Harkness Roses are rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

 breeders based at Hitchin

Hitchin

Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...

, Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The nursery was founded in 1879 in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

. Early varieties included a sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

 of 'Heinrich Schultheis' introduced in 1893 as 'Mrs. Harkness'

Rosa 'Mrs. Harkness'

Mrs. Harkness is a Hybrid Perpetual discovered in 1893 by George Paul . It is a sport of the Hybrid Perpetual rose 'Heinrich Schultheis' ....

.

In the 1950s, Harkness popularized 'Frensham' and 'Ena Harkness', both developed by amateur Albert Norman, and for a time 'Ena Harkness' was the most popular red Hybrid Tea

Hybrid Tea

Hybrid Tea is a cultivar group of roses, created by cross-breeding two different types of roses, initially by hybridising Hybrid Perpetuals with Tea roses...

 in the world.

Jack Harkness (1918–1994) began developing new roses for the company in 1962, and improved roses' health by introducing genes from various wild rose species. Early successes were with Hybrid Teas, and then later with Floribunda

Floribunda

Floribunda may refer to:*A popular rose cultivar group, see Floribunda *A former cactus genus now placed in Cipocereus* Cassia floribunda, a synonym for Senna septemtrionalis, a plant species...

s.

Varieties introduced

• 'Mrs. Harkness'
  Rosa 'Mrs. Harkness'
  Mrs. Harkness is a Hybrid Perpetual discovered in 1893 by George Paul . It is a sport of the Hybrid Perpetual rose 'Heinrich Schultheis' ....
  
   (1893)
• 'Frensham'
• 'Ena Harkness'
• 'Alexander' (1972)
• 'Compassion' (1972)
• 'Yesterday' (1974)
• 'Margaret Merrill' (1977)
• 'Anne Harkness'
  Rosa 'Anne Harkness'
  Anne Harkness is a floribunda rose variety developed by R. Harkness & Co. and introduced in 1979. It is basically an apricot rose, but with shadings of yellow at the base and in the center, and is notable for flowering very late in the year, producing clusters of 6 to 20 flowers up to 7 cm in...
  
   (1979)
• 'Amber Queen' (1983)
• 'Bill Slim' (1987)
• 'Bridge of Sighs'
  Rosa 'Bridge of Sighs'
  Bridge of Sighs is a rose introduced by Harkness Roses in 2000. It is a climbing rose that is of an apricot and amber color. It was named after the bridge at Hertford College, Oxford, which Peter Harkness attended.-External links:*...
  
   (2000)
• 'Rosa Belmonte' (2007)
• Soham Rose (2003) in memory of the victims of the Soham murders
  Soham murders
  The Soham murders was an English murder case in 2002 of two 10-year-old girls in the village of Soham, Cambridgeshire.The victims were Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman...