Pedro Dot
Encyclopedia
Pedro Dot was a Spanish rose breeder.
on the rose-growing Monistrol estate (now better known for sparkling wine) where his father was estate manager. His early experiments in hybridising roses were encouraged by the Marquise of Monistrol and the Countess of Sástago. The countess lent him money to get started, eventually repaid by dedication of one of his finest roses. His father Simon, born into a peasant family but a notable gardener and plant breeder, started a small nursery nearby at San Feliu de Llobregat
, where the family firm of Rosas Dot is still to be found. Pedro took charge of the roses and later the whole firm. Eventually he moved to Vilafranca del Penedés
on the other side of Barcelona, but retained San Feliu de Llobregat. At sixteen he was sent to work at an outside business and in 1910 to Belgium and Paris, where he came across the new methods of hybridisation, not to mention the French attitude to garden art. To escape the small stage of Spanish horticulture, he subsequently played to a world audience.
As early as 1924, Pedro entered new roses in scores of international competitions, winning a certificate of merit at the Bagatelle trials
in Paris with the variety ‘Margarita Riera.’ He used such choice varieties as ‘Frau Karl Druschki,’ ‘Souvenir de Claudius Pernet,’ and ‘Mme Edouard Herriot’ to produce a large number of brightly coloured hybrid tea
roses that were all superb in hot climates. They mostly have Pernetiana blood – Pernet
was the first to breed into hybrid tea roses the intense yellow colour and strong smell of Rosa foetida – and are not frost hardy. ‘Marí Dot’ won a prize in Strasbourg and ‘Condesa de Sástago’ the first Rome Prize; later it became very popular in the United States. It was the first successful bicolor rose, with petals scarlet on the front, golden yellow on the back. (Conard-Pyle
imported many of these roses into the United States under their original names, but only a few seem to have been patented.) From 1925 Dot also began to use the pollen of wild roses in his breeding.
Undoubtedly, Dot’s most successful rose (a hybrid spinosissima) was ‘Nevada,’ released in 1927. The great climber ‘Mme Grégoire Staechlin’ came out in the same year. Given that a breeder often has scores of seedlings to choose from, Dot consistently chose roses with a wilder and more extreme character than their parents'. In that way he has something of the expressionism of his fellow Catalan, Gaudí
. Dot also renewed the tradition of moss roses with 'Golden Moss' (1932), the first yellow moss ever bred.
He was a member of the Amigos de las Rosas, founded in Barcelona in 1931 with Rubio, Cambo, Ros Sabaté, and Cyprien Camprubí, hybridiser of the well-known 'Violonista Costa.'
Dot was supported during the Civil War by commissions from the Republican government of Barcelona and by regular funds from Conard-Pyle and American rosarians. Though his sons Simon and Marí fought at the front for the losing Republicans, the business was partly shielded from Nationalist victory by American money and support. During the Civil War and for twenty years after it, Dot hybridised miniature roses, revolutionising the field. His genetic theory was to cross hybrid teas and miniatures, thus better improving the form than hybridisers who used polyanthas. Perhaps Dot's focus on the tiny shows inward migration from the regime of Franco.
Pedro Dot was the most famous Spanish rose breeder, but in the 1960s his son Simon became a breeder himself, particularly of mauve and lavender roses. Pedro’s other son Marino and his two grandsons all released roses in the 1960s and 1970s. Because of Pedro’s fame, some of their roses have been wrongly attributed to him.
Pedro Dot died at 91 on 12 November 1976.
near Paris and the Roseraie François Mitterrand in the south of France. Luckily there are 66 in the encyclopaedic collection of Fineschi in Italy and 32 extra at Sangerhausen
in Germany. But many of Dot's 140 or so hybrid teas — among the greatest oeuvres in roses — hang by a thread from private collectors in Spain. The beautiful 'Angelita Ruaix' for instance is preserved by her elderly daughter on a balcony in Barcelona.
Australian collections contain at least the floribunda ‘Cascabel,’ ‘Catalònia,’ ‘Condesa de Sástago,’ ‘Duquesa de Peñeranda,’ ‘Girona,’ ‘Golden Moss,’ ‘Lady Trent’ ('Julia Ferran'), ‘Linda Porter’ (‘Miguel Andrufeu’), ‘Lola Montes,’ ‘Mme Grégoire Staechelin,’ ‘Nevada,’ ‘Pilarin Vilella’ and ‘Rádio.’ There are also many miniatures.
Biography
Pedro Dot (in Catalan, Pere Dot i Martínez) was born on 28 March 1885 outside BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
on the rose-growing Monistrol estate (now better known for sparkling wine) where his father was estate manager. His early experiments in hybridising roses were encouraged by the Marquise of Monistrol and the Countess of Sástago. The countess lent him money to get started, eventually repaid by dedication of one of his finest roses. His father Simon, born into a peasant family but a notable gardener and plant breeder, started a small nursery nearby at San Feliu de Llobregat
Sant Feliu de Llobregat
Sant Feliu de Llobregat is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona. It is the capital of the comarca of Baix Llobregat, and the see of a Bishopric since June 2005, when the Archbishopric of Barcelona was divided in three....
, where the family firm of Rosas Dot is still to be found. Pedro took charge of the roses and later the whole firm. Eventually he moved to Vilafranca del Penedés
Vilafranca del Penedès
Vilafranca del Penedès, or simply Vilafranca, is the capital of the comarca of the Alt Penedès in Catalonia, Spain. The Spanish spelling of the name, Villafranca del Penedés, is no longer in official use...
on the other side of Barcelona, but retained San Feliu de Llobregat. At sixteen he was sent to work at an outside business and in 1910 to Belgium and Paris, where he came across the new methods of hybridisation, not to mention the French attitude to garden art. To escape the small stage of Spanish horticulture, he subsequently played to a world audience.
As early as 1924, Pedro entered new roses in scores of international competitions, winning a certificate of merit at the Bagatelle trials
Concours international de roses nouvelles de Bagatelle
The Concours international de roses nouvelles de Bagatelle is held in June of each year in the rose trial grounds of the Château de Bagatelle in Paris's 16th arrondissement....
in Paris with the variety ‘Margarita Riera.’ He used such choice varieties as ‘Frau Karl Druschki,’ ‘Souvenir de Claudius Pernet,’ and ‘Mme Edouard Herriot’ to produce a large number of brightly coloured 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...
roses that were all superb in hot climates. They mostly have Pernetiana blood – Pernet
Joseph Pernet-Ducher
Joseph Pernet-Ducher was a French rosarian and hybridizer. Born near Lyon, the son of Jean Pernet, he was a third generation rose-grower. In 1879 he began his apprenticeship in the rose-breeding business with the Ducher nursery in Lyon...
was the first to breed into hybrid tea roses the intense yellow colour and strong smell of Rosa foetida – and are not frost hardy. ‘Marí Dot’ won a prize in Strasbourg and ‘Condesa de Sástago’ the first Rome Prize; later it became very popular in the United States. It was the first successful bicolor rose, with petals scarlet on the front, golden yellow on the back. (Conard-Pyle
Conard Pyle Co.
Conard Pyle Co, is a horticultural house which has been based in West Grove, Pennsylvania, USA, for over 150 years and the introducer of the Peace rose to America , always specialised in rose production, but at one time, they were the leading Canna grower and hybridizer in the USA...
imported many of these roses into the United States under their original names, but only a few seem to have been patented.) From 1925 Dot also began to use the pollen of wild roses in his breeding.
Undoubtedly, Dot’s most successful rose (a hybrid spinosissima) was ‘Nevada,’ released in 1927. The great climber ‘Mme Grégoire Staechlin’ came out in the same year. Given that a breeder often has scores of seedlings to choose from, Dot consistently chose roses with a wilder and more extreme character than their parents'. In that way he has something of the expressionism of his fellow Catalan, Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect and figurehead of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect his highly individual and distinctive style and are largely concentrated in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.Much of Gaudí's work was...
. Dot also renewed the tradition of moss roses with 'Golden Moss' (1932), the first yellow moss ever bred.
Pedro Dot successfully built on the painstaking work of Joseph Pernet-Ducher to produce yellow roses, and introduced a rainbow of gloriously flame-colored roses throughout the 1930s. Some of these roses range dramatically in intensity from pastel to hot orange blends, for example ‘Duquesa de Peñaranda’ and ‘Federico Casas’. ‘Catalònia’, ‘Condesa de Sástago’, ‘Angels Mateu’, ‘Girona’, and ‘Maria Peral’ show more intense coloration. With ‘Baby Gold Star’, ‘Golden Sástago’, and ‘Joaquin Mir’, Dot achieved true, deep yellows.
He was a member of the Amigos de las Rosas, founded in Barcelona in 1931 with Rubio, Cambo, Ros Sabaté, and Cyprien Camprubí, hybridiser of the well-known 'Violonista Costa.'
Dot was supported during the Civil War by commissions from the Republican government of Barcelona and by regular funds from Conard-Pyle and American rosarians. Though his sons Simon and Marí fought at the front for the losing Republicans, the business was partly shielded from Nationalist victory by American money and support. During the Civil War and for twenty years after it, Dot hybridised miniature roses, revolutionising the field. His genetic theory was to cross hybrid teas and miniatures, thus better improving the form than hybridisers who used polyanthas. Perhaps Dot's focus on the tiny shows inward migration from the regime of Franco.
Pedro Dot was the most famous Spanish rose breeder, but in the 1960s his son Simon became a breeder himself, particularly of mauve and lavender roses. Pedro’s other son Marino and his two grandsons all released roses in the 1960s and 1970s. Because of Pedro’s fame, some of their roses have been wrongly attributed to him.
Pedro Dot died at 91 on 12 November 1976.
Rose names and dedications
Until the Second World War it would have been true to say that the name of every Dot rose was also its dedication. In the 1920s these are mostly to family members ('Marí Dot') and aristocratic patrons ('Cayetana Stuart'). In the Republican period they are to Catalan patriots ('Angel Guimera') and Republican towns not yet taken by the Nationalists ('Lleida,' 'Girona'); later to international supporters ('Senateur Potié') and Catalan patriots ('Ramon Bach') killed in the war. After the Second World War, alas, they decline generally speaking into tributes to international celebrities and tourist locales.The survival of Dot's work
'Nevada' and 'Mme Grégoire Staechlin' will certainly survive. Dot's miniatures are safe with their aficionados. The problem lies with Dot's wonderful hybrid teas. His firm continues in business and it offers about 60 roses for sale, but only ten by Pedro himself. Vintage Gardens nursery in California has a score for sale in a State where they do well. A handful survive in European public gardens, notably the Roseraie de L'HaÿRoseraie de L'Haÿ
thumb|250px|left|Dôme de la Roseraie du Val-de-Marne.thumb|250px|right|Côté du dôme de la Roseraie du Val-de-Marne.Roseraie du Val-de-Marne or Roseraie de L'Haÿ is a garden devoted to roses established in 1899 on rue Albert Watel in L'Haÿ-les-Roses, Val-de-Marne, France.About 8 km south of...
near Paris and the Roseraie François Mitterrand in the south of France. Luckily there are 66 in the encyclopaedic collection of Fineschi in Italy and 32 extra at Sangerhausen
Europa-Rosarium
The Europa-Rosarium , formerly the Rosarium Sangerhausen, is a municipal rose garden located at Steinberger Weg 3, Sangerhausen, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, which describes itself at the largest rose collection in the world. It is open daily in the warmer months; an admission fee is charged...
in Germany. But many of Dot's 140 or so hybrid teas — among the greatest oeuvres in roses — hang by a thread from private collectors in Spain. The beautiful 'Angelita Ruaix' for instance is preserved by her elderly daughter on a balcony in Barcelona.
Australian collections contain at least the floribunda ‘Cascabel,’ ‘Catalònia,’ ‘Condesa de Sástago,’ ‘Duquesa de Peñeranda,’ ‘Girona,’ ‘Golden Moss,’ ‘Lady Trent’ ('Julia Ferran'), ‘Linda Porter’ (‘Miguel Andrufeu’), ‘Lola Montes,’ ‘Mme Grégoire Staechelin,’ ‘Nevada,’ ‘Pilarin Vilella’ and ‘Rádio.’ There are also many miniatures.
External links
- The website of Dot's family firm, Rosas Dot
- A comprehensive Catalan website you can Google-translate into English: Pere Dot (1885-1976) en el 125è aniversari del seu naixement (1885-2010)