Rosa 'Abbaye de Cluny' is an apricot blend hybrid tea rose, bred by Alain Meilland before 1993. Meilland International introduced the rose in France in 1995. It is one of Meilland's Romantica rose series. Rosa 'Abbaye de Cluny' won the Belfast Gold Medal in 1995.
Rosa 'Abbaye de Cluny'
The Meilland Family is a multi-generational family of French rose breeders. The family's first rosarian was gardener, Joseph Rambaux, who first started breeding roses in 1850 in Lyon. He is best known for developing the Polyantha 'Perle d'Or'. His wife, Claudine and son-in-law, Francois Dubreuil, took over the nursery after Rambaux died in 1878. Dubreuil became a successful rose breeder and grower. In 1900, Dubreuil hired sixteen year old, Antoine Meilland, as a gardening assistant, where he met Dubreuil's daughter, Claudia. Antoine and Claudia married in 1909 and their son, Francis was born in 1912. The couple took over Dubreuil's nursery after his death in 1916.
Francis Dubreuil
Grand'mere Jenny, Antoine, and Claudia Meilland
Francis Meilland, center, with Antoine and Claudia Meilland, c. 1919
'Peace' rose, 1945