Don't know where you got your information, but it's incorrect. The three roses are all related to each other, but they are different:

Persian Yellow is a species rose, Rosa foetida persiana. Austrian Copper is a sport - or mutation - of Persian Yellow. Harison's Yellow is a hybrid of Persion Yellow and Rosa spinosissima.

Hi Cecilia,
Thanks for the info. I got that info off of a website this morning, and I don't remember what the name of it was. I'm new to this rose identification stuff, and growing roses in general, so I'm just learning. I can see that there is TONS to learn and I'm not sure I ever will have it figured out....but oh well.
I looked on another website, and it shows Austrian Copper and Persian Yellow as different roses. So..forgive my post, and forgive my ignorance. I'm taking what I read off of websites from people who are "supposed" to know? Suffice it to say I'm just glad I know what that yellow rose is that I've been seeing for years, and will be glad to get them going.
I will be doing a lot of research and learning about roses as I am hooked and want to grow as many as I can. I hope to learn a lot from reading this forum.
I'm still trying to figure out all of this scientific stuff about roses. Obviously, from what I've read, many roses are "related" or started from other roses....so I suppose maybe that is what the deal is with the Austrian/Persian and Harison's yellow rose?

Hi, blazerose - I know what you mean about trying to figure out all the scientific stuff. From what I understand, the original Ross foetida species, from the Middle East, had a single flower (one row of petals), but at some point somebody probably noticed a branch (or maybe an entire plant) with double blooms, and began propagating it - this became known as Persian Yellow (Rosa foetida persiana).

Later, a plant of PY must have developed a branch that had orange flowers, which a person (presumably from Austria?) had the foresight to root and propagate. The orange-flowered version became known as Austrian Copper (R. foetida bicolor).

At least we have some documentation of how Harison's Yellow came into commerce. It was bred around 1830 by George Harison, a wealthy New York lawyer who was also an amateur horticulturist (or possibly his father).

I've read that Harison's Yellow is common in your part of the country because cuttings were brought west by the pioneers. They either planted the cuttings when they settled in your area, or dumped them along with other unnecessary items, when they needed to lighten their loads as they traveled further west!

In case you didn't run across this tidbit - the Persian Yellow is one of the primary reasons modern roses are so subsceptible to blackspot. All of the 3 roses mentioned above are BS magnets and need a solid spraying regimen.

Sue

Sue, I guess that is just another rose myth. It was probably true in the days of the Pernetiana's when yellow had just been introgressed in the garden hybrids, but not anymore. Modern roses that are susceptible to blackspot are so because they were not selected for resistance but for other traits. Breeders sprayed their seedlings and/or focussed more on resistance to mildew than to blackspot. Nowadays, well selected moderns are much healthier than most repeat-flowering OGR's (hybrid perpetual, bourbon etc.) that were bred before R. foetida genes were introduced.

Rob