Madame Hardy – pharmaROSA® NEONATAL rooted cutting
Historic Damask shrub Madame Hardy offers a distinctive, once-blooming white rosette with very strong fragrance, aligning well with premium, specialty container routes and collector-focused retail channels where character cultivars are valued. As a dense, upright bush with low maintenance needs and verified disease resistance, it provides a reliable base for thematic and historic rose gardens, park projects and display beds. Own-root NEONATAL material supports predictable, long-term stands in nursery propagation beds, with a natural development from root establishment in year one, structural framework in year two and full ornamental expression in year three, while coping well with colder, wind-exposed production sites typical of Scottish and northern English conditions.
Usage options
Finished-product ideas
- Premium 5–7 L historic Damask – Single-season, once-blooming scented shrub in 5–7 L premium containers, highlighting historic status and fragrance strength for selection / specialty retail – target: specialist garden centres and heritage nurseries
- Historic fragrance feature shrub – Bush-trained shrub with discreet support, marketed as a focal scented feature for rose gardens and estates, produced from own-root stock for long-term structure – target: landscape contractors and estate managers
- Themed Damask collection trio – Curated multi-SKU set where this cultivar represents the white, intensely scented historic component, grown on in uniform containers for cohesive displays – target: collection-building retailers and thematic rose gardens
- Park and public-rose garden line – Robust, low-intervention shrub specification for parks and institutional rose gardens, supplied from own-root batches for predictable stand longevity – target: public-realm and municipal framework suppliers
- Collector-grade mail-order rose – Niche catalogue item emphasising Old Rose Hall of Fame recognition and authentic historic character, shipped as well-rooted own-root shrub for specialist collectors – target: mail-order and online heritage-rose retailers
Technical cultivar profile
| Parameter |
Data |
| Name and registration |
Historic Damask shrub known as Madame Hardy, also listed as a historic centifolia type; current trade and ARS exhibition name Madame Hardy, unregistered, authenticity verified for professional propagation. |
| Origin and breeding |
Selected in France around 1831 by Julien-Alexandre Hardy at Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris; probably a Damask seedling; introduced in 1832 by Hardy and maintained as a classic historic garden rose. |
| Awards and recognition |
Recognised by the World Federation of Rose Societies in the Old Rose Hall of Fame in 2006, reflecting long-term international esteem among heritage rose specialists and collection curators. |
| Growth and structural characteristics |
Forms a tall, upright, densely foliated shrub 160–260 cm high and 150–250 cm wide; bushy framework, mid-green matt foliage and dense prickling, typically grown bush-trained with discreet structural support. |
| Flower morphology |
Medium-sized, very full rosette blooms with more than 40 petals, corymbose inflorescences and a single main flowering season without remontancy, requiring manual deadheading due to weak self-cleaning. |
| Colour data and phenology |
Ivory to snow-white rosettes with a subtle pale green central point; ARS white, RHS 155C outer and 155D inner; colour holds well, though petals may scorch or brown slightly in hotter weather conditions. |
| Fragrance and aroma |
Classic, very strong Damask fragrance with a garden-filling intensity, making it primarily an ornamental scent rose; very double blooms limit access to stamens, so it offers limited pollinator value in plantings. |
| Hip characteristics |
Heavily double flowers restrict hip set; occasional ovoid green hips 12–18 mm may form, generally sparse and not a major ornamental or production feature in standard horticultural use. |
| Resistance and winter hardiness |
Hardy to about -32 to -29 °C (RHS H7, Swedish zone 5, USDA 4b); generally good disease resistance, rated resistant to powdery mildew, black spot and rust under typical garden and nursery conditions. |
| Horticultural recommendations |
Best used as a flowerbed, specimen, park or rose garden shrub; low overall maintenance but needs deadheading; suited to premium container, specialty routes with bush-trained form and discreet structural support. |
Madame Hardy, supplied as pharmaROSA® NEONATAL own-root cuttings, combines historic Damask character, strong fragrance and reliable hardiness into durable, regenerating stands; please contact us to coordinate volumes, timing and integration into your UK rose range.
