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Photographed by: Chelsie Vandaveer.
Credits: Photographed antique rose courtesy of Mary K. Hicks of The Antique Rose Garden.
Other Information: Canon AE-1, Fuji Super HQ 100.
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Barbier Frères et Compagnie in Orleans were rosarians. The company was founded in 1900 and closed sometime in 1933. During those years, the brothers introduced 67 hybrid roses; many were crosses between hybrid teas and Rosa wichuraiana descendants. The brothers derived bushes with the best traits of both.
In August of 1914, the French Army was in retreat. In early September, the German forces rolled through Belgium and swung south. The battle objective was to surround the French and British forces and capture Paris.
The French were not so easily dissuaded from their land. Troops from Paris were carried by every means available to the fighting lines, even taxis. For five days in early September 1914, the Fifth and Sixth French Armies and the British Expeditionary Force fought the German First Army along the Marne River.
September 10th, La Première Batialle de la Marne was over. The German troops were pushed back 45 miles. The casualty lists were appalling; 250,000 French and British soldiers dead or wounded, and an equal estimated loss for the German troops. From here, the warfare went into the trenches and another battle would be fought on these grounds in 1918.
We do not know how the war affected the Barbier brothers. Only René Barbier's name is mentioned in the records of rose breeders; his vocation was listed as surgeon and rosarian. Between the years of 1915 and 1919, three roses were named for places where World War I battles took place, La Marne, La Somme, and Verdun. We are not even certain these roses were named to commemorate the fallen.
It is said that after the close of Barbier Frères et Compagnie, the family's rose collection was sold to the Noisette family. But many of the brothers' roses still grow in the garden, La Roseraie de l'Haÿ du Val de Marne near Paris.
The BBC has an excellent website on World War I. To learn more about the "war to end all wars", click on the link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/index.shtml
The individual links on this page will take you to articles and maps about the history of the war.
The World Federation of Rose Societies has posted photographs of outstanding rose gardens. To view the La Roseraie de l'Haÿ, click on the link:
http://www.worldrose.org/awards/lhay.html
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