Now you are getting to see one of the roses that truly gets to me. I absolutely love this rose. Madame Hardy is a Damask rose dating back to 1832. She has beautiful white classic formed flowers with a tiny green button eye.
All Damask roses are known for their rich perfume and she is no exception … lovely old rose fragrance with a hint of lemon. This rose grows to about 5′ in my garden.
History Lesson: Madame Hardy is named for the wife of the head gardener in Empress Josephine’s (first wife of Napoleon) Malmaison garden. Empress Josephine was a zealous rose collector. (She had to keep busy while the hubs was out fighting the wars.) Her collection of roses was the world’s largest at that time.
Another beauty! I think this should be my nickname! 😉
Madam Hardy or Empress?
Josephine was a wise empress!
Yes, she was!
very nice rose, love the spiral appearance of the petals, damasks are hardy since you live in zone 5b I live in zone 5a/6 border, so it might do well here? okay I don’t have 200 roses but I am working on it, lol.
Pea Green with envy. I also have Madame Hardy (she was rehomned to me) however after a year, she is not blooming. I live in Sydney (Aus) Zone 10 and have wondered if this was the reason, or is is her age (could only be 1-2 years old)…..