Antique Roses

What goes around, comes around, is an old, but true statement. If you look at the cost of what our mothers considered "junk" or the clothes today that looked like what I wore in junior high, you'll find the craze for the past is up and going. Antiques aren't just for furniture and clothing, they are also big in the plant world. Heirloom plants are finding a niche market and filling it. Everything from vegetables to flower varieties are being brought back to our gardens. And roses are high on the list of antique flowers.

Beloved for centuries for their wonderful scents, and their unique and beautiful flowers, rose lovers everywhere are adding antique roses to their gardens, in the hope of having their cake and eating it too - or in other words, having roses without weekly spray programs. For while all antique varieties aren't immune to the dreaded black spot disease, most of them don't get it or suffer little from its effects. But why did they go by the wayside, and are just now returning, if they are so wonderful? Several things can be considered. First, hybrid tea roses came on the market and offered much larger blooms in many cases, and almost constant bloom throughout the growing season. Their flowers were more defined and lasted longer. So we went with the new plants to get bigger and more flowers. We traded scent in many cases, and ease of growing. We now spray weekly, prune severely yearly and are much more tied to our gardens than before. Who today has time to devote to weekly pesticide sprays? And, many having the time, choose not to spray.

What is an old or antique rose?

The American Rose Society classifies an "old" rose as any rose introduced before 1867. Many gardeners consider it old if it has survived 75 years or more. Many of the antique roses are pastels, you won't find many bold colors. They almost all have good fragrance, and often have a season of bloom - not all season. There are some who have a repeating bloom period. They don't need the drastic yearly pruning, tending to be shrub or climbing in nature. This too makes them easier to handle. There has been a great deal of research on old roses, and you can find many books on the subject as well as entire nurseries devoted to propagating and selling old roses. So they aren't nearly as hard to come by as they used to be. While there is still an active "rose rustler" group out there, who scours old cemeteries, home sites and abandoned fields, in search of new "old" varieties, we have a good collection of plants that will do well in our gardens. Antique roses by growth habit lend themselves to blending in with existing landscapes, or creating wonderful archways or flowing lines in our gardens. We don't have to devote entire beds to roses because of their special needs, they can be mainstreamed into our gardens. A few naysayers, have asked why they would want a rose bush that only blooms four to six weeks? Yet their gardens are comprised completely of azaleas, a plant we're lucky to get four to six weeks of bloom.

Classes or families of roses

Antique roses are divided into classes or families of roses. These include: Chinas, Noisettes, Polyanthas, Musks, Old Europeans, Bourbons and Teas

Unique Characteristics

Each division has unique characteristics, but still offers a wide variety of color and bloom. If you are new to the antiques, visit your local nurseries and see what is available. Visit the local rose growing societies, and visit with gardeners who have them. Then experiment. Some possible starters include: 'Mermaid' which is a vigorous and thorny plant. It blooms from late spring until frost with large, single yellow flowers. It grows quickly, blooms long, but does have big thorns.

"Old Blush" is a common old rose, with again, a long blooming period. It blooms profusely with double light pink blossoms in the spring, then slows down a little during the hot dry summer, and bounces back in the fall. This vigorous shrub rose gets five to six feet in height and spread.

`Zephirine Drouhin' is a wonderful climber with thornless stems. It is extremely fragrant with semi double dark pink flowers primarily in the spring, with a smaller show occasionally in the fall. The growth habit, coupled with thornless stems makes this one a winner.

`Cecile Brunner' is an all-time favorite. Both bush and climber varieties are available in this durable and long blooming plant. The flowers begin as a pink bud and open to a cluster of light pink flowers. The profusion of blooms in the spring is followed all summer by a few blooms all summer and again a show in the fall. Highly disease resistant, it can't be beat. The climber is tougher and a better plant I think than the bush form.

`The Fairy' has been available and popular for a long time. This sprawling bush gives off hundreds of sprays of tiny double rose pink flowers, which fade with heat, giving you a white bloom. It begins blooming in late May but will continue to bloom provided it has ample moisture.

`China Doll' is a small border or edging rose, growing no taller than eighteen inches. It begins blooming late in the spring and continues through fall, with clusters of pink blooms. It has a nice compact growth habit and has good disease resistance.

`New Dawn' has pale pink flowers which bloom heavily in the spring, scattered blossoms in the summer with another show in the fall. It is a wide growing rambler rose, and bears the distinction of being U.S. Plant Patent No. 1, the first rose patented under federal regulations. It has been touted as good hedge material.

These are just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of old roses out there. While most roses perform best in full sun, there are some antiques that tolerate light shade. Good drainage is important, and preparing your soil prior to planting can insure success, as with any other planting. Find out the eventual size of your roses when you plant them. If they have the potential to spread fifteen feet, allow for it. Give them time to grow and fill in. Allow a little air space around them for better air circulation to help with diseases. If you have a fence or need a living arbor, plant climbers that can spread, but give them their support from the beginning.

Care of Antique Roses

Antique roses are not as demanding as the hybrid teas for fertilizer and water - many will do well with little fertilizer and once established, may be drought tolerant, but especially with the ever bloomers or repeat bloomer, you will have more flowers if you pay attention to watering and fertilize occasionally. Diseases and insects usually don't plague these plants much, but as with any plants in your yard, nothing is resistant to everything. Monitor them occasionally for problems, and catch them early. They will not require the weekly sprays of other roses. For pruning, you need to know the growth habit of the plant and its season of bloom. For spring only bloomer, treat them like azaleas, and prune after bloom. For ever bloomers, shape as needed before growth begins.

Finding Antique Roses

Read the catalogs or information that comes with the plant to see what to expect. If you find an old rose in your yard, do nothing the first season, to see when it blooms naturally. Antique roses are grown on their own root system-they aren't grafted. They root easily and with care, can be rooted almost any month of the year. Keep the cuttings moist and make sure there are no flowers, buds or hips attached to insure quicker rooting. Use a rooting hormone to speed things up. This is an easy way to find new plants, find friends who are willing to share. If you can't find friends, ask your nurseryman what he has and what they can get.

If you gave up on growing roses, because black spot wiped you out year after year, think again. The antique roses can give you graceful forms, interesting textures and color, with an added bonus of fragrance, and for the most part, you don't have to spray.