My last blog was all about propagating a cutting of ‘Clair Matin’ for my friend, Rich. You should know that the cutting now has roots coming out of the holes in the bottom of her pot and she is ready to go to her new home. I am always happy to share my roses with others, and each rose has a story to tell. Today, I’d like to share my story of ‘Clair Matin’ with you.

David Berg

Back in the summer of 2002, Dave Berg, one of the founders of the CT Rose Society, came to visit my newly planted rose gardens. We had moved to Windsor in 2000 and I was starting my rose collection all over again. I brought 27 rose bushes with me from my gardens in Glastonbury. These spent their first winter in their giant pots on our screened-in porch. I had a lot of remodeling to do our first summer there, so the first rose garden went in in the Spring of 2001. I did a lot of digging in those first few years in Windsor!

When Dave came to visit in ’02, he wanted to see how my gardens were coming along and he also brought me a gift. It was a 4” rooted cutting of ‘Clair Matin.’ I was honored because Dave had shared cuttings of this rose with many members of our rose society, and his gift of this particular rose felt like a right of passage! Before Dave left that day, he told me to plant her where she could have a lot of room because if she was happy, she was going to get pretty large. That turned out to be an understatement!

A Specimen Rose: Clair Matin

I left her in her container until the following Spring when I planted her in what I thought was the perfect spot for a big, buxom, showy rose bush. Our near the sidewalk and the street, there was a small area to the left of the driveway which faced south and west. I dug the ground, amended the soil, planted my baby rose and made sure she got plenty of water. Sure enough, she started to grow and spread. Within a few years she was 5’ tall and wide and was and is a great repeat bloomer.

Marie Louise (Louisette) Meilland bred ‘Clair Matin’ some time before 1960, when she introduced it in France. Conard Pyle introduced ‘Clair Matin’ in 1963. She is classified as a large-flowered climber, but I grow her as a tall shrub. The first flush of the year, usually mid-May in my north-central Connecticut garden, produces blooms in large clusters at the ends of the arching canes. The blossoms are a soft pink with cupped form and are semi-double, coming from pointed buds. Each bloom is about 2 ½ “wide. The next flushes of bloom throughout the summer are phenomenal! The blossoms come from each petiole along the last 24” of stems. They look like giant apple blossoms and have a sweet fragrance. I love to cut them and make a huge arrangement for the center of the table.

Moving to Suffield

If you have been reading my stories over the years, you know that we moved to Suffield, Connecticut four years ago. I had help moving our roses from the gardens and grounds guys that work for the prep school that bought our house in Windsor. The last rose we moved was my ‘Clair Matin,’ and I was worried because she was so big. When they dug her up, she had become two rose bushes, so I gave one of them to my friend, Tom Fabian.

We planted her in the front yard where she has a backdrop of a lilac hedge and a privet hedge in front. This old lady is 20 years old now, and she didn’t even flinch when we transplanted her! I can’t believe how big she has gotten in the last four years. She is now about nine feet tall and wide and in addition to full flushes four times a year, she almost always has something in bloom. I love this beautiful rose and I am so thankful that my friend, Dave Berg, shared her with me so many years ago. Look to start one from a cutting yourself. You will be so happy you did!