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Old Garden Roses
Paul F. Zimmerman
Originally published in The Rose Reporter
Part 1 -
What is an Old Garden Rose?
Part
2 - Gallicas, Centifolias, Damasks.
(Put your Mouse's pointer
over the photos to see the caption)
Part 1 -
What is an Old Garden Rose?
Paul F.
Zimmerman
Originally published in The Rose Reporter.
I was approached at the last meeting by
someone to write an article on the care of Old Garden
Roses. This rosarian was intrigued by them but would
like more information on care and cultivation before she
plunges into growing these kinds of roses. Naturally
being an Old Garden Rose lover I think this is a good
idea. Yet, as I think about it I find myself thinking
why not a series of articles on OGRs in general?
We are very lucky to have the fine series of
articles on obscure OGRs written by Brent Dickerson last
 year
but outside of that we’ve not gone into specifics on
this group of roses. While most of the rules of basic
rose care applies to taking care of OGRs, I find tricks
from sub-class to sub-class assist with blooming,
health, growth and so on. These are not Hybrid Teas and
as such they need some different, but not more
complicated, treatment. Also since Eve Jones has now
assumed the mantle of all knowing and all wise novice
rose growing writer I find myself with some time to
indulge myself in my writing. With all this in mind
here we go.
This first article will cover Old Garden
Roses as a general group. In subsequent issues I’ll go
into each class and make recommendations of varieties
and care.
I was first introduced to Old Garden Roses
by Steve Jones at a meeting of the LA Rose Society all
these years ago. I attended a meeting hoping to learn
something about the three hybrid teas that recently had
found their way into my garden. (Pristine, Olympiad and
Sterling Silver if I remember correctly). The meeting
was interesting with lots of information about roses and
rose growing. Then Steve was introduced. He began
speaking about roses with fragrance, lots of petals;
roses that climbed, scrambled and rambled. My interest
perked up and when he began showing slides my heart was
gone. After many inquiries June Gross was kind enough
to point me towards Bob Edberg at Limberlost Roses and
before I knew it Hundred Acre Woods, Ashdown Roses and a
love affair with Old Garden Roses was born. Where show
business lost a comic Old Garden Roses gained an
admirer.
Perhaps it’s because my parents hail from
Europe, Pam traces her lineage back to England, my
palette loves the subtle red wines of Burgundy over the
bigness of Bordeaux and my ears perk to the lilt of
Irish music, these roses represent to me everything that
a rose is. Fragrance, intricately designed
flower forms, graceful growth habit and colors from a
softer more impressionist palette. To this day I cannot
put into words why I prefer them but I do. This, by the
way, does not mean I do not appreciate all roses, nor
does it mean I look down on rosarians who prefer modern
roses as some OGR people will. We all have different
tastes and none of us has the right to be judge and jury
of others. I know rosarians to whom the exquisite form
of a perfect hybrid tea sings. I’ve seen some myself
and I can see why. Keep this in mind as I write these
articles.
What is an Old Garden Rose? To history it
is a rose being of a class in existence before the year
1867. Why 1867? Simple. This is the year a rose named
“La France” was introduced. La France is considered to
the be the first Hybrid Tea. It is the offspring of the
Hybrid Perpetual “Madame Victor Verdier” with the Tea
rose “Madame Bravy”. The hybridizer was Guillot and
what marked La France as being different from other
roses was the high centered blossom we associate with
Hybrid Teas of today. The name Hybrid Tea in fact comes
from a wedding of the classes of the parents of La
France. A Hybrid Perpetual and a
Tea rose.
Notice I use the words “class of roses” in
existence before 1867. This means that even though say
a particular Bourbon (a class of Old Garden Rose) was
introduced after 1867 it’s still an Old Garden Rose. In
fact it’s possible that an Old Garden Rose could be
hybridized and introduced to the growing public today.
Class of roses also brings us to the other part of the
definition of Old Garden Roses. Modern Roses refer to
Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, Miniatures etc. Sub classes
within the label “Modern Roses”. It’s the same with Old
Garden Roses. To put it plainly,
Old Garden Roses are not a class of
roses but rather a group of classes that fit one
definition. That
definition is the class was in existence before 1867.
So if you hear folks speak of Old Garden Roses then
launch into Bourbons, Albas, Damasks, Teas and so on
relax. They are only talking of the classes of roses
that make up the group Old Garden Roses.
Before we go further I’d like to delve into
the David Austin English Roses and where they belong.
First off they are not Old Garden Roses and to my
knowledge Mr. Austin agrees. The English roses are in
my opinion a whole new class of roses and should be
recognized and labeled as such. Hybrid Shrub as a
moniker comes to mind. That they pay homage to the
spirit of Old Garden Roses I have no doubt. That I am
very fond of them, no doubts either. Nor do I doubt
they are partially responsible for the revival of Old
Garden Roses in this country. But they are not Old
Garden Roses and they should not be grouped with them
except in the garden. There they are a perfect match.
What are the classes of roses that make up
Old Garden Roses? There are a lot but generally they
fall into two subclasses; Antique and Old Roses.
Antique Roses are those found in Europe before the very
late 1700s and Old Roses are those who can trace part of
their ancestry back to R. Chinensis (The China Rose)
which was the first true repeat blooming rose known to
the Western World and was not introduced to Europe until
around 1792. While this sounds confusing and technical
there is another way to separate Antique and Old Roses.
Antique roses for the most part do not repeat bloom and
Old Roses for the most part do. Why? Because of the
influence of R. Chinensis into breeding programs. With
this repeat blooming ability roses forever changed, Old
Roses were born and later all of our Modern Roses. With
all of this in mind here are the classes that make up
the group Old Garden Roses. (There are certainly other
classes and I don’t claim to be 100% correct but for the
purposes of these articles these are the ones we are
going to work with.
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Old Garden Roses |
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Antique Roses |
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Old Roses |
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Gallica |
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China |
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Damask |
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Tea |
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Centifolia
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Moss |
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Portland (or Damask
Perpetuals) |
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Alba |
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Bourbon |
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Rambler |
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Hybrid Perpetual |
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Noisette |
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The addition of ramblers to Antique Roses
might raise some eyebrows but in my mind ramblers belong
with this group. There are not truly species, they did
exist before 1867 and for the most part they do not
repeat bloom. So allow me this indulgence. The
Portland/Damask Perpetual class is also a little vague
in where it might belong but I’m keeping it with Old
Roses instead of Antique because of the repeat bloom.
They were not directly influenced by China roses but the
date of their appearance and their characteristics are
similar with the other Old Roses. Now you know
something about the history a few words on the Old
Garden Roses in general.
 Old
Garden Roses as a group are best used in the landscape.
They are shrubs and are meant to be used as such. For
the most part they have a lax growth habit. By this I
mean they grow out and not up. Left to their own
devices they will happily spread out in a garden and
cloak themselves with blooms.
In terms of repeat blooming there are three
terms I am going to use. Once-blooming which is just
that; Remontant which bloom, rest and bloom again; and
continuous which bloom all the time. Most Old Garden
Roses fall into the first two but some of the Teas and
Chinas will rival any modern rose for flower production.
Old Garden Roses cut well for the house but
with the exception of some Hybrid Perpetuals you are not
going to get the long stems. As a consequence they do
best in bouquets with other flowers or one of my
favorite, floating in bowl where the fragrance can
permeate a room.
The color range of Old Garden Roses runs
from white to deep red. Missing from the palette are
the neon oranges and yellows of some of today’s modern
roses. A characteristic I’m not sure is a bad thing.
The yellows of Old Garden Roses tend to be butter yellow
towards the hue of apricot. All the colors run towards
the pastel side of the color spectrum but some very deep
reds and purples can be found. As a group they are very
fragrant with wide varieties of scent to found.
The last thing about OGRs I’ll address in
this first article are the subjects of cold hardiness,
ease of care and disease resistance. As a group the
Antique Roses are cold hardy. Even if they die back to
the ground they seem to come back year after year. Of
the Old Roses the Damask Perpetuals and the
Hybrid Perpetuals will withstand a winter. The others
with their strong Tea and China influence are more
susceptible. Please check with rosarians in your
specific area on this subject.
In terms of care OGRs do not require much
once you know a few tricks. Most of them don’t need to
be pruned hard every winter and are not that fussy about
doing things like cutting above a five leaflet group
when you deadhead. Left to their own devices they will
do just fine and in fact 100 year old plants have been
found in cemeteries blooming away with little care other
than watering. But like anything in life a little extra
care can make a big difference. There are certain
little things like cutting back laterals, pegging,
pillaring and knowing when to deadhead I find can make a
difference. As I go into the individual varieties I’ll
make some recommendations and explore some techniques.
“Old Garden Roses are all disease resistant”
is a statement you will hear a lot. Not always true.
Like any group of roses some are and some aren’t. Some
of my Bourbons are mildew magnets and some never show a
sign of the stuff. Don’t believe the literature. I’ll
give my recommendations on disease resistance within
each class but again I advise you to check with someone
who grows them in your area. They can better advise
what will and will not do well in your climate.
This covers our introduction to Old Garden
Roses. From here we will begin to explore the
individual classes and along the way I’ll include some
tips on display, care and selection. If you have
something you’d like to ask please do not hesitate to
contact me via Tinseltown or on the Internet at ashdown@primenet.com.
Part 2 - Gallicas, Damasks & Centifolias
Paul F.
Zimmerman
Originally published in The Rose Reporter
Perhaps the oldest roses known to Western
Civilization are found in the groups of Old Garden Roses
known as Gallicas, Damasks and Centifolias. They are
the roses spoken of by Shakespeare, shown in drawings by
Redoute and used then, as now, in rose perfumes. They
all have one annual spring flowering during which the
bush is covered with sometimes hundreds of blooms.
One annual spring flowering seems to be a
phrase which turns off most rosarians and it’s too bad.
Yes, it is certainly nice to have roses that flower all
year and here in Southern California it’s tempting to
use only them. After all with a ten month bloom season
why would we want to include a rose that only blooms for
six weeks?
 The
answer is because these roses are unique and beautiful
in their own right and deserve to be included in a
garden. After all we grow camellias, azaleas and the
like and they flower only once a year. This, for this
gardener, is part of the inherent charm of a plant like
this. They tell you spring is here, the weather is
warming up and soon all the garden will be in bloom. I
also look forward to seeing them. Sure I like roses
that bloom all the time but there is something special
about waiting a season for that one special bloom - kind
of like seeing an old friend again. Also some of these
roses are unique in their color, fragrance and
striping. To exclude them from a garden is to miss
something unique and seasonal - something that makes a
garden a unique one.
If everything we planted bloomed all year
then a garden would have no variety during different
times of the year. Month in and month out everything
will look exactly the same and the only way to tell the
seasons will be to hang a calendar near the potting
table. One only has to picture a garden filled with
impatiens twelve months a year to begin to glimpse the
horror of such a landscape. Personally I shudder at the
thought.
One of the great joys and challenges of
planting a garden is creating a planting scheme that
rotates smoothly during the year. As a plant goes out
of bloom another takes its place. Taken to it’s
artistic end one can have a “blue” garden in spring, a
“yellow and red” garden in the summer and a “white”
garden in the fall. The once blooming roses help make
this easier.
No matter if a rose is once, repeat or
constant blooming they all put on their best show in the
spring. Plan the garden around this thought. During
the peak rose time let the roses take center stage.
Then, as the once blooming roses begin to fade make sure
they are underplanted with perennials to come up and
provide color while the rose lends it’s foliage as a
green backdrop. Another trick is to surround once
blooming roses with repeat blooming ones that over the
season grow large. In the spring when the roses have
not yet fully grown back from their winter prune the
once blooming rose helps fill the gaps not yet grown
into. As the once blooming rose fades the repeat
bloomers can be allowed to grow into it and again the
once bloomer provides the green backdrop. With a little
imagination these roses can and should be used in every
garden.
The Gallicas are the most unique of this
group for two reasons. First is color. They are among
the only roses that delve into the true purple range of
color - Cardinal de Richelieu being a good example. The
other color I love in Gallicas is the deep, deep red.
While I realize this color is not unique to Gallicas I
feel some of the best examples of the color are to be
found in this group. Tuscany Superb fills the bill with
a color almost black it can be so deep.
As bushes Gallicas tend to be shorter
growing to about five feet in our climate. Of course
there are exceptions but as a rule these coarser leafed
roses behave themselves quite well in a garden.
 The
other characteristic of Gallicas accounts for the
brevity of this section about them. Gallicas need a
winter chill to bloom. What this means is if they don’t
get a certain amount of below 45 degree weather over a
winter they simply will not bloom. Sadly they rarely
get enough in our climate which accounts for the fact
this author has not seen many in person. Most of my
acquaintance with Gallicas comes from a weekend trip to
New Hampshire where I saw a tremendous collection of
them. Unfortunately I also saw 900 other varieties of
roses that weekend so they all blurred together. So as
beautiful as these roses are unless you live up in the
mountains most of your efforts at growing them in
Southern California will be met with frustration. The
Centifolias and Damasks on the other hand do grow well
here in Southern California.
The Damask roses are well known for their
fragrance and in fact in Bulgaria an entire industry is
built around the attar extracted from these roses.
According to the noted Old Garden Rosarian Graham Thomas
the precise rose is R. Damascena “Trigintipetala”.
While I will not delve into details about this industry
here is one interesting fact. It takes about three tons
of flowers to make 2 1/4 pounds of rose attar. This
translates into 1,200,000 blooms or enough roses to
cover four to five acres. In the Bulgarian district of
Kazanlik some 7000 acres are devoted to the growing of
this one rose - quite a sight and aroma when they are in
bloom!
The Damask roses tend as a group to be very
fragrant, of medium height, disease resistant and white
to blush pink in coloration. The most famous variety is
without a doubt Madame Hardy introduced in France in
1832. While it’s perfect bloom shape is enough to make
this rose well known what set’s it apart is the green
button eye in the center of each bloom. The only other
rose I know to carry this trait is the David Austin Rose
Fair Bianca. Other beautiful damask roses are Botzaris,
Celsiana, Ispahan, Leda and Omar Khayyam.
The Centifolia roses are the roses we know
from the old Dutch paintings. These are the cabbage
shaped blooms crammed with petals - Centifolia itself
referring to a hundred petals. The blooms tend to be
larger than Damask and also with great fragrance. The
shrubs themselves can be very thorny and many consider
their somewhat awkward growth habit to be less than
ideal for the garden. The are a good candidate for
planting mid border surrounded by other roses waiting to
grow into them.
I personally have not seen many Centifolias
in bloom but the few I have are quite stunning and
unlike most other roses. Some varieties that come
recommended to me are Fantin-Latour, Petite de Hollande,
Juno and Unique Blanche.
The care of Damask and Centifolia roses is
minimum. As they only bloom once a year deadheading is
not needed because the display of hips that will follow
is part of their charm. I tend to do a little
deadheading early on during the main flower display for
aesthetic reasons to keep the bush looking tidy during
peak bloom. Pruning is optional in our Southern
California climate. You can either let them grow to
whatever size they want and prune back the laterals in
January or you can keep them shaped to a nice height
during the summer after they bloom and then prune them
back to about two feet in January. The main difference
between the two styles of treatment is the amount of
blooms they will have come spring. The latter will give
you less the former more. On the other hand the former
will take up more garden space something with our long
blooming season we might not be willing to do.
I realize it is difficult to surrender
valuable rose space to something that does not bloom all
year here in our long season but you might try finding a
space. Gallicas, Damasks, Centifolias and some of the
other once blooming roses are unique and no garden
featuring roses would be complete with some
representatives from them.
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