Dans le dernier numéro (mars 2016) de l'Esprit Jardin, deux pages sont consacrées aux roses de notre ami Warren.

Un très bel article où Daniel revient sur sa rencontre avec (ça c'est moi qui le dis) le plus génial hybrideur de sa génération.

Il nous décrit la spécificité de ces roses dont je ne dois plus vous préciser la diversité.

L'Esprit Jardin m'a autorisé à publier l'article dans son entièreté et j'ai pris la liberté pour mes amis non-francophones de le traduire (ce n'est pas ma formation mais l'essentiel est de se faire comprendre, n'est-ce pas ?).

A new family of Australian roses by Warren Millington - DRG Roses (Written by Daniel Schmitz)

This time I won't describe just one rose but a family of roses created by my friend Warren, "The Wizard of Oz". (you had the opportunity to notice him in number 8 - August - from L'Esprit Jardin on the occasion of the christening of the rose 'Daniel mon Ami')

In 2013, thanks to Isabelle Olikier-Luyten, I had the honour and the pleasure to meet Warren Millington.

This awesome rose breeder, from South-West Australia, felt passion for creating new unordinary roses. He brings us in Europe amazing roses with innovative features.

In June 2015, during "Les Journées de la Rose" at the Abbey of Chaalis (France), Warren's roses got the award of "the most inviting on a journey of escape". This says it all and I invite you to discover them here.

Those shrub roses and sometimes climbing roses have been bred in Australia with direct European parents. So they are resistant to our weather conditions (even here in The Ardennes). Some of them have even resisted last year to -38°C in the North of the USA.

For his breedings, Warren uses old roses, wild roses or roses from European breeders such as Austin or Kordes. Now he moves towards more small flowers and also a new range of thornless roses. Those new roses should meet with strong success among the gardeners.

The blooming of this new family of roses is very generous from Spring and continues throughout the season. This characteristic is the one which amazed me the most.

Indeed, most of roses we know, show new shoots AFTER we cut faded flowers. Those australian roses develop their new shoots as soon as the first flower is fully opened.

That innovating approach by Warren Millington in its breeding has led to a great vigour in his roses : their growth and blooming are unusally significant.

And I still didn't tell you about their shapes and their perfumes !

Each year new roses are bred every where; nevertheless many gardeners note uniformity and duplication of existing roses.

With his new roses, Warren generated "a new freshness" in the world of roses, with new shapes of roses full of delicateness.

There are simple, double or very full roses and for most of them, having strong perfumes with different fragrances I had never met in roses till now.

In 2014 I had the pleasure to welcome in Malmédy Patrice Revillard from the Perfume School in Paris. He really enjoyed analyzing and "dissecting" the different tastes in Warren's roses. Little interesting bonus : those perfumed roses are also very appropriate for cut roses keeping long in a vase.

As you can well imagine, their creator has instiled a great sensibility and charm which really touched me.

The foliages also have a great importance to Warren : first of all for their great resistance to diseases but also for their texture, their different colours from light to dark green and from mat to glossy. Here too there is something to play around with in the garden.

I would like to conclude by sharing with you an interview of Warren by my friend Isabelle :

"I started breeding roses ten years ago. I studied Agricultural Science in the 1980's and half a cursus business (study full time and work at the same time doesn't work, I was exhausted). 

My aim in breeding the modern rose was to recreate the charm and beauty of roses  as we know as Old Garden Varieties. The beauty of their form and their elegance of the perfumes which has been lost in a lot of modern roses. My aim over the years has been to bring back these characteristics along with longer flowering period associated with a very quick repeat bloom. The importance of health and plant vigour has also been an major factor in my breeding programmes as it ties in all of the above.

About 80% of the roses I bred have moderate to strong perfume with different nuances of fragrances.

Unlike many people who seed by the thousands, I'm looking for potential parents and their offsprings for a more controlled breeding program. I select for quality not quantity.

My aim is to ensure access to my roses in Europe in order that the rose lovers of the Old Continent can enjoy them as much as I do. I have a great passion which is to create beautiful things; when people tell me that it makes them happy, I've done my job because that is all about."

Thanks Mr Millington for all those treasures. Thank you for making us happy.

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