Roses can be a beautiful, easily-grown addition to any yard that has
lots of sun and room for them to grow. (To thrive they need a mini-
mum of 6-8 hours sunshine.)
But within the rose family there are different groups and classes,
and if you understand these, you’ll have a better understanding of
which roses will work best in your yard, and which ones will give
you the shape, color or fragrance that you’re looking for.
Roses are divided into three main groups: antiques, old garden, and
modern. The groups are then divided into classes. These give us an
idea of how a rose will grow, bloom and thrive in a particular area.
Some classes, for example, do best with a heavy pruning every year,
and others are better left alone.
1. Antique Roses: This class contains roses that were introduced be-
fore 1867, when the first hybrid tea rose, La France, was introduced.
In some cases many of these roses have been grown somewhere on
this planet for more than 1000 years. So you could say those still in
production are the ultimate tried and true.
Tea roses are the predecessors of our modern hybrid teas. They typi-
cally have larger blooms full of petals with a high center common
with florist roses. The buds are smaller than hybrid teas and the
stems shorter, but most tea roses have a wonderful light fragrance.
The bushes tend to be large and round and they bloom heavily in
the spring and fall.
China roses are one of my favorite rose classes. They are sturdy and
can bloom nine months out of the year. Generally large shrubs (with
some climbers) they are hardy and drought resistant. This is one of
the classes found on abandoned homesteads throughout the state.
The best thing about bourbon roses is their amazing, heady frag-
rance. Bourbons can be large shrubs, climbers or smaller more mana-
geable bushes.
Polyantha roses are smaller bushes, with smaller flowers borne in
clusters at the end of the branches. They bloom profusely and are
very easy to take care of.
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2. Old Garden Roses: Though not technically antiques, these roses
have been around long enough to have proven their mettle in our
tough climate.
Hybrid Musk roses really hit their stride starting in the 1920s. They
are large shrubs that can also be trained as small climbers and can
take five hours of sun a day and still bloom well. They have a nice
musky fragrance and bloom in clusters. My family has several musk
roses that have been passed down for more than 60 years.
Older Hybrid Teas have been around so long that they’re now group-
ed in with the other antiques and old fashioned roses. They tend to
have longer stems and higher centers than the tea roses. Some of their
blooms, like Peace, can be quite large and showy. They also have
more of an upright, slender growth habit than their predecessors.
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3. Modern Roses: This is the ‘everything else’ group. These roses
are more recently developed than the previous group, but still contain
some great rose varieties. It is with the modern roses that we start to
see the huge full flowers that florists crave and the vibrant colors not
seen in antique and older roses. Oranges and bright yellows espec-
ially make their mark with the newer introductions.
Shrub roses were never meant to be classified. They were developed
to grow and behave like blooming shrubs. Knock Out roses are prob-
ably the best examples of this class. They are for the most part disease
resistant, fast growing and heavy blooming.
Hybrid Teas and Grandifloras are two classes of roses developed for
their flowers. They have large, full, bright flowers on long stems . . .
perfect for floral arranging. They can require a little more care than
other classes and need yearly hard pruning, but they can’t be beat for
their blooms.
Floribunda roses are best thought of as the original shrub roses.
These are smaller bushes (under 4’ typically) with lots of blooms.
They usually perform very well with little oversight and don’t need
much pruning except to keep their shape.
Last, but not least, an amazing tale of survival known as Peggy
Martin. This rose was discovered after Katrina had ravaged its home-
site, where she had sat for weeks under brackish water only to come
out alive onin the other side. This thorn-less climber has gained
traction over the last 8 seasons because of this resilience and is a
fine addition to any landscape.Happy rose gardening everyone! ❦
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Here are some of the beautiful roses that we are carrying this year
at the nursery. Climbing roses: Joseph's Coat, Don Juan, pinata,
blaze, and America (all $35.99). Non-climbing roses: Chrysler im-
perial, Mr. Lincoln, Double Delight, peace, Fragrant Cloud, Per-
fume Delight, Pink Peace, Chicago Peace, Gold Medal, Olympiad
(all 2 gal. for $20.99) Antique roses: Mutabilis, Martha Gonzalez,
Old Blush, Peggy Martin (climbing), Red Cascade, Heritage White,
Tropicana, Esquire, Reeve, Mrs. B.R. Cant, and Will Scarlett (climb-
ing) and old blush (climbing) All antiques: $20.99. We also have
Knockout roses for $26.
