Jules Gravereaux

He was a top executive at the department store Le Bon Marché and in 1892 purchased land at the village of L'Haÿ about 8 km south of Paris.

Mrs. Boucicault had no children and at her death, she bequeathed all her shares of Le Bon Marché to its employees based on their seniority.

[1] In 1892, he bought a large property in L'Haÿ and hired the famous landscape architect Édouard André to lay out a garden of 1600 roses.

In 1901, the Ministry of Agriculture asked him to collect wild plants of the genus Rosa and those used in the horticultural and industrial production of rose perfume.

Back at L'Haÿ, he decided to create new rose varieties for the production of perfume, which would facilitate the process of distillation.

[1] This list included 107 gallicas, 27 centifolias, 3 mosses, 9 damasks, 22 Bengals, 4 spinosissimas, 8 albas, 3 luteas, 1 musk, and the species alpina, arvensis, banksia, carolina, cinnamomea, clinophylla, laevigata (the Cherokee rose), rubrifolia (aka glauca), rugosa, white and red, sempervirens, and setigera.