Jean Pernet, père

Who was Jean Pernet, père?

Jean Claude Pernet, père was a French rosarian known for his cultivation of rose cultivars. He was born to a family of rose growers in Villeurbanne, Rhône, near the city of Lyon. His father, Claude Pernet, established a rose nursery in 1845.

Among rose breeders today, Jean Pernet is known as 'Pernet pere' and was one of the first hybridizers who sought out novelties. He developed the Baroness de Rothschild Hybrid Tea rose in 1868, named for Baroness Caroline von Rothschild. In 1874, he named a Moss rose 'Soupert & Notting' in honour of his Luxembourg rose breeding colleagues. Among his numerous creations are:

'Caroline Küster' - 1872

'Mme. Souveton' - 1874

'Louis Gimard' - 1877

'Cecile Brunner' - 1881

'Merveille de Lyon' - 1882

'Souvenir de Victor Hugo' - 1885

'Triomphe des Noisettes' - 1887

'Marchioness of Salisbury' - 1890

Using Rosa foetida in 1887, he and his son, Joseph Pernet-Ducher, began developing a yellow rose through a cross between a red hybrid perpetual and 'Persian Yellow'. After Jean Pernet's death in 1896, his son carried on the experiments and developed a worldwide reputation in 1900 when he introduced the 'Soleil d'Or', the first yellow Hybrid Tea.