How fortunate is the child who grows to maturity with memories of an old garden? The memory of my father’s huge, fragrant, old-rose bushes I played under as a child sent me on a thirty-year treasure hunt for roses of bygone days.
Many thrills have been mine in collecting these old favorites as I made new friends and sometimes rescued choice plants from destruction.
One April morning, while driving down a plantation road, I saw an aged negress smoking a clay pipe. Nearby was a dark red rose in full bloom, which she called “Georgy”, destined soon to be plowed up.
Now, King George IV, a hybrid china introduced in 1830, gives me much pleasure every April with its dark red blooms, which have a small green bud or carpel in the center. At another negro cabin, I found many large, so-called “Preacher” rose bushes.
These proved to be Cardinal de Richelieu, a gallica dating back to 1840. Several of these add rich violet-red trusses of bloom to my shrub border in spring, while the heavy foliage is almost evergreen in our climate.
Two Discoveries In An Old Plantation
A visit to an old plantation house built in 1821 brought two discoveries. The gracious owner showed me the old garden filled with beds of large rose bushes loaded with three-inch, pink, fragrant blooms of the old Empress of India, also called Empress of China.
I can find no authentic record of this rose, but believe it to be a tea or a china variety. Plantings of the satiny, pink, cup-shaped Duchess de Brabant, a tea of 1857 vintage, were bordered with rare, old, green glass bottles.
My Garden Of Hybrid Perpetuals
In my garden of hybrid perpetual, Maiden’s Blush (1797), a hybrid of Rosa alba, has been trained in the shape of a fountain. In spring and autumn, it is covered with four-inch blush-pink flowers.
Mme. Hardy (Damask 1832) bears ethereally beautiful clusters of white, perfumed blooms with small green carpels. Flowers open flat when full-blown and, like many old roses, are most appealing when full bloom and last well.
Leda or Painted Damask will soon join Mme. Hardy. Two magnificent hybrids of special merit are the dark-red Black Prince (1866) and the thornless, clear, rose-pink Paul Neyron (1869).
The latter blooms all season in our climate. Victor Verdier (1852), a bright, rose-colored member of this sturdy group of shrub roses, is also a favorite of mine.
Gallica Rose
The gallica rose, Commandant Beaurepaire (1874), is my pet among the striped roses, lusty and disease-proof. Its entrancing blooms, borne in clusters, are bright pink, striped with violet and marbled white, with no two alike.
Old Pink Moss
Among the moss roses, I like Old Pink Moss (1596) and Crested Moss (1827). Both of these are “pegged” to the ground to increase bloom.
The smaller growing, delicate pink, Alfred de Dalmas (1881) and dark red, Deuil de Paul Fontaine ( 1873), bloom all season freely.
Unusual Burr Rose
My garden would not be complete without the unusual burr rose (R. Roxburgh Plena, 1825). It makes a huge bush with wands of flat, double, rose-colored blooms which emerge from burr-like buds.
Blooming heavily in spring and fall, it is generous with its flowers in mid-season. The hips which follow are covered with little bristles.
Zephirine Drouhin and Tausendschon
Zephirine Drouhin (bourbon 1868) and Tausendschon (rambler 1906) share a 12-foot post. Both are thornless and make a blanket of deep rose and light pink blooms.
Among the everblooming bourbons which I greatly enjoy, is “Josephine’s rose”, Sony de la Malmaison (1843), with clusters of double, pearly, soft pink flowers, delightfully scented, and La Haine Victoria (1872), rosy pink with inner petals charmingly folded and curled.
Climbing Roses
Much loved climbing roses include Devoniensis, sometimes called the magnolia rose (tea 1841)
A large globular golden yellow, and the famous noisette variety Marechal Neil (1864) with myriads of perfumed, double golden yellow blooms.
Gloire de Dijon (climbing tea 1863) climbs over the top of a large pear tree and blooms for two months and repeats in autumn, displaying its creamy white, amber, yellow, and salmon, high pointed buds.
Old Bush Teas and China
I have little space to write of the marvelous old bush teas and china, including:
- Safrano
- Marie Van Houtte
- Bon Silent
- Countesse Ritz du Parc
- Bridesmaid
- Mme. Lombard
- Mrs. P. R. Cant
- Papa Gontier
- Cachets
These are a few large, healthy teas blooming from March until Christmas in Louisiana. Barring an extra cold winter, they are evergreen.
Prune Weak Growth Of Teas
I do not prune teas except for weak growth and when cutting rose flowers, and I have never had blackspot on a tea rose.
A near-perfect rose to me is Mrs. Dudley Cross, thornless, lusty, long-stemmed, with high pointed buds of yellow-tipped pink.
For bordering beds of tea roses, I like the low-growing, small, pink Hermosa and the old polyantha Picayune, with sprays of tiny, double, white scented roses.
Louis Philippe
Who has seen Louis Phillipe (china 1834), almost thornless, in all its red rose glory without covering it?
Old China, with its small double blooms and recurved petals of red or white, with some half red and half white, is another nostalgic rose. With me, teas do better with shade from the west.
I fertilize in March and again in August using an all-purpose fertilizer. When preparing the soil for planting, I use plenty of humus.
In dry weather, I water well about every 10 clays. I never cultivate my roses since I keep them mulched with pine needles, straw, or old sawdust.
Nostalgic memories started me on a never-ending search. I plant old roses for posterity as well as for the ease with which they grow and the beauty and fragrance which they impart.
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