Rose 'Harison's Yellow': The Yellow Rose of Texas Legend

Steeped in frontier folklore, 'Harison's Yellow' (also known as Harisonii, Hogg's Yellow, The Yellow Rose of Texas, Yellow Sweet Brier) emerged around 1830 from the New York garden of George F. Harison. This hybrid foetida/spinosissima cross became the stuff of legend, carried westward by pioneers and immortalized in song.

Botanical Profile

The double flowers are a clear, luminous yellow—rare for its era—borne in profusion on arching canes in late spring. The foliage is fine-textured, ferny, and grey-green, with the sweet brier fragrance (especially after rain) inherited from its Rosa foetida and Rosa spinosissima ancestry. The plant suckers freely, forming thickets that made it a natural choice for pioneer hedgerows. Though it blooms only once, the sheer volume of flowers and its historical resonance make 'Harison's Yellow' a living monument to American westward expansion. The synonyms read like a taxonomy of survival—each name a different chapter in its journey from Manhattan to the Texas plains.