Types

In the introduction to his book, Climbing Roses, noted rosarian Stephen Scanniello says, “Climbing roses are the acrobats and aerialists of the rose garden, the carefree plants that tumble over fences, scale walls and trellises, fling themselves over arches, and swing aloft on ropes and chains.” What an apt description of this large group of […]

English roses? Do roses really have nationalities? Certainly there are species roses that originate from a particular area or region of the world, like Rosa chinensis from China. But hybridized roses? Not really. So where does the term “English Rose” come from and what does it include? There is no formal designation by the American

“A rose is a rose is a rose” is lovely poetry and evokes visions of wonderful blooms. Today, when most people think of a rose, they have a vision of a hybrid tea, roses they see in a florist shop or spilling out of a vase. Their classic high-centered beauty epitomizes the rose, and as

You may have heard the term old garden rose, but what exactly does that mean?  The category of Old Roses (OGR) can be confusing. The working definition of OGRs are classes of roses that were known before 1867. The category of Old Garden Roses was created in 1867 when the first hybrid tea rose ‘La

Rose of the World; th’ embroidered Tuscany;The scented Cabbage, and the Damacene;Sweet Briar, lovelier name the eglantine;But above all the MuskWith classic names, Thisbe, Penelope,Whose nectarous load grows heavier with the duskAnd like a grape too sweetly muscadine.V Sackville-West, The Garden, 1946 I couldn’t agree more with the noted gardener Vita Sackville-West. Let me introduce

Just what are species roses?  They are wild roses that have developed on their own without help from us humans, and within the genus Rosa. There are an estimated 150 – 200 types of wild roses in the world, some supposedly having been around for more than 30 million years. All are native to the

Roses have been around a very long time – there are fossils of roses dated 35-40 million years ago that are thought to originate in Asia. The oldest identified rose is Rosa gallica, commonly called the French Rose, that can be dated back as early as the 12th century B.C. From early times, many varieties and