‘Blush Noisette’ grows in the garden beds at Colonial Lake.
Philippe Noisette, who ran a nursery near present-day Hampton Park, introduced ‘Blush Noisette’ around 1817.
‘Champneys’ Pink Cluster’ was born in Ravenel around 1802, inspiring a rose-breeding frenzy that yielded lovely blooms like ‘Aimée Vibert’
‘Aimée Vibert’ portrayed in an 1870 lithograph by Louis Joseph Édouard Maubert.
A garden at the Gaillard Center honors the class of roses named for the Noisette brothers who developed it.
In 1976, Noisette family members gathered from around the United States and France to dedicate the Noisette Memorial Garden in front of the then-Gaillard Auditorium. There,13 antique rose varieties are represented among the 40-some plants.
Around 1814, Philippe Noisette sent Champneys-style roses to his Paris-based brother, Louis (above). A renowned botanist and nursery owner, Louis incited a craze for the blooms in Europe.
Planted in the 1990s as part of the Heritage Rose Trail, ‘Belle Vichyssoise’ shrubs grow alongside Elizabeth Street’s New Tabernacle Fourth Baptist Church.
In 1828, famed botanical artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté painted a cluster of pale pink flowers that he labeled “Rosier de Philippe Noisette,” publicizing the name of Noisette for the thrilling new class of roses.
The Garden Club of Charleston’s horticulture chair, Catherine McGuinn, and president, Joan McDonald, prioritize Noisettes in the gardens that the club maintains.
The Joseph Manigault House, where ‘Champneys’ Pink Cluster’ was budding in February.
Ruth Knopf filled her Sullivan’s Island garden with antique roses, including the Noisettes that she helped save from local extinction. Her contributions to the field earned her a Great Rosarians of the World award in 2011.
‘Lamarque’ presides at Boone Hall Plantation, where Knopf’s rose garden is tended by lead horticulturist Katie Dickson. “We maintain genetic clones of the roses in the greenhouse and nursery. You have to have backups of historic material in case something should happen—whether a hurricane or leaf spot,” says Dickson.
‘Maréchal Niel’ climbs a fence at The Unitarian Church on Archdale Street.
At The Unitarian Church, local Noisette rose aficionado Elizabeth Ilderton is helping Robert Jontos identify rare varieties growing among the gravestones; they’ll be showcased in a new plan for the historic garden.
Volunteers with The Garden Club of Charleston tend the recently refurbished bank of Noisettes at the Joseph Manigault House.
‘Champneys’ Pink Cluster’ brings a blush of color to the topiary plantings in the Philip Simmons Memorial Garden (also called the Heart Garden) behind St. John’s Reformed Episcopal Church.
City of Charleston horticulturist Hayley Bell McDaniel propagates Noisettes for green spaces including Hampton Park, which has long boasted a large collection of roses.
The park’s Rose Pavilion opened in 2019, with several Noisette varieties represented among the 200 well-labeled plants.
The 2009 tome Noisette Roses includes articles by authorities on the subject. To buy a copy ($5), visit the Charleston Horticultural Society at 46 Windermere Boulevard or call (843) 579-9922.
The pre-1835 ‘Fellenberg’, one of only a few dark-pink Noisettes, brightens views of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on Broad Street.
