'Old roses' add fragrance and beauty to the garden

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 27, 26 November 1985, Page 8

'Old roses' add fragrance and beauty to the garden

Looking out of my window while seated at the typewriter trying to decide what to write about this week I was struck by the freshness and the clarity of colour after the welcome rain. Despite regular watering the ground is very dry, and the plants seem to be literally lapping up the welcome moisture. The roses are coming into their own now, with a wealth of bud and bloom. I notice in the long dry spell the aphids have been having a field day, so it will be necessary to keep up the spraying programme every ten to fourteen days if you want to keep your bushes healthy and to get the maximum number of unspoilt blooms.

OLD BEAUT1ES

A number of people have asked me recently about 'old roses' and where these may be obtained. In the main, old shrub roses and very early varieties are grown by a few rosarians specialising in these old beauties. Years of devotion and hard work have resulted in

an impressive number of these former favourites being rescued from obscurity and made available to the purchaser. Old roses are divided into groups or categories embracing the growth and type of rose within that category. There are the bourbon roses, the centifolias, the damasks, the gallicas, the roisettes, rugosas, China roses, and the lovely old moss roses.

LARGE

Mostly they grow into quite large bushes, often seven or eight feet in height, with a spread of six feet or so across, and some of the climbers will climb to a height of thirty feet or more, so if space is likely to be a problem consult a grower's catalogue and choose the types best suited to your garden. Even the smallest garden will have the space for one or two of the smaller growing varieties, which seem to flourish often under quite adverse conditions and very largely will look after themselves. One of the favourites in my garden is one of the spinosissima hybrids, Fruhlinsgold. At present she is smothered in single creamy blossoms, some measuring three or four inches across, with a most delightful perfume.

RICH

Fruhlinsmorgen has rich, pink, single blossoms rather like a large version of the wild dog rose. Both bushes are about seven feet in height with a large spread, have their main flowering in the early Summer and will flower again later. Cardinal De Richelieu, first bred in 1840, is another fine bush with dense smooth foliage and maroon coloured blooms reflexing to a lighter tone. She grows six feet or so

in height and about four feet across. One of the smaller damask roses of which I am quite fond is Omar Khayam. This has very attractive grey/green foliage on a small bush which retains its leaves well into the winter. It has a small pink flower of rather muddled appearance. The main interest in this rose is its history. The original budwood was said to be taken from a rose growing on the grave of Omar Khayam. A hybrid perpetual of note worthy of a place in any garden is Madame Caroline Testout. Bred in 1890, she has large double fragrant blooms of bright rose edged with carmine and perpetual flowers.

CLIMBING

Of the climbing varieties my first love will always be, I think, Albertine. A strong vigorous grower, she has dark rich glossy leaves and a perfect bud form in delicate apricot, opening to a paler pink. Albertine is very vigorous in flowering and delightfully fragrant.

She will climb vigorously to a height of thirty feet or more, but my Albertine does not climb at all, and instead grows like Topsy. Each spring I cut back the main leaders, forcing the new growth upward from the arching branches. The result is a large mound of lovely fragrant blooips.

CATALOGUE

There are so many more I could mention that would be a delight in any garden but if you think you would like to add a few to your garden, consult a rose grower's catalogue and choose from the large and varied list available. Frank Mason and Sons Ltd of Feilding, specialise in old roses, and put out a 'Manual of Shrub and Old Roses'. This very informative little book only costs a couple of dollars or so, and lists the impressive number of the old roses grown in their nursery, besides giving a full description of each, with the height and type of growth, and a wealth of information on old roses.