A brief history of the rose
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Come late spring and a gardener’s thought
turn to roses. Roses come in every imaginable colour except for pure blue and
bloom over an extremely long season. For those reasons alone they would be at
the forefront of garden plants, but add in their many growth forms and their
long, illustrious and intriguing history and it’s
little surprise that roses captivate the gardening public more than any other
plants. Even if you loathe them as garden plants — all those prickles, that
troublesome pruning and spraying — you can’t deny their beauty or significance.
There are only about 100 species of rose
and few of those are widely cultivated. However, there are now so many hybrids
and cultivars that choosing roses for your garden can be a bewildering task.
To get an idea of how this situation has
developed you need to have an appreciation of the history of rose cultivation. Rose
cultivation has a long history, probably longer than any other plant. The story
is a little complicated but bear with me because once you understand how
today’s roses were developed you will have a much better idea of how to choose
roses and what to expect from them.
Species
As mentioned earlier, most of our garden
roses are hybrids but some species are cultivated. The banksia rose (R. banksiae),
a Chinese native with a brief but spectacular flowering season, is probably the
best known. It is a near-thornless climber that can grow to 10 m ×
10 m and is most commonly seen in its double varieties: var. lutea (yellow) and var. banksiae (white). Rosa rugosa and R. chinensis forms,
such as the two-tone pink and yellow ‘Mutabilis’ are also widely grown. Others,
such as the very large-thorned Rosa sericea subsp. omeiensis forma pteracantha, are grown as novelties.
Some are also grown for their decorative
red or orange seed pods, known variously as hips, heps or haws. Rose hips have
long been used medicinally too.
Early hybrids
Wild roses were gathered for the
production of rosewater, scented oils and other fragrances long before they
were cultivated. Such uses can be traced back to the Sumerian civilisation of Iraq
around 2000 BC. Deliberate cultivation of roses was well under way in China by
500 BC and undoubtedly the Romans and other early European civilisations
also grew large quantities for commercial use.
These early European roses were probably
forms of R. gallica, a native of Europe found from France to
the Caucasus. Gallicas are compact plants with fragrant flowers that occur in a
variety of shades from white through pink to red (including bicolours) and in
single- or double-flowered forms.
Among the first, and still grown, was
‘Officinalis’, a pink semi-double introduced into France
from the Middle East by 13th century crusaders. ‘Versicolor’ or ‘Rosa Mundi’
is a pink and white-flowered sport of ‘Officinalis’ that dates from around
1580. ‘Charles de Mills’, a deep wine red double, with very distinctive flat,
circular flowers is typical of the gallica style and currently among the most
popular.
The damask roses (R. gallica × R. moschata
and R. gallica × R. phoenicea) and the bicolour form of R kokanica known as the yellow rose of Asia are generally regarded as
the ancestors of most of the early European hybrids. The significance of the
yellow rose of Asia lies in its colour — there are no deep yellow roses native
to Europe — and the fact that it readily produces bicolour yellow and red
forms.
There are two basic forms of damask rose:
the summer damask (R. gallica × R.
phoenicea), which has a well-defined spring and early summer flowering
season, and the autumn damask (R. gallica
× R. moschata), which continues
blooming sporadically into autumn. This remontant (recurring flowering) habit
was a feature lacking in many early roses.
The damask roses were extremely important
because of their fragrance, a tendency to produce double flowers and because
their flowering season extends into autumn. All are the features we expect in a
garden rose but which were largely lacking before the damasks.
‘Trigintipetala’ or ‘Kazanlik’ was among
the very first damasks. The name means thirty petalled and this 2 m ×
2 m plant with strongly scented, mid pink, loosely double flowers has long
been grown for the production of attar of roses. Other damasks grown in modern
gardens include ‘Ispahan’, a fragrant, soft mid pink double raised before 1832;
Omar Khayyam, a strongly fragrant mid pink double dating from 1893; the original
pink autumn damask, also known as ‘Quatre Saisons’; and ‘Versicolor’ or ‘York
and Lancaster’, which has loosely double, variable pink and white flowers and has
been in cultivation since around 1550.
Rosa
alba, a plant of uncertain origin that may have
been introduced to Britain by the Romans and which is thought to be the White Rose
of York of Wars of the Roses fame, was crossed with the existing gallicas and
damasks to produce hybrids with very scented flowers — the alba roses. Rosa alba was
originally regarded as a variable species, but is now thought to be a small
collection of hybrids of probable R.
mollis × R. gallica parentage.
The centifolia (one hundred petalled) or
cabbage roses date from around 1550. Although once regarded as forms of a
species, they are now though most likely to be hybrids between the autumn
damask and an alba. Centifolias are usually compact
bushes with double flowers so heavy with petals that they often droop under
their own weight.
‘Cristata’ (‘Chapeau de Napoléon’ or
‘Crested Moss’) is one of the most popular centifolias. It has fragrant, mid
pink, double flowers, the buds of which are covered in fine tubercles or
filaments known as moss. Mosses are natural mutations that first occurred on
Damask and Centifolia roses. They were very fashionable in the eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries when several hundred forms were raised. Some, such
as very deep blackish-red-flowered ‘Nuits de Young’ are still grown today.
The China rose arrives
Development of the damask roses and their
close relatives continued slowly. Unfortunately, these plants, such as the Portland roses,
were destined to be overshadowed by major developments in the late 18th
and early 19th centuries that resulted from new material obtained
from China.
Perpetual flowering semi-dwarf bushes
were cultivated in China well before the start of European rose
breeding. The parent of many of these, R.
chinensis, was introduced around 1752, followed by some hybrids (probably of
R. chinensis × R. × odorata origin)
in 1792.
China roses, as these early hybrids are known, are still available. Among
the most commonly grown are ‘Cramoisi Supérieur’, a small shrub with deep red
semi-double to double flowers (there is also available in a climbing form), and
‘Old Blush’ (‘Parsons Pink’), a fragrant mid-pink semi-double that was among
the first introductions, again also available as a climber. The most widely
grown China rose is ‘Mutabilis’, an interesting form in which the single
flowers change from yellow to red as they age.
Bourbon roses originated around 1817 from
a chance natural hybridising between R.
chinensis and an autumn damask on the once important French outpost of the
Île de Bourbon — now known as Réunion — an island between Madagascar and Mauritius. Seed of the original plant was sent to France
and crossed with gallicas and damasks to produce the first bourbons. These
plants, which are long blooming and strongly scented, are still widely grown.
‘Mme Isaac Pereire’ (mid pink, double), ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ (pale pink,
double) and ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ (deep pink, double) are among the most popular.
Noisette roses were the first hybrid
group to originate from the United States. Originating in the early 1800s from an ‘Old Blush’ × R. moschata cross, they are strong-growing
bushes or climbers with clusters of fairly small flowers in white or pastel
shades of yellow or pink. Noisette climbers have recently experienced a revival
in popularity. Among the most commonly available are: ‘Alister Stella Gray’, a
light golden-yellow, fragrant double; ‘Desprez à Fleur Jaune’, which has pink
buds opening to soft golden-yellow, scented, double flowers; ‘Lamarque’ (‘Thé
Maréchal’), fragrant double, pale yellow flowers that age to creamy white; and
‘Mme Alfred Carrière’, which has large white-blushed-pink double flowers.
Tea roses or tea-scented roses are
another development of R. chinensis. These plants, which flower in shades of
white pink and yellow, are hybrids of R.
gigantea × R. chinensis, a cross
known as R. × odorata. They enjoyed a
period of popularity around the 1830s, but the real significance of the tea
rose to modern gardeners is that it was crossed with the other styles to
produce the hybrid perpetual roses, which were the direct predecessors of the
most popular modern roses — the hybrid teas.
Hybrid perpetuals were by far the most
popular garden roses of the 19th century. They were originally
introduced in 1835 and enjoyed about 70 years of immense popularity. A few are
still grown but they are now something of a novelty. They often have very
large, strongly scented flowers but are seldom tidy growers. Few nurseries
stock many hybrid perpetuals but you may see ‘Empéreur du Maroc’, which has
small, highly scented, deep purplish-red flowers; ‘Général Jacqueminot’, a
fragrant, deep cerise-tinted-red double; ‘Prince Camille de Rohan’, which has
deep purplish-red, fragrant, double flowers; and ‘Ferdinand Pichard’, a pink
and white striped double.
Modern roses
Hybrid teas
The hybrid perpetual roses were strong,
healthy plants that made the tea roses appear rather weak and spindly, but tea
roses had beautifully shaped buds and flowers in shades of soft yellow that
were lacking in the hybrid perpetuals. It was an obvious move to cross the two
and in 1867 the first hybrid tea, ‘La France’,
a soft pink double, appeared.
‘La France’ was followed by further pinks
and some pale yellows, but a lack of bright colours meant that hybrid teas did
not appear to offer any great improvements over existing forms and they did not
cause any great excitement initially. It wasn’t until the bright yellow,
double-flowered Rosa foetida var. persiana was introduced into the breeding programme by the French
breeder Pernet-Ducher that hybrid teas started to become the dominant roses.
His first bright yellow, ‘Soleil d’Or’ was exhibited in 1898.
Unfortunately the early hybrid teas were
rather tender for European gardens. This was remedied by the introduction of R. wichuraiana into the recipe in the
mid 1940s and most of our modern hardy hybrid teas date from after this period.
There are hundreds of hybrid tea roses to
choose from and most of them are very heavy flowering and have large blooms on
long stems that are ideal for picking. Which you choose is a matter of personal
colour preference, what best suits your garden and what is currently
fashionable with the growers and nurseries.
Floribundas
About the same time as the first hybrid
teas were appearing, the polyantha roses were introduced. These compact plants
bear their small flowers in large clusters and were produced by crossing dwarf
forms of R. multiflora with either a
dwarf China or a small hybrid tea. Polyanthas have continued to be grown and
new introductions appear occasionally. Some of the best are: ‘Cecile Brunner’,
which has small pale pink double flowers and is available as a bush or climber;
‘Perle d’Or’, a somewhat rangy grower with buff-pink double flowers;
‘Strawberry Ice’, which is a dense compact bush with white-edged-cerise double
flowers; and ‘The Fairy’, a mid pink double that can be grown as a bush or
miniature climber.
The polyanthas were very successful but their
flowers tended to be small and poorly formed. The logical step was to cross
polyanthas with hybrid teas and by so doing, the
Danish Poulsen company produced the first floribundas. Floribunda roses are
compact and heavy flowering, with several blooms per stem. As cut flowers they
cannot compete with the hybrid teas but for sheer colour they are hard to beat.
Again there are hundreds to choose from and your selection is largely a matter
of personal preference and what’s popular with the growers.
Both floribundas and hybrid teas are
often budded onto upright, single-stemmed stocks to produce standards.
Climbing and rambling roses
Some species, such as R. gigantea and R. filipes are natural climbers and these
plants have been used to produce a few garden plants. However, the majority of
garden climbers are really strongly upright, long-stemmed bushes that are tied
to fences, pillars or pergolas to create the effect of a climber. For this
reason you will find climbing forms of common hybrid tea or floribunda roses
such as ‘Iceberg’ (white, double) or ‘Ena Harkness’ (red, double). Ramblers are
climbing roses that produce very strong growth from the base rather than simply
elongating already existing stems.
Other styles of modern roses
Several rose breeders have developed
plants that are quite different from hybrid teas and floribundas. Some, like
the hybrid musk roses (a cross between a hybrid tea and the musk rose), have
been developments or side branches of the development of hybrid teas and
floribundas, others, such as the Kordesii roses (R. rugosa × R. wichuraiana), are new styles.
Miniature roses are a style that can be
traced back to the small China rose, R.
chinensis ‘Minima’, particularly the form ‘Roulettii’. While this is an old
form, it is only in recent years that miniatures have become very popular as
new colours and styles have been produced by crossing the old forms with R. wichuraiana and some of the smaller
floribundas.
Not all miniature roses are small bushes.
They all have small flowers but many of the bushes can reach 60–80 cm or
more with time. Some forms are budded onto vigorous bush rootstocks to produce
‘patio roses’. Others are budded onto tall stems to produce miniature standards
and weeping standards.
Ground cover roses, such as the
ubiquitous ‘Flower Carpet’, are an increasingly important group that has been
produced from a wide range of breeding stock. These include unusual species,
such as R. sempervirens, R. bracteata
and R. californica, as well as the
more common R. wichuraiana and the
various hybrid groups. Most are extremely vigorous plants capable of carpeting
a wide area and many are similar in flower and foliage to miniature roses.
Old roses and modern roses
Although for many years hybrid teas and
floribunda were the predominant rose types, old roses are now enjoying a
revival. But what is an old rose? Strictly speaking old roses are those that
were in cultivation before 1867 when ‘La France’,
the first hybrid tea, was produced. Paradoxically, much of the recent interest
in old roses is not only due to the old roses themselves but to a group of
relatively new roses that look like old roses — English roses. These plants, raised
by David Austin and first introduced in 1961, are the result of crossing
gallicas, damasks and centifolias among themselves and with floribundas and
hybrid teas. This has produced plants with the flower form and scent of the old
roses on compact vigorous bushes that flower throughout the season.
Among the most popular of the English
roses are: ‘Abraham Darby’, an upright bush with fragrant, apricot-pink tinted
yellow, double flowers; ‘Charles Austin’, which has strongly fragrant, soft
buff-yellow, double flowers; ‘Constance Spry’, a semi-climber with strongly
fragrant soft pink double flowers; ‘Gertrude Jekyll’, which is inclined to be a
poor grower but has very fragrant, bright pink, double flowers; ‘Graham
Thomas’, a stocky bush with very fragrant deep yellow double flowers;
‘Heritage’, fragrant, pale pink fully double flowers; ‘Mary Rose’ a compact bush
with very fragrant, deep pink, double flowers; and ‘Othello’, a medium-sized
bush with fragrant, deep wine-red, centifolia style flowers.
******
Roses are fascinating plants that well
reward the effort that you may have to put into them. Even if you don’t grow
any roses, their’s is a story that has shaped the history of gardening and
which is responsible for much of how our gardens look today, and that doesn’t
even touch on the folklore associated with them.
Copyright Geoff Bryant
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