This is the 21st century, and we are all bustling about and multitasking, so, you may ask, who has time to stop and smell the roses, much less grow them? Ah, but if you grow old-fashioned roses, making time for such a sensory experience may be feasible. Old-fashioned roses, beloved by gardeners for centuries and grown by your grandmother, are remarkably hardy, low maintenance, and easy to grow. Grandmother was busy too, you know! Antique roses, reminiscent of a more genteel, bygone era, lend an aura of romance, beauty, and fragrance to the garden.
ROSE TIPS
Landscaping With Old Garden Roses
Old garden roses, unlike their modern, hybrid tea cousins, do not have to be confined to a rose bed but can be incorporated into almost any garden landscape. In fact, antique roses are most effective when combined with foundation plants and perennials.
There are many varieties of old roses, and they are very versatile. They can be used to climb pergolas, soften walls, and create hedges, and they can be used as specimen plants or container plants.
Culture of Old Garden Roses
Antique roses can be found blooming profusely at abandoned home sites and remote family cemeteries, but to be on the safe side, give these roses a healthy start. Most roses perform best if planted in full sun or nearly full sun. Almost all roses require at least five to six hours of full sun. There are a few that are shade tolerant, but they are the exception. Roses need good drainage and air circulation. Roses can thrive in a variety of soils, but when planting roses, it is wise to amend the soil with organic matter, along with well-composted cow manure.
Fertilizing Roses
Roses are heavy feeders, and a balanced fertilizer should be applied every four to six weeks during growing season. There are several commercial rose fertilizers available, but organic fertilizers formulated just for roses work extremely well with little danger of burning the plants.
Watering Roses
Once established, old garden roses are drought resistant; however, they will perform much better, especially during a typical Mississippi summer, if they are given a thorough soaking every week. To conserve water, a thick layer of mulch is essential, and the mulch will also help control weeds.
Pruning
Antique roses do not require the severe pruning that modern roses demand. Prune just to shape and keep manageable. If space is not a factor, roses that ramble and run rampant can be quite dramatic.
Disease and Insects
Old garden roses are much less susceptible to insect pests and diseases than hybrid tea roses, but they are not completely resistant to these problems. Some rosarians will want to use an insecticide or fungicide, but others will want to try a more earth-friendly approach.
Black spot, the bane of rose growers, will infect antique roses, but it will not kill them. Sometimes, just a thorough cleanup and a little pruning will restore the roses’ vigor.
TYPES OF OLD FASHION ROSES
Climbers
There is nothing like a climbing rose for dramatic impact. (Surely, when Romeo wooed Juliet, her balcony must have been adorned with a climbing rose!) Climbing roses can soften walls and enhance unsightly fences, and, of course, they are perfect for arbors and pergolas.
Lady Banks: This hardy, vigorous rose comes in either yellow or white. It blooms only in early spring, but the blooms last for several weeks, and the display is glorious. The blossoms have a slight fragrance, and the canes are thornless. This rose needs lots of room. This is not a rose for small gardens or for fastidious gardeners who favor order and restraint in the garden.
New Dawn: New Dawn was the first rose patented under federal regulations, and this rambling rose with delicate pink blossoms is still an all-time favorite of rose enthusiasts. New Dawn needs lots of room to grow, and it has wicked thorns, but once you have seen New Dawn with its profusion of blooms, the thorns and size will not discourage you.
Blaze: Blaze is brilliant red and a prolific bloomer. Blooming from spring until fall, this is a rose that is beautiful but no nonsense.
Cherokee: This is a very old rose that will climb to great heights. It has large, pure white petals and glossy, deep green foliage. It is very thorny and only blooms in the spring, but in the right location, this rose is very attractive.
Zephirine Drouhin: This is a climber that is thornless, so it can be used where thornier roses would be a problem. It is mannerly and produces cerise, fragrant flowers. There should be a good repeat bloom in the fall.
Shrub Roses
In grandmother’s garden, shrub roses were a staple, but they are not as prevalent in today’s gardens. Everyone loves a shrub that blooms, and many of these roses are ever blooming, providing color and fragrance throughout the season.
Old Blush: Old Blush is almost perpetually in flower, covered with semi-double, pink blossoms. These roses do not make good cut flowers, but they do not have to be pampered. Used as a hedge or specimen plant, Old Blush always adds color to the garden.
Mrs. B.R. Cant: My all time favorite rose is Mrs. B.R. Cant. This rose has cabbage-like, rose-colored blooms. It grows very tall and wide, and it is very hardy and a repeat bloomer. The flowers are beautiful in bouquets.
Duchesse de Brabant: Teddy Roosevelt often pinned this rosebud to his lapel. Fragrant and a charming shade of pink, this old-fashioned rose will never go out of style.
Cecile Brunner: This is the “Sweetheart Rose.” It will tolerate part shade and poor soil. This is also a good rose for containers.
Hermosa: Hermosa has been around for a long time. In 1856, Thomas Affleck, the preeminent nurseryman of Natchez, wrote this about ‘Hermosa’: “Still one of the best!” This is a rose that will do well in a small space. It is very resistant to disease and can be used in mass plantings or in pots.
