meilland (1884–1971) was a French rose grower and co-founder of Meilland International SA, Meilland International, a large rose growing company in southern France. As a young man, he worked as a nursery assistant for rose bre ...

Distinctions

Rose Hall of Fame The Rose Hall of Fame contains roses considered world favourites by a vote of members of the World Federation of Rose Societies. Inductees are announced every three years at World Rose Conventions. Additionally, popular historical roses and roses o ...

, 1988, * Gold medal in Baden-Baden, 1962.

References

Papa Meilland 1963 introductions {{rosa-stub