Antique Rose Facts

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.

To continue with the homeowner's landscaping guide, go to Family of Roses

For more information, see New Landscape in 5 Days.