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The old rose classes
Definition and well-known varieties
Old roses are mostly very strongly fragrant old rose varieties that have been grown in gardens for many years.
On this page you will learn exactly how they are defined, which rose varieties and classes they include and which are the best varieties.
You will find all Historic rose varieties with picture, description and often growing experience in the Old Roses web shop.
Definition
A 'Historic Rose' / 'old rose' is a rose that belongs to a class that already existed before 1867.
Contrary to many claims, newer varieties also belong to the Old Roses.
'Old roses' of European origin
The mostly once-flowering rose classes that were native to Europe for a long time.
the Romans already enjoyed these. The tall, upright shrubs with typical blue-green foliage are very hardy, flower once with single to heavily double blooms in white and pale pink, and are very strongly fragrant.
=> all varieties
once-flowering shrubs with an upright habit. Single and double blooms in pink of varying intensity with a good fragrance. Decorative autumn foliage and good hip set.
=> all varieties
Well-filled, compact and bushy shrubs with outstanding fragrance. Strongly double blooms with a typical 'button' in the centre, in varying shades of pink. The varieties among them that repeat well are also called Autumn Damask roses.
=> all varieties
also 'hundred-leaved roses' with heavily double, very fragrant blooms in white and pink of varying intensity on stately shrubs.
=> all varieties
varieties covered in moss-like resinous glands, very closely related to the Centifolias. Densely double, sometimes globular blooms with a strong, intoxicating fragrance. Some Moss roses repeat-flower well.
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The 'wild' rose species occurring in nature mostly have many single blooms in white and varying shades of pink. The fragrance is mostly faint but very delicate. Good hip set in autumn, and a magnet for bees during flowering.
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Rose classes brought back from the Far East
With growing curiosity and the possibilities of developing seafaring, repeat-flowering roses came to Europe from the Far East.
a class named after its origin, of almost continuously flowering but not fully frost-hardy rose varieties. Mostly smaller blooms in clusters with a rather faint fragrance on well-branched shrubs.
=> all varieties
partly repeat-flowering, strongly and heavily fragrant varieties with mostly globular blooms in various shades of pink and white. Habit compact and bushy to arching-pendulous and climbing. They originate from the 'Île de Bourbon' / 'La Réunion' in the Indian Ocean.
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roses that were initially not sufficiently hardy, almost continuously flowering, well filled, with a delicate, pleasant fragrance and an elegant bloom shape. Habit shrubby to climbing, with an interesting colour range that was new at the time, with apricot, yellow, pink of varying intensity and more intense red.
=> all varieties
R. foetida (and hybrids)
Wild forms and species descended from them, R. lutea and R. foetida, in yellow and reddish orange, with mostly single blooms, once-flowering and hardy.
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a group with few thorns, hardy and healthy, with very vigorous, climbing growth (rambler) and a very early flowering season. Double blooms in clusters, in intense colours.
bot. R. spinosissima, R. pimpinellifolia
heavily thorny shrubs with brownish wood that readily form suckers. Together with their 7 to 11 leaflets they have a very typical appearance. Many smaller, lightly fragrant, single to semi-double blooms, mostly in white or delicate pink, dark hips.
=> all varieties
Created through hybridisation
Together with the emerging knowledge of crossing different species, these roses introduced from the Far East were crossed with the existing 'Old Roses'. By 1867 this gave rise to the following rose classes, which likewise count as Old Roses:
vigorous, mostly climbing roses in white, delicate pink and yellow tones, in part not quite fully hardy. Abundant flowering, mostly repeating well, with double blooms and a delicate fragrance. They go back to a cross between a China rose and R. moschata.
=> all varieties
very rewarding, reliably repeat-flowering, mostly heavily double shrub roses of compact, bushy growth with a very strong fragrance. Good hardiness and health. They arose from a cross between a China rose and an Autumn Damask rose.
=> all varieties
these are ultimately the result of crossing a wide range of Old rose classes. What they all share is the ability to repeat-flower, and many have a very good, strong fragrance. Most form large shrubs with a tendency to climb and mostly have double blooms in white, pink of varying intensity through to red. Yellow, above all pure yellow, was not yet available, however.
=> all varieties
Thus, regardless of their date of origin, all roses that can be traced back to these and that still clearly show their characteristics are called 'Old Roses'.
Variety recommendations for Old Roses
Among the roses available at that time there are numerous garden roses that are still rewarding today, as well as some rarities that rose collectors still like to keep in their gardens.
Below we show you a selection of the most robust, best-fragrant and least demanding Old Roses.
Rose de Resht
Those who know the Rose de Resht hardly need to be told much about it. Rose experts worldwide agree that there really should be one in every garden.
This compact, bushy shrub rose with grey-green, matt foliage, rediscovered only in the 1950s in the Iranian city of 'Resht', is enormously robust and disease-resistant.
It repeat-flowers reliably and is very hardy. The numerous pompon-shaped, purple-coloured double blooms of the Rose de Resht, with a very strong fragrance, are not infrequently made in the kitchen into rose jam, ice cream, rose syrup and the like.
Even rose beginners need little knowledge to look after it, and you can hardly go wrong when pruning a Rose de Resht either. A relatively generous spring pruning and shaping after the first flowering period, plus regular removal of faded blooms, is sufficient; it readily forgives mistakes.
It is used as a specimen, in a group of three, as a low hedge or in a tub. more
Louise Odier
The Bourbon rose Louise Odier is a rewarding, robust, repeat-flowering Old climbing rose with pink, cup-shaped blooms.
It is particularly charming on obelisks, where the slightly pendulous blooms with their heavy fragrance show to great effect. A combination with a Clematis hybrid is also a good idea. more
Dividing roses into classes gives an overview of the many varieties and their characteristics.
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