Hybrid Perpetual Roses
No one really knows who the parents of these roses are, but it is most likely a mixture of Noisettes, Bourbons, Teas and Portlands. They were very popular during the later part of the 1800's, during Queen Victoria's reign. Considered to be the precursor to the modern rose, Hybrid Perpetuals are hardy and vigorous plants with large, fragrant blooms in shades of white, pink and maroon. They are repeat flowering, blooming in late spring or early summer and again in the autumn. They are not the best garden performers, being a little too tall and upright to be very attractive in the garden. They are heavy feeders and do need to be pruned vigorously to about 1/2 of their size.
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Examples of Hybrid Perpetual roses:
- Baroness Rothschild
- Ferdinand Pichard
- Frau Karl Druschki
An ancient rose that was native to the Orient, Rugosa roses seem to have it all. Very disease and pest resistant, they are extremely hardy with a vigorous growth habit of up to 8 feet. They have a slight fragrance with purplish flowers that turn into large, red, showy hips in the fall. They are repeat flowering and easy to grow, needing hardly any attention at all other that a minimal pruning to remove old and weak wood.
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Examples of Rugosa roses:
- Blanc Double de Coubert
- Hansa Fru
- Dagmar Hastrup
- Sarah van Fleet
- Mrs Anthony Waterer
- Pink Grootendorst
Westerners discovered China Roses around the late 1700's. Because they flowered in early summer and again in the fall, they were a great improvement over most of the roses that were available at that time. They are not showy roses and not very hardy either. They like a moist, humus soil and have a light and twiggy growth habit that will reach 2 to 3 feet in height. They are repeat bloomers, but the pink and red blooms are small and not fragrant.
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Examples of China roses:
- Hermosa
- Old Blush China
Tea roses are the forerunners of our modern Hybrid Teas, originating from a cross between a China rose and various Bourbons and Noisettes. These very tender roses bloom throughout the summer and into the fall and as one might imagine have a distinctive tea fragrance. The full, large flowers come in shades of white, pink and yellow. They only like to be pruned lightly.
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Examples of Tea roses:
- Anna Oliver
- The Bride
- Catherine Mermet
Cultivated sometime before 1811 from a cross between the China rose and a climbing Musk Rose, they were the first hybrid rose group to originate in North America. Blooming in shades of white, pink, red, and yellow they are climbers, growing to a height of 20 feet or more. They are not very hardy but they are repeat blooming through the summer and into the fall and have a nice tea rose fragrance.
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Examples of Noisette roses:
- Blush Noisette
- Mme Alfred Carriere
- Bouquet d'Or
