A Collection of Heirlooms: Antique Roses, Part 1
Centifolias Talk about survivors! The Centifolias have been around since 400 B.C. If you're familiar with those Dutch flower paintings with roses as big and fully petaled as cabbages spilling from vases, then you know what centifolia looks like. With few exceptions they bloom once, in summer, and are normally extremely fragrant. Although some modern roses are fragrant, it's hard to beat the aroma of an old garden rose, as you'll see if you try any of the varieties recommended in this article. If you're in zones 4 through 9, just stand back and sniff. The colors range from white through pink through deep red and striped. Moss roses are a form of Centifolia that has fragrant mossy growth on its buds. Rose de Meaux is a miniature Centifolia, growing only 18 inches high. Most of this class are large shrubs with rather lax canes that can be trained as pillar or climbing roses. All are fragrant; most are once-bloomers.
Chinas To my intense regret, I cannot grow China roses; they are hardy only from zones 7 through 10. Modern, everblooming roses can claim Chinas as part of their heritage. They are usually rather small plants, suitable for container growing. Most are fragrant and extremely disease resistant. Some bloom with many colors on a single plant. Mutabilis is one of the roses I would most like to have in my garden, flowering in shades of flame red through copper, honey and yellow all at the same time -- and that is most of the bloom season for this lovely rose. As with most Chinas, the effect is in the whole shrub rather than the blossom form.
Damasks
The most amazing rose in my garden is a Damask, Celsiana.Mine started its life in poor soil, yet, depite being in the stranglehold of a runaway wisteria, grew quickly to 8 feet. In June it is literally covered with thousands of blush pink roses of amazing fragrance.
Damasks are really old garden roses, having been grown in biblical times. Renowned for their fragrance, they normally bloom in white or shades of pink. Once-bloomers, some have a bloom period of up to two months, while a few, like Kazanlik and Quatre Saisons repeat. Kazanlik, by the way,is the rose grown in fields all over Bulgaria to produce the famous attar of roses so important to the perfume industry. York and Lancaster is another famous damask
Latest Articles