The musk rose, Rosa moschata, was the rose of the Persian poets. It also was the rose praised by Shakespeare: “I know a bank where the wild thyme blows ... With sweet musk roses, and with eglantine.”

        Later, Keats wrote: “I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields/A fresh-blown musk rose.”

        Musk roses grew inPersian gardens and probably were planted in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. They reached England in the early 16th century, and around 1590, Gerard in his Herbal wrote of Persian roses blooming in his garden with great clusters of flowers weighing down the branches.

        I imagine that the musk rose's fragrance guaranteed it an enthusiastic reception in Tudor England, where the scent of the rutting musk stag was the favorite deodorant of the court's unwashed dandies, and the perfume of choice for Elizabeth I.

        The hybrid musk roses, an important development in shrub roses, emerged as a group during the first quarter of the 20th century. A clergyman named Joseph Pemberton in Essex, England, came up with a breakthrough in rose breeding. His first roses came on the market in 1913: “Moonlight,” with semi-double white flowers, and “Danae,” with small primrose yellow blooms.

SOURCES

• Nurseries and garden centers.     • Antique Rose Emporium, Brenham, Texas; (800) 441-0002.     • High Country Roses, Jensen, Utah; (800) 552-2082. Catalog available.

        To create these roses, the Rev. Mr. Pemberton used a bushy, long-stemmed cluster rose called “Trier,” bred in Germany in 1904. From this lineage, his roses inherited their musklike scent. Most of the roses that the Rev. Mr. Pemberton developed between 1913 and his death in 1926 are available today.

        “Buff Beauty,” introduced in 1939, is attributed to the Rev. Mr. Pemberton, but authorities think his gardener developed it (the clergyman had been dead 13 years).

        “Buff Beauty” has arching branches that gradually build up into a graceful bush. Dark green, broad leaves — bronze when young — cover the plant. The flowers are borne singly or in clusters at midsummer, and the rose will rebloom in late summer and fall.

        The blooms are large, shapely, fully double and a rich apricot yellow, tinted coral in the bud. The delicious scent reminds me of a richly perfumed tea rose. The entire plant is excellent, growing to about 6 feet, and can be trained as a pillar rose or on a wall.

        In 1983 I visited Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, England, home of the famous English gardener Vita Sackeville-West. In late summer, an entire wall was bordered by Pemberton hybrids: “Buff Beauty,” “Cornelia,” “Felicia,” “Penelope” and “Danae.” Their blooms scented the air so luxuriantly that I never have forgotten the experience.

       Contact Tim Morehouse by Web site: www.getmoregarden.com; mail: c/o The Cincinnati Enquirer. (If writing, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope.)
       

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