The old roses of bygone centuries — the gallica, the centifolias, the sweetbriers, and a host of others — are returning to favor with gardeners. Their fragrance, luxuriant foliage, colorful fruits, and distinctive flowers have a nostalgic appeal not found in our highly-bred roses of the 20th century.
Their opulent bloom is produced in June, but their casual, free-growth habit, even when neglected, reminds us of their vigor and hardiness.
Some of the species and old garden roses of Europe sucker freely when on their roots. Happy when roses can grow naturally as true shrubs, increasing at will, they frequently refuse to be confined to definite beds.
However, nursery workers are now budding the old-fashioned types on the non-suckering stock. This practice produces taller, more compact shrub roses, which can be grown neatly in beds.
However, as they age, these budded plants are prone to lose their lower leaves. Plants on their roots are much lovelier and more appealing for long-range planting because of their full-foliaged habit typical of nearly all rose species.
Consequently, their search becomes avid whenever these cannot be found in nurseries. You can look for them in old gardens or cemeteries where roots of established plants are begged, bought, exchanged, or stolen!
Give Old Roses A Setting
Because of their unique values and requirements, our old roses should be put in a spot by themselves. He could establish such a place for these June beauties — one that would throw its gates wide open to visitors during their glory — as a separate unit of small public or semi-public gardens.
“Old-rose gardens,” restored or created, would be especially appropriate on the grounds of an antique or historical society, an old inn still open to the public, or any historical site. Then all local garden clubs could get. Busy on the project.
Private gardens, too, will benefit significantly by including many more of these old-fashioned roses. Though, how to place them convincingly and esthetically is a matter needing thought.
Some of the robust, tall sorts can well replace other shrubs (including the modern hugonis rose) on the sunny side of houses with high foundations. Choose the true damask, the old white Rosa alba, the taller forms of old R. gallica, Harison’s Yellow, and the hybrid perpetual.
Against a wall — brick, stone, or wood — instead of planting modern climbers (which often grow out of hounds), fasten the taller ones like sweetbrier, Meursault, damask, R. alba, and the hybrid perpetual, training their long branches horizontally.
Later in the season, this planting may provide the background in green for a flower border. Since the horizontal bulk of the roses may become heavy, the perennials at the back of the frame had better be shade enduring.
Along with the garden, walks are an ideal location for these “old-timers.” The moss and cabbage roses, besides R. gallica and other somewhat tall kinds (including the older hybrid perpetual), are excellent candidates for such use. Face them down with the ninny forms of Scotch roses (on budded roots) or with the old, red, dwarf apothecaries rose (R. gallica Officinalis).
Petals may be picked as they drop for potpourri to be treasured until June returns again. The sad fact is that petals from modern hybrid tea and floribunda roses give a watery, smelly mess. Petals’ fragrance and oil are found only in old European roses, like cabbage, gallica, and damask.
The real problem for the rose lover is to get color on these old roses in the months beyond June. (Empress Josephine and Good Queen Bess never expected to see blossoms on their roses more than once in any year!) As a matter of history, the China monthly rose reached England in 1768 and 1789.
While bees began hybridizing at once, named forms of these roses with some repeal bloom did not appear until the advent of early hybrid perpetual. Few of these old “hybrid Chinas” with repeat bloom are available from our dealers. However, for a small bed of “old roses” with some repeat bloom, it is possible to obtain some, such as the following.
- Stanwell Perpetual (1838) — double blush white, with Scotch rose foliage.
- Coupe d’Hebe (1840) — hybrid bourbon, pale rose (like a flat hybrid perpetual)
- Salet (1854) — moss rose, rosy pink.
- Blanche Moreau (1880) moss rose, pure white
- Green Rose (1856) — petals green, resembles the modern polyantha in form.
- Cramoisi Superieur (or Agrippina) (1832) — deep crimson, a pure China from China
- Hermosa (1840) — small, double pink, like modern floribunda
- Old Blush Monthly (1789) – bright pink, slight, loose flower-like older floribunda
These will give a moderate showing of summer-autumn bloom if fed and watered well.
Companion Plants
One way to be sure of color with old roses after June is to plant other flowers among or in front of them. To reconstruct your grandmother’s garden, you can keep to period and produce only those perennials common a century ago, such as lily-of-the-valley, foxgloves, moss phlox, and summer phlox.
Or you can forget antiquity and plant the latest named varieties of garden perennials and annuals offered by progressive dealers.
For best results with this method, it is wise to select most perennials for flowering later than June, so they will not compete in interest with the roses at the height of their glory.
Nevertheless, some complementary color is welcome, like white foxgloves in front of damask roses, a bleeding heart with white Scotch roses, or a pink gas plant near Harison’s Yellow’s shrub.
When planting for perennial bloom outside of June, I start with snowdrops and the common crocus for the earliest effect. These are always past color or are in foliage by the time pruning of the rose bushes begins.
Then I toss hundreds of bulbs of common, old-time kinds of daffodils. Although these are underfoot at rose pruning time, I can step around them, and their flowers are entirely gone before June.
I plant these bulbs reasonably deep, so I rarely cut a bulb in two while weeding, hoeing, and mulching. (But such an accident makes two bulbs eventually!) As a ground cover, instead of mulch, I leave the lily of the valley to grow as it will.
During the heat of July and August, clumps of the modern hemerocallis, in light yellows and some reds, carry on until Labor Day.
These are always the tall types, placed well back against the rose bushes to bloom through and above them. Plenty of plants of summer phlox, both white and pale colors, lighten the area at night or on cloudy days.
Silvery Artemisia
Here, too, are placed the summer accents, like artemisia Silver King (to spread as it will). The lower, actual wormwood and sometimes even an edging of beach wormwood (A. stelleriana) has to be clipped occasionally for neatness.
Many “herb” plants, especially those with gray or bluish foliage edged with dwarf lavender, also blend well. Both sea holly and globe thistle produce steel-blue, baby thistles above holly-like foliage or golf balls of blue tints above divided foliage.
The compound-leaved effect of the rose plants can be repeated in the herbaceous foliage with bleeding-hearts blooming in June, also feathery spires of truncus or astilbe in light colors only on tall or dwarf plants.
(Astilbe always needs water in July to encourage buds for the next year, and roses should not be desert-dry in summer.) I like a long row of heuchera edging in mixed colors from deepest red to white or white and pale pink.
For the latest perennials (to grow right through the resting rose plants), the named forms of New England aster, including the standard purple, the rose form, and white, or Harrington’s Pink, a real rose-pink, are usually best.
These do not spread as much as the New York (A. Novi-belgi) sorts, require no spraying, and make permanent clumps. For the very first line back of the edging, the dwarf Oregon asters serve well.
Then, if the ground is covered with lily-of-the-valley or vinca, the last bloom of the season can be autumn crocus.
44659 by Stephen F. Hamblin