Nieuwesteeg Heritage Rose Garden

Olive Fitzhardinge (1884–1965) was an Australian rose breeder.

The appearance of a gentleman. Studio photo of Frank Riethmuller in Townsville about 1910, when he was 26.

Biography

Olive Rose MacMaster was born in 1881 at Inverell, NSW in the Warialda district. She was brought up in the country.

In 1909 she married in Woollahra Dr Hardinge Clarence Fitzhardinge (1878–1958) ,a Macquarie Street dentist. "They lived at Cremorne Point for some years but in 1917 bought 1.5 acres at Warrawee north of Sydney where they established quite a famous garden."

They had "Bridge End," 1.5 acres at No. 1 Warrawee Avenue, Warrawee till 1937, then moved to Mandurama on the NSW central tablelands. (The "bridge end" concerned is the eastern end of the footbridge to the Warrawee railway station.) Mrs Fitzhardinge's last roses were registered in 1939 but she probably bred them before 1937.

They had daughters Jean Mary Dean (b. 1909) and Olive Prudence Bryant (b. 1912) and sons Colin Hardinge Fitzhardinge (1914–1998, a farmer who married Joan Phipson, the children's writer, in 1944) and Brian Forbes Fitzhardinge (1917–1932).

HC Fitzhardinge was descended from the Fitzhardinge who surveyed the western region of NSW for the colonial government. This western region is the one to which Olive and Hardinge retired in 1937, and the same area in which their elder son, Colin, settled at the end of World War II. He and his wife remained there till she died in 1956 and he in 1958.

Rose breeding

All Fitzhardinge's roses were hybrid teas. All were bred between 1932 and 1937, the last to be registered appearing in 1939, by which time she had moved to the NSW Central Tableland.

"She was a close friend of Alister Clark and the Hazelwood brothers, who introduced her roses to the public through their nursery."

— 1934 — C,F,L,O,T,VCaptain Bligh — 1938 — F,L,O,T,VLady Gowrie F,G,L,N,O,P,T,VLubra F,L,O,VMrs. C.E. Prell F,O,VPlain Jane F,L,O,T,VPrudence (Cl. HT, Fitzhardinge, 1938) — 1939 — F,L,O,P,T,VGovernor Phillip F,G,L,N,O,P,VLady Edgeworth David F,L,O,VSirius

Sortable list of Fitzhardinge roses

Name	Date	Type	Colour	Pollen parent	Seed parent	Extant
Beatrice Berkeley	1932	Hybrid tea	red blend	Cupid	Padre	Lost
Kitty Bice	1932	Hybrid tea climber	Dark bright pink	Ophelia climbing	Lady Waterlow	Lost
Warrawee	1932	Hybrid tea	Pink	Rev. F. Page-Roberts	Padre	Yes
Captain Bligh	1934	Hybrid tea	Pink	Gustav Grünewald	Betty Uprichard	Lost
Lady Gowrie	1938	Hybrid tea climber	Yellow	Sunburst climbing	Rev. F. Page-Roberts	Lost
Pearl Costin	1959	Hybrid tea	Yellow blend	Elli Knab	Amy Johnson	Lost
Plaisante	1957	Floribunda	Bright pink, lighter reverse	Borderer	Unknown	Lost
Rubens	1960	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Lost
Silverelda	1959?	Pernetiana	Pink blend	Heinrich Wendland	Nancy Wilson	Lost
Showboat	no date	Hybrid tea	Red	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Snow Spray	1957	Lambertiana	White blend	Gartendirektor Otto Linne	Gartendirektor Otto Linne	Yes
Spring Song	1954	Lambertiana	Carmine-pink	Gartendirektor Otto Linne	Self	Yes
Titian	1955	Floribunda	Deep pink	Unknown	Unknown	Yes

Where Riethmuller roses can be seen

• The old rose section of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne has 'Carabella' and 'Claret Cup' in island beds.
• The Victoria State Rose Garden at Werribee Park has 'Carabella', 'Claret Cup,' 'Honeyflow,' 'Kwinana' and 'Titian.'
• The National Rose Collection created by David Ruston at Renmark in South Australia has 'Carabella,' 'Spring Song' (sometimes sold as 'Bert Mulley'), 'Lady Woodward,' 'Titian,' 'Snow Spray' and 'Chip's Apple Blossom.'
• The Morwell Centenary Rose Garden in Gippsland has 'Carabella', 'Claret Cup,' 'Gay Vista', 'Honeyflow,' 'Spring Song' and 'Titian.'
• The Adelaide Botanical Garden, South Australia has 'Titian.'
• The rose garden in Newtown Park, Toowoomba has 'Titian' and had 'Carabella.' (The website of Toowoomba Regional Council claims these roses were bred in Toowoomba, but this is incorrect.)
• The Kodja Place Roze Maze at Kojonup, Western Australia uses hedges of Australian roses, including Australia's best collection of Riethmuller's: 'Carabella', 'Claret Cup,' 'Esmeralda,' 'Gay Vista', 'Honeyflow,' 'Spring Song' and 'Titian.'

Few Riethmuller roses can be found in collections made outside Australia. 'Titian' and 'Snow Spray' are in the Europas-Rosarium at Sangerhausen in north Germany. 'Titian' is in the Rosarium Budatétény at Budapest. 'Titian' and 'Gay Vista' are in the catalogue of the Californian nursery Vintage Gardens.

References

Articles written by Riethmuller

FL Riethmuller (Turramurra, NSW), "Co-operative Rose Breeding," Australian and New Zealand Rose Annual (ANZRA), 1955, p112.

F Riethmuller (Sydney NSW), "Nora Cunningham," ANZRA, 1957, p135. A puff for the European release of the Alister Clark climber, 'Nora Cunningham.'

Frank Riethmuller (Turramurra, NSW), "Roses from Seed," ANZRA, 1960, p118. Shows how FLR actually thought as a breeder.