So, you're stuck, at present, with the poor photograph here, just a tease of color and foliage to sustain you until next year, assuming its rugosa genes allow it to survive drought and cold and deer, and that it doesn't develop a case of rose rosette virus before it reaches maturity.
'Rose à Parfum de l'Hay' is a 1901 introduction by Jules Gravereaux of France. Even though this is a lousy photo, the bloom itself represents the mature color well, those double petals of carmine red displaying their lighter edges. She has a strong fragrance and repeated two more times this year in my garden, albeit playing hide and seek with my camera and schedule. Less mauve and more red than most of the rugosa hybrids, I would guess that she takes her fragrance and color from the 'Général Jacqueminot' grandparent on its mother's side, as it reminds me of that Hybrid Perpetual perhaps more than the pollen R. rugosa rubra parent. My season-old plant is about 1.5 feet high and has three solid and prickly stems at present. Before the cold weather moved it, 'Parfume de l'Hay's foliage was matte medium green, only very mildly rugose, and free of blackspot.
Suzy Verrier, in her Rosa Rugosa, noted that 'Rose à Parfum de l'Hay' is often confused with the more rugose and deeper colored 'Roseraie de l'Hay', but the appearance of my rose would leave me to believe that I received the right cultivar. Both were introduced in the same year in France, and both were meant to honor the renowned rose garden in Val-de-Marne, created in 1899 by Gravereaux on the grounds of an Parisian commune dating back to the time of Charlemagne. Peter Beales included it with the rugosas in his Classic Roses, but noted that its maternal R. damascena x 'Général Jacqueminot' parent confused the classification of the rose. Me, I'm just happy she's in my garden, carrying the weight of history along with her blooms and giving me hope for her survival. Now where, do you suppose, that I can find a 'Roseraie de l'Hay' to plant alongside my 'Parfum' next year?
