Pedro Dot

At sixteen he was sent to work at an outside business and in 1910 to Belgium and Paris, where he came across the new methods of hybridisation, not to mention the French attitude to garden art.

[4] As early as 1924, Pedro entered new roses in scores of international competitions, winning a certificate of merit at the Bagatelle trials in Paris with the variety ‘Margarita Riera.’ He used such choice varieties as ‘Frau Karl Druschki,’ ‘Souvenir de Claudius Pernet,’ and ‘Mme Edouard Herriot’ to produce a large number of brightly coloured hybrid tea roses that all performed well in hot climates.

They mostly have Pernetiana ancestry – Pernet was the first to breed the intense yellow colour and strong smell of Rosa foetida into hybrid tea roses – and are not frost hardy.

[6] Given that a breeder often has scores of seedlings to choose from, Dot consistently chose roses with a wilder and more extreme character than their parents'.

[7] Throughout the 1930s Dot successfully built on the work of Joseph Pernet-Ducher to produce a range of flame-colored roses, from pastel to hot orange blends.

With ‘Baby Gold Star’, ‘Golden Sástago’, and ‘Joaquin Mir’, Dot achieved true, deep yellows.

[8] He was a member of the Amigos de las Rosas, founded in Barcelona in 1931 with Rubio, Cambo, Ros Sabaté, and Cyprien Camprubí, hybridiser of the well-known 'Violonista Costa.'

Dot was supported during the Civil War by commissions from the Republican government of Barcelona and by regular funds from Conard-Pyle and American rosarians.

Though his sons Simon and Marí fought at the front for the losing Republicans, the business was partly shielded from Nationalist victory by American money and support.

Climbing to 6 metres, 'Madame Grégoire Staechelin' of 1927 smells of sweet peas.
Pedro Dot's 'Nevada' of 1927. The 10 cm flowers can blush pink in hot weather. Nevada is Spanish for snow.
'Marí Dot' of 1927. Rich fruit scent. "The epitome of the Pedro Dot rose." Marí is Catalan for Marino, Dot's second son.
'Condesa de Sástago' of 1930. The first well known bicolor rose and one of Dot's great successes. Very recurrent. Scented of apples and cinnamon.
Pedro Dot in his rose fields in the 1930s.
Pedro Dot in his rose fields in the 1930s.
Pedro Dot on the terrace of his house Sol i Vent reading Modern Roses 11.
Pedro Dot on the terrace of his house Sol i Vent reading Modern Roses 11 .
Pedro Dot in his greenhouse nursery.
Pedro Dot in his greenhouse nursery.
'Duquesa de Peñaranda' 1931, hybrid tea
'Federico Casas' hybrid tea 1932
'Girona' damask-scented hybrid tea 1936
'Linda Porter' ('Miquel Aldrufeu') hybrid tea 1957. Linda was the late wife of Cole Porter the composer.
'Luis Briñas' hybrid tea 1932
'Joaquin Mir' 1940, "true deep yellows"
'Mediterrànea' hybrid tea 1943, Dot catalogue cover
'Hong Kong' hybrid tea 1962
'Perla de Montserrat ' miniature hybrid tea 1945
'Perla de Alcanada ' miniature 1944
'Ramon Bach' 1938. Bach was a vigneron friend killed in the war.
'Rosina' miniature 1951