Sorry, that’s a bit of a generalisation as I don’t hate all roses, only those that are overly bred and too, too perfect. The large flowered Hybrid Teas, those picture-perfect roses with a million petals squashed into every bud, I particularly detest. You see them on every soppy Mother’s Day card and box of sweets, or plastered on the cover of those romantic novels written by some pink-clad, blue-rinsed duchess. Smaller flowered Floribundas, their floppy petalled, multi-headed cousins I can take or leave and normally do the latter. Big flowered climbers and ramblers I also detest with their ‘Look at me!’ attitude and need for constant tending.
These types of roses are, to the horticulture world, too much like the high maintenance girlfriends of some overpaid, talentless footballer. They’re all show when the conditions are right but give them too much rain, a little bit of wind and not enough attention, then they will look pretty dishevelled and sulk for weeks after.Even if they do perform as expected they either look out of place amongst shrubs and perennials, or too garish and ghastly when displayed on their own in a bed.
Doubtless many of you won’t agree with me but I prefer my roses a little bit more on the wild-looking side, or at a push a bit old fashioned, but not dowdy.
Roses have been around in one form or another for the past few million years and we've been fiddling with them and cultivating them for the last few thousand. They grow wild in almost every corner of the northern hemisphere and although the Chinese were probably the first to grow them for decorative and medicinal purposes as well as their perfume, the Romans were probably the first to grow them extensively, most notably in the Middle East. If you want to see what fields of roses used for rose oil production look like, then take a trip away from the high rise resorts of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast on your next holiday there and visit Kazanlak, where the scent of roses swamps the valley from late spring to the end of summer. I think they have a festival there too in June or July if you can drag yourselves from the beach.
Most of the roses in cultivation up until the end of the eighteenth century still looked at least like roses should with nice loose open heads and, usually, some scent. Then breeders both in Europe and in America got their hands on them and turned them into the monstrosities that most people relate to today. The last 100 years, in my opinion, have not been very kind to the rose.
The only concession I will grudgingly make to the modern breeding program is the fact that the newer hybrids flower longer than they previously did. But that doesn’t make everything all right in my mind. Anyway all that inbreeding can’t be good for any species. Isn’t it against some law, morally if not legally?
Again I’ve generalised a bit, as there are some rose breeders who have raised roses with a ‘wild’ look about them and haven’t given in to the demands of the fickle public. Other breeders such as David Austin have tried, and succeeded, in breeding roses that have an old fashioned look, but flower all summer with wonderful scent.
So they’re not all bad people.
My own garden contains a few roses and is awaiting another. The one that it’s waiting for is a rose called ‘William Lobb’ that has grown in my granny’s garden, which is now my aunt’s, for as long as I can remember. It was bred in 1855 (No, not by my granny!) and has purple-grey flowers and a strong scent. It’s fairly freely available in garden centres in the autumn but I’m getting some cuttings done from the original, via my mum’s garden.
I have a ‘Golden Wings’ in my front garden, which is relatively modern, as it was bred in the 1950s. It has large, single, pale yellow flowers for most of the summer and attracts wildlife such as bees and butterflies as well as trapping the occasional sweet wrapper or small child in its thorns.
As mentioned a few weeks ago, I have a ‘Kiftsgate’ romping over the back shed. This is covered in huge bunches of single white flowers for an all too brief a period in June and July and spends the rest of the time assaulting me as I go in and out of said shed.
‘Rhapsody in Blue’ is a very modern but old fashioned rose that is probably as close as you will get to a blue rose until the GM people get their hands on the rose gene code. It’s nicely scented and is currently fighting for survival in one of the raised beds in my back garden.
Last, but not least is a David Austin rose called ‘Claire Rose’ that I bought for my other half, for reasons you can guess, a few years back and currently sits in pot on the deck at the back of the house. It’s a very nice soft pink, scented variety that I dare not say anything nasty about, even if I thought it.
So as you can see roses can be versatile and, with all my ranting and raving, modern varieties can still have some charm, elegance and beauty. Plant them amongst shrubs and flowers, not just in a bed by themselves. Autumn to spring is the best time to source and buy them but now is a good time to spot them in flower.
There are plenty of books available to track down the names from descriptions or photos but if you go to a garden centre with a bloom they might be able to tell you the variety. Just be patient, as there are thousands of different varieties of roses.
Oh, and don’t tell them I sent you.
(First published August 2009)
