Marie-Louise Meilland

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The hybrid tea 'Manou Meilland' dedicated to Marie-Louise Meilland

Marie-Louise "Louisette" Meilland , born Marie-Louise Paolino (* 1920 in Antibes , France , † March 7, 1987 there ), was a French rose breeder .

Life

Marie-Louise Paolino, commonly known as "Louisette", was born in Antibes in 1920. Her French mother Marie Élisabeth Greco came from Grasse . Her father Francesco Giacomo Paolino, whose parents immigrated to France from Calabria in the 1890s , ran a rose school in the favorable mild climate on the Cap d'Antibes peninsula . Together with her father, Marie-Louise bred her first rose hybrids at the age of 15.

At a meeting between her father and the well-known French rose grower Antoine Meilland (1884–1971), she met his son Francis. She became engaged to Francis Meilland in 1938 and married him on January 14, 1939 in the St. Benoit Chapel on Cap d'Antibes. From this marriage the son Alain and the daughter Michèle were born. Marie-Louise Meilland worked continuously in the family business; she successfully engaged in rose breeding and dealt with business correspondence. After the early death of her husband at the age of only 46 in 1958, she initially continued to run the company on her own until her son Alain took over the management.

In the course of several decades, Marie-Louise Meilland bred more than 120 new rose varieties, including hybrid tea , floribunda and climbing roses , some of which are widespread worldwide and have received multiple awards, right into old age . This includes their salmon pink-colored tea hybrid introduced in France in 1981 under the name 'Pink Panther', known in Germany as 'Aachen Cathedral' . Some famous personalities of their time, such as the opera singer Maria Callas , the actor Louis de Funès or the Princess of Monaco were honored by naming one of Louisette Meilland's new breeds after them. In connection with the rose baptisms, the rose breeder met the namesake and was featured in the media together with them. The rose 'Sonia Meilland' was named after her granddaughter Sonia.

Marie-Louise Meilland never wanted one of her new rose varieties to be named after herself. Her family avoided this persistent refusal by dedicating the 'Manou Meilland' rose variety to her, as her grandchildren affectionately called her “Manou” (German: “Grandmother”).

Marie-Louise Meilland died in Antibes at the beginning of March 1987 at the age of 66. The funeral ceremonies took place in the chapel of St. Benoit on Cap d'Antibes, where she had also been baptized and married.

Rose varieties from Marie-Louise Meilland (selection)

family

Her son Alain Antoine Meilland (born May 25, 1940) continued to run the company after his father's death. Their daughter Michèle married Raymond Richardier , whose father was her father's business partner, in 1961 , and continues the family business today under the name Meilland-Richardier .

literature

Web links

Commons : Roses by Marie-Louise Meilland  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anniversary of the death of Marie-Louise Meilland , PHM Revue horticole, 1987, p. 80.
  2. ↑ Jack Harkness: The Makers of Heavenly Roses , p. 125.
  3. ↑ Jack Harkness: The Makers of Heavenly Roses , p. 127.
  4. ↑ Types of roses, fragrant roses No. 27 'Manou Meilland'. In: welt-der-rosen.de. February 8, 2008, accessed March 15, 2017 .
  5. ^ Christiane Navas: La maison Meilland, creator de roses depuis plus de cent ans. In: lesechos.fr. September 4, 2002, accessed March 13, 2017 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Meilland, Marie-Louise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paolino, Marie-Louise (maiden name); Meilland, Louisette
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French rose breeder
DATE OF BIRTH 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Antibes
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1987
Place of death Antibes