Winter in the Heritage Rose Garden
Winter in the rose garden is traditionally touted as a time for ruthlessly pruning roses; a task often shrouded in mystery and dread by many newcomers to rose gardening.
However, in the Winter Heritage rose garden here in the Hunter, I am less likely to heavily prune the heritage roses in a manner often taught by traditional rosarians. The reasons for this are many-fold; from my preference for wilder, less controlled rose gardens, through to needing to understand the pruning needs for various classes of roses.
Let's start with my preference for a wilder looking rose garden. My initial dislike of rose gardens was based on childhood memories in the 1970s of rose gardens filled with unscented hybrid teas set against concrete edging and driveways. The preference for some public gardens of bare soil beneath rows of roses topped with bright, garishly coloured blooms still does not appeal.
So, when I discovered heritage roses, I was astonished at the different forms and shapes of both the plant and flower, and of course, the delicious range of scents. I started adding a few heritage roses amongst my herb gardens and increasingly became enthused with old roses as I discovered more over time.
Who can resist the charm of a scented rose clambering over a wall, or fence, such as the deliciously scented climbing Tea rose, Duchesse de Brabant (Comtesse de Labarthe) with her shell pink chalices. The only task in winter for such a rose is to tidy out the dead wood and tie in her vigorous canes.
Or the lovely Noisette roses that lend themselves to winding in and over a wrought iron arbour. Noisettes such as Madame Alfred Carriere with sweetly scented white blooms blushed with pink, Be warned though, she is a vigorous climber and will quickly outgrow a small arch. Or there are the lovely lemon blooms of Celine Foriestier wending her delicate way over an arch. Again, cutting out dead wood and tying in are all that's needed.
And then there are the Ramblers, such as the almost thornless Veilchenblau with violet scented, mauve blooms that fade to grey. Many of the Ramblers grow to huge proportions, so are best given strong support in a larger garden, such as a shed or wall, to climb over and dominate!
There are some old heritage roses that resent sever pruning, particularly if you are planning to cut them down by half or more as for hybrid tea roses. I have found to my dismay that some of the Tea roses, and a few of the Bourbons, will sulk and not thrive after such treatment. And others will curl up their toes and die.
In my enthusiastic ignorance, I gave Madame Isaac Pereire, a lusciously scented deep pink Bourbon, a very harsh hair cut in her second year, and she never forgave me for this. It was only after this experience that I discovered Heather Rumsey's writing that warned against harshly pruning some of the Bourbons.
As for Tea roses, I will only ever trim them lightly after cutting out dead wood. And if they have suffered through drought over a long period, I will only trim out dead wood without any further trimming so they can recover in the cooler months. Although, in a mild Winter, some of the Teas will continue to bloom more generously than they might have in a hot dry Summer. Other Teas go into a type of dormancy during drought, minimising flowering and new growth.
I could not imagine chopping down the gloriously blowsy Tea rose, Mrs B R Cant, once she had established herself in the garden. She was irresistible and huge, covering herself in blooms for all but the briefest month or so in Winter. I'm sure there would be knowledgeable rose growers who would insist she be trimmed into control, but I just loved her generous blooming and size. She's also a fabulous cut flower which in itself is a form of trimming.
I am, however, happy to follow the advice of knowledgeable Rosarians in pruning Heritage roses, such as the Damasks, Gallicas and Albas, given that I have not grown these before. So this year, in their first year, I will be lightly pruning some of these once flowering old roses after their Spring blooming.
But as for the rest of the old roses, I'll be following the example of Morville House gardener in the United Kingdom, Katherine Swift, (Illustrated Magazine, Issue No.248, June 2017) and allowing the old roses in my garden to grow a little wild, smothering arches, pergolas and fences in their glorious scent and blooms, here in our little country garden in the Hunter Valley.
And if you have a small garden, don't be afraid to include a small climber, or pillar rose or two. Taking advantage of vertical space is one way of adding interest and height to a small space and there are lots of smaller rambling roses that can be enjoyed without fear of them taking over. I've mentioned one of these, such as Veichenblau which is a very forgiving rambler and can easily be kept in check if you need to trim it back a little. There are also pillar rose, such as Clair Matin which will reward you continually with sweet pink blooms.
So Happy Winter Gardening. I'd love to hear your stories of growing rambling, wild roses in your garden.
Enjoy,
XxLillian
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