Rosa Mundi is my favorite Gallica. It was the first of the old roses to really make an impression on me. When I was in high school, Mom found Trevor Griffiths book, The Book of Old Roses in the library and began reading about them. Mom and I had always planted roses, and we had Tropicana, Angel Face, Tiffany, Peace, John F. Kennedy, Milestone, Mr. Lincoln, and Oklahoma. The usual suspects. In the back of that book were a few addresses to old rose growers, and Mom began ordering them and tearing up the back yard.
She planted old roses in a semi circle around the perimiter of the yard, which was pretty big by all accounts. In the back, in front of an arbor that I had designed, and John and Mom built, she planted Rosa Mundi, and R. gallica officinallis next to it. It grew for two years with no bloom, and in the spring of the third year, it covered itself entirely with striped flowers.
I had never seen a striped rose up until then. The shrub looked like a peppermint candy explosion. It was very fragrant, and Mom and I would trudge out to it each morning with coffee in hand and look at it in awe.
The spring that Mom died, the garden had the best bloom of it's existence. It was the best memorial that anyone could have given, and it was given by her own garden. Rosa Mundi was once again the crowning glory.
I moved from Lawton to Norman, Oklahoma, the next year to find a job. Two years later, Michael and I drove down to Lawton to see if we could take some of Mom's roses. Most of them had grown into monsters in the years since her death. Rosa Mundi was a low, thick shrub, reaching at least 8 feet across. I decided I'd risk it and used loppers to prune her back and dug her up, her root ball being more than 2' wide. We planted her into my rent-house garden, and she did fairly well. Michael took a picture of her in 1993, and it is the picture on the front of my Homepage.
That summer of 1993 I sold mom's house, and we bought a house on 2 1/2 acres outside of Norman. I had to move Rosa Mundi in August, not a good time to move a rose. I put in a temporary bed in the back yard, and put all the roses from the rent house (that I had planted) into that bed. In the spring of 1994, I planted Rosa Mundi, and the others, in their permanent places in the garden. As I planted Rosa Mundi, I promised her that this was her final home, and that I would not move her any more.
She has not done too well so far. Every year she blooms a bit, grows a bit, and dies back a bit. I keep hoping she will recover. I just came in the house from weeding around her, pulling out the ever-present Bermuda grass, fertilizing and laying down epsom salts and manure around her. I also pruned out last year's dead canes. I won't dig her up. Not unless she dies for good. I suspect she might be virused (she was grafted - God knows where Mom bought her.), though I have not seen any mosaic on her leaves.
I just ordered a custom rooting of Rosa Mundi from Vintage Gardens on my visit this weekend. I will probably get it next spring. Then I'll have one for insurance.
That is why Rosa Mundi is my favorite Gallica. It dates back to the 12th Century and is said to be named after Rosamund, Henry II's mistress. It is a mutation of Rosa gallica offincinallis. It is still the crowning glory of my garden and seems to be growing quite a bit stronger this year.
A 1998 update: Last year I went to the Heirloom OGR Rosefest once again in Portland, Oregon. Heirloom had SEVEN plants of Rosa Mundi, and I bought five of them. I figure that I would leave two for others. Well, one of those plants seems to have snuck in from the bin next to it, which is the Apothacary Rose (R. gallica officniallis). So I've got both once again. Finally.Susan Ford