Silver Moon

This rose's location in the garden is NE 08, SW 8.

• Classification:  Hybrid Wichurana, (grown as climber)
• Flower Color:  white
• Flower Size:  4-5 inches
• Flower Form:  single to semi-double, borne mostly solitary
• Petal Count:  8-15
• Fragrance: very, mild apple
• Repeat Bloomer:  no
• Foliage:  large, dark green, glossy
• Plant Height:  10-20 feet
• Plant Width:   6-8 feet
• Growth Habit:  very vigorous
• Disease Resistant:  yes
• Hybridizer:  Dr. Walter Van Fleet
• Registered:  1910
• Parentage:  (R. wichurana x ‘Devoniensis’)
• ARS* Rating 8.0  (solid to very good rose)
  *American Rose Society Rating

Awards:

• None

 
Notes:

• ‘Silver Moon’ was one of the first roses planted in the Laura Conyers Smith Rose Garden, based on a drawing from 1932. As of 2021, there are 2 bushes. The hybridizer, Dr. Walter van Fleet worked for the US Department of Agriculture, focusing on crops, but also developing roses designed to thrive in the American climate. Some of his other roses are ‘American Pillar’ and ‘Dr.W.Van Fleet’. ---  (Wilkipedia, “List of Rose Breeders”) retrieved March 2021.
  

• R. wichurana, or ‘Memorial Rose’, recalls the German jurist and botanist Max Ernst Wichura, who found this species on a Japanese riverbank in 1861 and sent samples back to Europe. Wichura’s accidental death five years later cut short a distinguished career and the wild Japanese rose he had collected was almost forgotten. It remained anonymous until 1886, when the Belgian botanist Francois Crepin rediscovered it in the Brussels Botanical Garden and conferred the name, originally R. wichuraiana, that gives Max Wichura proper credit. --- Brenner & Scanniello, A Rose by Any Name, page 120.