Jan Boehm

Rose cultivation by Jan Böhm in Blatná in the 1920s

Böhm villa in Blatná

Jan Böhm (born November 25, 1888 in Prague -Vinohrady ; † April 4, 1959 in Blatná ) was one of the most renowned Czechoslovakian rose growers .

Life

After completing the general school in Prague- Vršovice , Jan (Hans) Böhm began an apprenticeship as a gardener with his father Jan Nepomuk. He then went on a three-year study trip to horticultural companies in Dresden , France and Luxembourg . After his return, Jan Böhm intended to open his own nursery; However, the outbreak of World War I prevented these plans. In July 1914 he was drafted for Austrian military service, first on the Russian and later on the Italian front, where he was wounded .

After the end of the war, Jan Böhm received a two- hectare property in Blatná from his father . Here, with two helpers, he began to work the land and plant 5,000 roses , although the area was actually neither climatically nor in terms of the soil suitable for growing roses. In 1919 he married Marie Maříková.

In the 1920s he expanded rapidly and cultivated an area of seven hectares with 16 employees. In 1923 Jan Böhm bred his first rose, which he took after his first-born daughter 'Máňa Böhmova'. He began to promote his roses with postcards and catalogs at home and abroad, and since the mid-1920s he has been exporting roses to other European countries, India , Japan , China , Egypt and the United States . In 1928 he moved the company headquarters to his private villa in Blatná. The horticultural business flourished and employed 70 workers on the rose plantations and 11 office workers. Jan Böhm's rose-growing business developed through investments in technology to become the most modern and renowned in Czechoslovakia. In the early 1930s he cultivated roses on more than 30 hectares. He sold more than 200,000 seedlings annually , including the world's first blue rose, launched in 1932. Every year the rose breeder organized rose festivals and open days, to which up to 25,000 visitors, u. a. The then Foreign Minister Edvard Beneš also came. Jan Böhm was in close contact with numerous European rose breeders and botanists, including Iwan Wladimirowitsch Michurin . At the end of the 1930s, the rose breeder planned to build a rosarium with greenhouses and a rose museum in Blatná. The project was thwarted by the outbreak of the Second World War .

During the war, rose growing and selling of roses was suspended in Blatná. Böhm now grew fruit, berries, grain and potatoes on his plantations. In order to supply the population with vitamin C , Jan Böhm grew edible rose hips . After the end of the war, rose growing was revived in Blatná. In addition to roses, Böhm also grew dahlias and ornamental trees . Before the rose growing business could recover from the aftermath of the war, the rose growing business was nationalized by Jan Böhm in 1950 and transferred to the municipal company Lidoslužby města Blatné . Jan Böhm rarely worked in retirement and grew his last rose in 1956, the Rambler 'Hold Slunci'. He died in Blatná in 1959.

In 1989 rose growing in Blatná was stopped. Today the rose cultivars of Jan Böhm, which have been forgotten in the last decades, are collected by the Czech gardener Miloslav Šíp in nearby Skaličany and offered again for sale. The largest collection of Böhm roses is in the Europa-Rosarium in Sangerhausen .

Jan Böhm was a member of numerous rose societies in Europe and the United States, a jury member at numerous rose exhibitions and a reviewer for patent applications. He published numerous specialist articles in rose magazines.

In 1987 a memorial in the form of stone roses in memory of Jan Böhm was erected on Koubek Square in Blatná based on a design by Jan Rampich.

Rose varieties (selection)

Rose 'Böhmova Azurová' in the Europa-Rosarium Sangerhausen

Rosa 'Awakening'

Rosa 'General Stefanik' in the Europa-Rosarium

Rosa 'Dr. Masaryk 'on the Rosenhang- Karben

In the course of her life, Jan Böhm bred and discovered over 140 varieties of roses. Several varieties were presented at national and international rose exhibitions. In total, his rose cultivars were awarded 14 gold medals. a. 1933 with the Grand Medal of the City of Paris and the Gold Medal at the International Rose Exhibition in France. He often gave his roses patriotic and homeland-related names. Numerous breeds were named after famous personalities of Bohemia and Czechoslovakia, u. a. Bedřich Smetana , Antonín Dvořák , Tomáš Masaryk , Edvard Beneš Jan Hus , Božena Němcová , Tomáš Baťa or Lída Baarová . For the funeral of Tomáš Masaryk, the renowned rose breeder sent 25,000 roses to Prague for the funeral decorations.

Jan Böhm's most successful roses include:

'Blatná', 1927, hybrid tea, dark red
'Jan Böhm', 1928, hybrid tea, carmine red
'Bohemia', 1928, hybrid tea, pink
'Sláva Böhmova', 1930, hybrid tea, salmon red with a yellow center
'Doctor Masaryk', 1930, old rose, pink
'Božena Němcová', 1931, hybrid tea, light pink
'Alois Jiráske', 1931, hybrid tea, orange-yellow
'Smetana', 1932, polyantha rose, red
'Tomáš Baťa', 1932, Old Rose, dark red
'Temno', 1933, hybrid tea, dark red
'Antonín Dvořák', 1933, hybrid tea, orange-pink
'Jan Hus', 1933, hybrid tea, light pink
'Bedrich Smetana', 1933, hybrid tea, white
'Stratosféra', 1934, Setigera hybrid, carmine red
'Lída Baarová', 1934, hybrid tea, salmon red
'Böhmův Triumph', 1934, hybrid tea, dark pink
'Čsl. Červený Kříž ', 1934, polyantha rose, dark red with a white center
'Böhmova Azurová', 1934, old rose, pink-lilac
'ČSR', 1934, climbing rose, Gallica rose, light pink-dark pink striped
'Kde Domov Muj', 1935, multiflora hybrid, pink with a white center
'Boehmorose', 1935, hybrid tea, carmine pink
'Genius Mendel', 1935, hybrid tea, pink-red
'Böhm Junior', 1935, hybrid tea, carmine pink
'Böhms Climber', 1935, climbing rose, red
'Vltava', 1936, rambler rose, violet red
'Jugoslávie', 1936, hybrid tea, light yellow
'Mičurin', 1936, Wichuraiana hybrid, dark red
'Srdce Evropy', 1937, Wichuraiana hybrid, pink
'Dr. Karel Kramář ', 1937, hybrid tea, dark red
'Tolstoi', 1938, Setigera hybrid, pink
'Růže olivetská', 1938, Rambler, light pink
'Mír', 1946, climbing rose, light pink
'Hold Slunci', 1956, Rambler, light yellow

literature

Jiří Sekera: Böhm růže Blatná , Blatná 2013
Jan Štemberk: Blatenský "Baťa v růžích". Velkopě Titel růží Jan Böhm , České Budějovice 2011

Web links

Commons : Jan Böhm - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f biography of Jan Böhm. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Janu Böhmovi říkali Král růží z Blatné. Vyšlechtil přes 120 odrůd. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Růže z Blatné nepřežily změny režimů - Novinky.cz. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .

personal data
SURNAME	Bohm, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Czechoslovak rose grower
DATE OF BIRTH	November 25, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH	Prague
DATE OF DEATH	April 4th 1959
Place of death	Blatná

[:0-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f biography of Jan Böhm. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .

[:1-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Janu Böhmovi říkali Král růží z Blatné. Vyšlechtil přes 120 odrůd. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .

[:2-3] Růže z Blatné nepřežily změny režimů - Novinky.cz. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .