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Pour POM', rose "Madame Meilland" et son histoire. For POM', "Peace Rose" and its history.

"Madame Meilland" est un trésor végétal sauvé de la seconde guerre mondiale. Voici son histoire:

 

Afin de protéger sa création de l'invasion de la France par l' Allemagne en juin 40, Francis Meilland fit parvenir ses boutures à des amis basés en Turquie, en Italie et en Allemagne.

 

La plante fut aussi envoyée aux Etats-Unis sous forme de quelques greffons, via le consul américain qui utilisa le dernier avion à quitter la région lyonnaise en 1942. La variété fut ainsi préservée par Robert Pyle, un rosiériste de Pensylvanie, ami américain de la famille Meilland depuis 1933.

 

A l'automne 1942, F. Meilland publia cette nouvelle rose dans le catalogue de l'entreprise, lui attribuant le nom de sa mère décédée 10 ans plus tôt: "Madame Antoine Meilland".

 

Après la signature de l'armistice le 8 mai 1945, F. Meilland reçut une nouvelle inattendue de la part de Robert Pyle: Il avait officiellement lancé la commercialisation du rosier N° 3-35-40 sous le nom de "PEACE". Le baptême avait été organisé par l'American Rose Society à Pasadena en Californie en présence des vedettes de cette époque.

 

C'était le jour de la chute de Berlin, date considérée comme marquant la fin de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale en Europe !!!

 

La nouvelle "Rose Peace" fut offerte aux 49 personnes des différents pays, qui, le 26 juin 1945 se réunirent à San Francisco pour constituer l'ONU.

 

Une "ROSE DE LA PAIX" était posée sur le bureau de chacun des délégués, accompagnée de cette note: "NOUS ESPERONS QUE LA ROSE "PEACE" PORTERA LES PENSEES HUMAINES VERS UNE PAIX DURABLE DANS LE MONDE"...

 

Quand la petite histoire rejoint la grande Histoire...

 

J'aurai toujours un rosier "Madame Meilland" (dit "Peace Rose" en anglais) dans mon jardin... De plus elle est magnifique !

 

En ces temps agités, violents, que "Madame Meilland", la rose la plus célèbre du monde, en inspire quelques uns...

Slava Ukraini !

 

 

Here is the History of the rose "Madame Meilland" or "PEACE ROSE":

The history of "Peace Rose" and how it came about is a fascinating story wich is well worth telling.

In 1935, the French rose breeder Françis Meilland chose fifty seedlings from his seed beds. One of which was labelled 3-35-40. Over the next few years, F. Meilland watched its development with interest and planned to launch the new rose as "Madame Antoine Meilland" in honour of his mother.

However, a few months later, Hitler invaded France and the future of the rose nursery looked dire. To ensure that the new rose was not lost forever, F. Meilland managed to get 3 parcels of budwood out of the country, one of which was smuggled out in a diplomatic bag on the last plane out of France. The budwood was sent to another rose breeder, Robert Pyle, in Pensylvania, USA.

Over the next few years, F. Meilland launched his new rose in France as "Madame Antoine Meilland". He was not aware that some of the budwood had reached Germany, and Italy and the rose was being sold under different names. In Germany, it was called "Gloria Dei", and in Italy "Gioia".

F. Meilland had not had any word from America and had no idea the fate of his rose over there.

It was not untill liberation of France in 1945, that F. Meilland finally heard from Robert Pyle that the rose had survived the war and was being grown successfully.

In the meantime, F. Meilland had decided to change the name of the rose. He wrote to Field Marshall Alan Brooke to thank him for his part in the liberation of France, and to ask him if he would give his name to the rose. The Field Marshall declined stating that a far more fitting name would be "PEACE".

 

The new name "Peace" was publicly announced in America by Robert Pyle on the 29th April 1945, the very day that Berlin fell and was officialy considered the end of Second World War in Europe.

Towards the end of 1945, "Peace Roses" were given to each of the delegations at the inaugural meeting of the UNITED NATIONS in San Francisco each with a note which read

"We HOPE THE "PEACE ROSE" WILL INFLUENCE MEN'S THOUGHTS FOR EVERLASTING WORLD PEACE"...

 

I will always have a rosebush "Peace Rose" in my garden...

 

Besides, it is gorgeous !

 

In these turbulent, violent times, may "Peace rose" the most famous rose in the world, inspire some...

Slava Ukraini !

 

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Uploaded on November 15, 2022
Taken on August 16, 2021