The Equinox Rose

I call it the Equinox Rose.
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But it's real name is Souvenir de Madame Leonie Viennot. And it blooms like crazy in late May every year. I took cuttings and it roots like crazy, too, and covers a fence in no time. Absolutely one of the best of all time.Maybe the scent varies by region, I would define it as delicately TEA scented.

It's an Heirloom Tea Rose...Loose tea rose-shaped fragrant flowers are pale yellow shaded with coppery pink. Honey scented flowers cover the entire plant in wild profusion... a vigorous hardy grower...12'-20'...immense flowers of grapefruit pink and gold, such a spectacle in bloom I have heard people say they would give anything to possess it...essentially a once bloomer, occasional rebloom, outstanding fragrance...

Mme Leonie Viennot was the wife of a small breeder, with only one rose credited to his name, a Hybrid Perpetual, Maréchal Vaillant, which he produced in collaboration with Jamain in 1861. Alexandre Bernaix, acknowledged M. Viennot by naming a rose after his wife, a common compliment.

Mme Leonie, is the supreme climbing Tea rose. She is very long lived, vigorous and healthy. Her blooms are sublime, a lovely rich pink with undertones of primrose yellow and copper. She has large loosely shaped blooms, with many petals and is sweetly fragrant. She is one of the first to flower in spring, and repeats sporadically until autumn. Her foliage is often large, plentiful, mid-dark green, long and pointed, very much that of a Tea.

Released in 1898, the parentage is reported as Gloire de Dijon x unknown seedling