Insight into rose breeding in Romania

In the second half of the 19^th century, interest in cultivation, particularly rose breeding, increased in Europe, especially after an increasing number of nurseries began to practice artificial hybridization.
The same phenomenon occurred in Romania, particularly in the western part of the country.
RozsaUjsag, a magazine published between 1887 and 1896 in Hungary, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, also included the western part of Romania at that time, provides information about the cultivation of roses in this region.
In 1893, Wilhelm Mühle (1844-1908) took over the magazine’s editing from Dr.
Kaufmann Ernő. Born in Bohemia in 1844, Wilhelm Mühle settled in Timisoara in 1866 and, after 1876, became an internationally recognized authority on the production and cultivation of roses.
By 1895, Wilhelm Mühle’s company offered for sale a list of 180 of the best cultivars of roses, to which new cultivars were added each year.
In 1908, Wilhelm Mühle’s son, Arpad Mühle (1870-1930), took over his father’s company, expanding the rose collection to 1400, considered the largest in Eastern Europe at the time.
Another important breeder in Romania was Rudolf Palocsay, born in Cluj in 1900, who had a large breeding operation.
After 1945, rose breeding was conducted primarily in state institutes, mainly in Cluj.
After Rudolf Palocsay, Stefan Wagner (1932-2017), a researcher at the Horticultural Research Institute in Cluj, took over the breeding work in 1962. Within 40 years, 48 new cultivars have been introduced, initially by Stefan Wagner alone and since 1995 in collaboration with Gabriela Roman, a researcher at the same institute.
The breeding objective has been to create cultivars with abundant blooming, nice colors, good ornamental value, and, most importantly, good resistance to diseases, pests, and winter hardiness.
This has been achieved primarily through artificial hybridization, open pollination, and the propagation of bud sport mutations.

EHC2024: International Symposium on the History of Horticulture in Europe

A. Bokor, A.C. Butcaru

‘Margaretha Mühle’, Rose Park in Timisoara, ‘Rudolf Palocsay’, ‘Foc de Tabara’, ‘Rusticana’

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1438.48