Antique Roses: Tough, Adaptable & Beautiful

One of the joys of growing antique, heritage roses is their toughness, as well as their adaptability and durability. No hot house grown roses with their stiff, soldier straight stems have quite the appeal for me as the personality, beauty and scent of antique roses. Antique, or heritage roses, vary in class, from Gallica, Damask, Alba through to the Teas, Bourbons and Noisettes. A heritage rose is generally thought to be from a class of rose pre-dating 1867, when the first Hybrid Tea, La France, was released.

A rose whose history is embedded in mystery and therefore of unknown antiquity, is the China rose, Mutabilis (before 1894); named because of the charming colour mutation between a young peach bloom and rich plum tones of an older bloom. The sight of it covered in a mass of blooms resembles a cloud of multi coloured butterflies and is a sight to behold. And while the blooms of this rose look ethereal and delicate, the shrub itself is almost indestructible when established.

One of the often surprising features of heritage roses is their adaptability to the vagaries of climate. A well-established heritage rose is more likely to cope with periods of drought than modern roses. This adaptability to adverse conditions is one of the reasons many of the old roses are still in existence, despite being out of commercial production, as many were re-discovered growing neglected near older homes or beside gravesides. While it is becoming more difficult to discover 'new' old roses given the increased use of herbicides in and around cemeteries and the rapid rate of housing development in semi-rural areas, heritage roses are once again in commercial production for the garden enthusiast.

And while they are definitely beautiful, with fascinating histories often described by their names, heritage roses have the attribute of coping with extreme heat, as well as resistance to disease and drought tolerance. One of the things I love about the old roses is their ability to be grown with a range of other shrubs, and perennials, making them valuable garden plants.

Unlike formal rose gardens where roses are often grown as a monoculture with 'pristine' bare earth at their feet and no other plants growing near them, heritage roses contribute to the overall design of a garden with colour, fragrance and an astonishing range of heights, widths and growth habit. For example, climbing roses can transform an unsightly wall or structure, rapidly growing into a gorgeous curtain of leaves, flowers and fragrance.

And the joy of growing antique roses for cut flowers, rather than as a mono-culture in a greenhouse or polytunnel, is their ability to mix well with numerous perennials, annuals, herbs and small shrubs, and even climbers. I love that I can grow heritage roses, in all their shapes, sizes, colour and scents, along with some of my favourite antique flowers and scented herbs, unlike a polytunnel filled with stiff roses for the cut flower trade that need pesticides and fungicides for disease control. Growing roses organically in the open air alongside other plants provides habitat for bees, small animals and birds.

Lemon thyme with its tiny pink flowers and strong lemon scent looks and smells delicious at the foot of an old Tea rose, such as the pale lemon Alexander Hill Gray rose, or the lovely Noisette rose, Lamarque. As you lean into sniff the scent of the rose, you can't avoid stepping on the lemon thyme, releasing a sweet scent of fresh lemons. And interestingly, I have often noticed that the Lamarque rose has a hint of lemon in its scent profile too; delicious!

And of course, heritage or antique roses come in an almost limitless array of different growth habits, from short bushes, or open vase shaped, almost tree like shrubs, to climbing pillar roses or large sprawling rambling and climbing forms. These are only a few of the basic forms old roses inhabit, yet a garden filled with a display of these basic forms can be magical. Roses clambering over walls and outhouses or marking a pathway to a secret garden room provide an endless palette of ideas for the home gardener, and garden designer.

We've all seen examples of a gardener's imagination in full flight in their gardens, such as an artist's garden, or a patchwork quilt maker's garden, displaying myriad colours that shouldn't work together, but with their artful designer's touch provide a delightful picture. And antique roses fit with such a display so beautifully providing not only structure, shape and form, but more transient elements such as scent, colour and movement across the seasons.

The seasonality of heritage roses is also charming, providing us with beautiful blooms, seasonal leaf colour such as the red of new growth, along with a display of their fruits after flowering has finished. Some of the old roses have magnificent displays of Hips (Heps), from small oval shaped fruit to large, globular fruit almost the size of a small apple. The Rugosa roses are renowned for their display of large Hips after flowering has ceased., which is why it's a good idea to understand the type of rose you have, before you automatically deadhead once flowering has stopped and cut off any chance of a magnificent display of Hips.

Ultimately, all the varieties of form and habitat provide a haven of safe habitat for a range of small creatures and birds. Since we started planting out our new garden here in the Hunter Valley of NSW, we've seen a huge increase in insect life, including native blue banded bees and tiny black native bees (I must familiarise myself with their Latin names). In fact, we often have a cacophony of insect and bird song and movement in the garden, with tiny fairy wrens flitting from shrub to shrub, cicadas trilling loudly, frogs and their unique calls, through to colourful parrots flying low into the trees nearby.

A garden is not a garden, in my opinion, if it doesn't have a lively wildlife inhabiting it, but equally a garden needs to provide a place of delight for the humans who live amongst it. And my garden would not be complete without the antique heritage roses giving scent, colour and life to the space in which I garden. And of course, the delight of browsing the garden for seasonal blooms to pick for a generously scented bouquet, that special bridal bouquet, or gorgeously scented petals for pot pourri, or an apothecary mix for soothing sleep!

So if you're looking for roses to fill a bare spot in your garden, have a look at heritage or old roses. There are a number of rose nurseries that specialise in old roses, such as Ross Roses in South Australia, Knights Roses, Wagners Rose Nursery, and Treloars roses. You'll find these on-line and easy to order as bare-rooted roses for delivery in Winter. Or you could go for a walk in your neighbourhood to see which roses grow well, and hopefully you might find a friendly gardener who could give you some cuttings (please never take cuttings without permission).

Have fun, and if you discover a favourite heritage or antique rose, I'd love to hear about it.

Enjoy xx