Hybrid teas, Floribundas, Miniatures, Shrubs, Climbers. Those are the classes that first come to mind when most people think about roses. They're the roses that are most readily available in garden centers and nurseries. They're the roses that most people choose to grow, either because they were in the yard when they moved into the house (like me) or because that's what their mother/grandmother/aunt or whoever grew. But it's a pretty big rose world out there and there are a couple of classes that perform especially well here in San Diego that you ought to know more about.
My first roses were all Hybrid teas. They were here when we moved into this house in April, 1995 and they were just beginning their spring flush. None of them were labelled, but they were all fragrant. It was a real treat to have roses on the dinner table. I'd never gardened before though I'd grown more than my share of house plants. I started going to the nursery and buying more plants, just a few to start. Once I got started, I couldn't stop. I recall one winter Sunday when I was in the front yard with loppers and a shovel, dressed for the rain that was pouring down, removing some nameless, bloomless green shrubs. My husband thought I was nuts. I probably was.
I joined the rose society that year and started exhibiting. And spraying. And spraying. And spraying. It took a couple of years and many disappointments after judging before I admitted to myself that I'd never amount to much on that front. I have a husband and two children and I'd much prefer that the time I spend in the garden be more pleasurable than donning protective gear and fighting a mostly losing, and surely toxic, battle against pest and pestilence. I decided that my purpose for growing roses was to enjoy them in the garden, on my table, and to give to friends, not to win awards at shows. I became active in online rose forums and met some very knowledgeable and helpful people. I visited some of their gardens in my travels. Many of those gardens contained ogr's, old garden roses, a term I have come to dislike because it lumps dozens of classes into one, most having little similarity to one another. If these classes of roses must be lumped together, I prefer the term heritage roses.
I continue to exhibit which still disappoints me to an extent, not because I don't win, but because there are so few classes for the kinds of roses I now grow.
When I stopped spraying, I quickly identified the hemophiliacs in my collection, the ones covered with various mildews, rust, or blackspot. Yes, Virginia, we have blackspot in Sandy Eggo. Virtually every hybrid tea that I bought because it was a proven trophy winner got tossed or given away. They're mostly gone now in favor of varieties that are naturally cleaner and more disease-resistant. To my surprise and delight, some of the cleanest varieties in my garden now are heritage roses.
Many of the roses in my garden now are Chinas, Teas, Noisettes, Polyanthas, and Shrubs. I have tried and failed with a couple of once-blooming Gallicas. I've not grown any Albas or Centifolias, it simply doesn't get cold enough here in the winter for roses in those classes to perform as they do where there are real winters. Besides, in a climate where one can have blooms 365 days a year, why waste precious garden space on a once-bloomer? I also have a few Bourbons, Hybrid Perpetuals, and a Portland or two but many roses in these classes don't even come close to the disease-resistance of the Chinas, Teas, and Noisettes.
Noisettes and Tea-Noisettes are the some of the most graceful plants in my garden. Lest you be put off at the thought of pronouncing such a name, it's really simple, 'nwah-zet.' Vintage Gardens in Sebastopol (www.vintagegardens.com) describes Noisettes as follows, "Originating with an 1802 Musk-China cross by John Champneys of Charleston ('Champneys' Pink Cluster'), this group combined the broad shrubby habit and scented large clusters of flowers seen in the Musk Rose with the pink coloring, larger flowers and continuous bloom of the Chinas. Dozens of these old Noisette roses have been discovered in the South and West where they thrive, sometimes the differences being rather slight. This group gained its name from the French nurseryman brothers, the Noisettes, who took Champneys' seedlings back to Europe and bred extensively from them with Tea roses. We have separated this group of hybrids out and given them their own section in this catalogue, the Tea-Noisettes. Most of the old Noisettes are remarkably similar and represent a group that could be utilized for this uniformity, as in a hedge."
'Mary Washington', a white Noisette, is a trooper here. The flowers are tinged with the softest pink and are quite fragrant. It makes a nice bushy shrub. The cognoscenti among ogres (old garden rose enthusiasts) think it is the same variety as the found rose, 'Placerville White Noisette'. 'Nastarana' has small white flowers, tinged with pink. It is extremely fragrant with beautifully clean foliage.
Here is what Vintage Gardens has to say about Tea-Noisettes. "We take the liberty here of introducing a class that is widely recognized and understood, yet which fails to fit into any of the standard texts on roses, and has never officially been recognized by the American Rose Society. The original group of Noisette roses, introduced in South Carolina in the early 19th century, were derived from the old Musk Rose and exhibited the same shrubby, cluster-flowering, upright character of that old cultivar. These Noisettes were taken to France and crossed with Tea roses which altered their character completely, creating a race of repeat blooming climbing roses with large flowers in small clusters. In growth habit and flower form these have much affinity with climbing Tea roses. We feel that the gardener will come to a clearer understanding of them by seeing them separated out from the older group of Noisettes. The Tea-Noisettes are perhaps the best group of repeat flowering climbing roses that can be grown, deriving their remontancy from the Musk Rose, their colors and scents from the Teas."
A couple of Tea-Noisettes perform wonderfully in my University City garden.' Mme. Alfred Carriere' (carry-air) is a large, free-standing shrub, covered with clean foliage, rarely if ever bothered by bugs, and boasting a bounteous spring bloom of soft, white, fragrant flowers. The plant constantly has some blooms on it and is a joy to behold at the top of my bank. 'Fellemberg' is a less graceful, though just as floriferous, variety, displaying double magenta-colored blooms in sprays year-round. It has impeccably clean foliage. Vintage Gardens classifies this as a Tea/Noisette, the ARS calls it a China. I don't much care what it's called, as long as it keeps performing in my garden. 'Cinderella' is a less well-known Noisette that is wonderful here, despite the fact that it's still in a 5-gallon can 2 years after arrival. It has creamy white very double blooms that are richly fragrant, on a graceful plant with clean foliage. A couple of other Tea-Noisettes worth growing are 'Crepuscule', a wonderful yellow-blend; 'Elie Beauvilain', a lovely, fragrant pink-blend; and 'William Allen Richardson', a soft yellow. All are fragrant and quite disease-resistant.
Each of these roses will grow to 7-8' around and tall, perhaps a bit bigger. Some, like 'Fellemberg', don't mind being kept smaller and won't sulk if you prune it to keep it in bounds in a smaller garden.
Vintage Gardens is the premier supplier on the west coast of heritage roses. They have the widest selection though not all are available in inventory at all times. The owners are both extremely knowledgeable about these classes and I trust their descriptions and classifications before I trust any other vendor or the ARS. But ARS classifications are another story entirely and, unfortunately, worth an article all their own.
"Teas are generally more robust roses in the same style as the Chinas. They are rarely out of flower here in California; a bonus is their beautiful wood and new growth, which comes in many subtle shades from plum to bronze to chartreuse. The flowers are likewise an Impressionest's palette of tones, shades, and blends; cream, light yellow, every imaginable pink, copper, apricot, ivory. All are very, very fragrant, often with a scent some describe as that of tea leaves. Teas and Chinas nod their flowers. This is a plus: a well-grown shrub of five feet holds its flowers toward the onlooker, and takes its place gracefully in the garden. Teas are the roses for California and the South. Tea roses, like the Hybrid Perpetuals, have a long history of hybridization, a history that ultimately led to their creating the Hybrid Teas. Their habits of growth not surprisingly vary considerably, though all share a similarity of foliage, the tendency to push new growth from every possible place, like the Chinas, and a desire to grow year round which they will do if the weather allows them." Vintage Gardens website.
Of the tea roses, some of the cleanest are the Cochets. 'Maman Cochet', 'Niles Cochet', 'White Maman Cochet' and their climbing sports. In a variety of soft whites through blush pinks to deep pink, all are intensely fragrant and reliable rebloomers. 'Catherine Mermet' is one of the first Teas I grew and it reliably offers soft peach-tinted pink blooms with great fragrance. 'Duchesse de Brabant' is a light pink that was favored by Teddy Roosevelt as a boutonniere. Clementina Carbonieri is a variety that has recently come back into more wide distribution, described by Vintage thusly, "certainly the most richly colored Tea rose of all; deep golden apricot flowers are tinted salmon-rose, flowers and petals quite large. Very fragrant, making a robust and rounded plant." 'Mons. Tillier' is another very fragrant Tea rose which has fragrant, pink to salmon-pink blooms. 'Rosette Delizy's' flowers are classed as a yellow blend, but that doesn't do them justice, the petals have a soft yellow throat fading to white with pink edging. For those who appreciate blends, this one's killer. 'Mme. Berkeley''s blooms are a yellow-blend with pink and white tones on an extremely clean and floriferous plant.
Chinas are perhaps some of the most derided plants by modern rose afficianados. Granted, they sometimes are a bit gangly but placed in the right spot, they will never be out of bloom. Without question, the best China in my garden is 'Louis Philippe'. Its red blend blooms are almost iridescent, the fragrance is wonderful, and it's clean as a whistle.
"Twiggy, smooth-wooded plants that seemingly put flowers out of every joint and crevice. Most are compact and short to moderate growers. Flowers come in white, pink, and a hundred shades of cherry crimson, the colors intensifying with passing days. A few, bearing Tea rose blood, are shaded with apricot and yellow. In introducing our "Mystery" Chinas, we would do well to warn the collector that we merely pass these on as they come to us, trying to avoid what appear to be obvious duplicates. Even those red and pink Chinas which we offer with "official" names may not be what they are believed to be. Nonetheless, this group of roses is so exceptional in the garden, and there are such charming variations, we cannot recommend them too highly! Chinas are very twiggy growers which seem capable of putting new growth on from any given point on the plant, and can have dormant growth buds between leaves, on peduncles, even at the base of old flowers. Nearly every new growth ends in flower, hence the exceptionally continuous flowering of Chinas." Vintage Gardens website.
'Gloire des Rosamanes', aka 'Red Robin,' used to be used as an understock but it is more than worthy of a place of its own. It produces gorgeous red single-petal blooms with white flecks and bright yellow stamens, and a fragrance to make you swoon. No collection of Chinas would be complete without 'Mutabilis', the multi-colored flowers change colors as they age and fall cleanly when they're spent. 'Viridiflora', aka 'The Green Rose', has been reclassed by the ARS for some unfathomable reason as a species. It is not. It is a China and you either love it or hate it. There are a couple of different clones of it out there and I am told by a district judge that the only one that gets on the trophy table is the darker green clone available at Sequoia Nursery, (www.sequoianursery.biz). It makes a great cut flower, lasting over a week in the vase. 'Archduke Charles' is another pink-red blend that blooms reliably and cleanly and offers outstanding fragrance. 'Old Blush' is an exceedingly fragrant light pink China, "one of the four seminal roses introduced from Asia to Europe at the end of the eighteenth century," Vintage Gardens says. It makes a clean plant about 4' up and around.
This piece was to have included polyanthas but I think it's already too long. Maybe next time. The Vintage website has wonderful illustrations of each class showing relative plant sizes. It's a great resource for information on heritage roses. Many of the varieties I've named here are available there as well as at Sequoia Nursery. I've purchased many dozens of plants from both and recommend them without reservation. And NONE of these roses require spraying.
Sniff away.
