Rose of Driftwood

Antique Roses

Antique Roses - Technically, roses hybridized before 1868 are "Old Garden Roses", but a lot of old roses fall into the looser "Antique" category.

They are oftentimes grown on their own roots - if they ever freeze back, they will come back true to variety.

If you have any questions about a particular variety, e-mail me, and I'll be happy to help you if I can.

The word after the name of the rose tells what rose family it belongs to, and the date after that tells when it was introduced or found.

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	Ballerina - Hybrid Musk - 1937 - Ballerina bears large clusters of small, single, light pink blooms. It can be pruned as a medium sized shrub, but it really likes to grow 4 or 5 feet tall and wide. It blooms mainly in the spring and fall, with scattered summer blooms. It also makes decorative hips. It is very disease resistant, and somewhat shade tolerant. It is a lovely rose to use in cottage gardens.	zones 6-9
	Caldwell Pink - Found Polyantha - Introduction date unknown - This is a great landscape shrub that was collected in Caldwell, Texas. It stays about three feet tall and wide, and bears medium sized,very double, pompom-shaped, pink blooms constantly. Very disease resistant. It would make a nice container plant. They are a slightly lighter pink than the picture.	zones 6-9
	Cecile Brunner - Polyantha - 1881 - Possibly the most well known of antique roses, Cecile Brunner bears small, perfectly formed, light pink blooms. She grows 3 to 4 feet tall and blooms throughout the year. There is also a climbing sport that was introduced in 1894. It is extremely vigorous.	zones 5-9
	Clotilde Soupert - Polyantha - 1890 - This rose is very double, sweetly fragrant, and blooms all the time. As far as I'm concerned, it comes pretty close to being the perfect rose. The bush grows about three and a half feet tall and almost as wide. The color varies from being very pink to being white with just a hint of pink. In damp weather, the buds sometimes ball.	zones 6-9
	All right, folks. I am not sure that this is Cramoisi Superier or Louis Philippe. Apparently most rosarians scream and run if asked to differentiate between the two. Names aside, this is a great rose. It's a red china with a lighter center, very double and cupped, and blooms almost non-stop throughout the year. It is fragrant, and the buds are especially good for drying for potpourri. It grows 3 to 5 feet tall and wide.	zones 7-10
	Duchesse de Brabant - Tea - 1857 - This rose bears clear pink, very fragrant, medium sized flowers. It grows 4 to 6 feet tall. The blooms often hang down, so that when it is mature you can look up at them. It blooms all season long. My personal all-time favorite.	zones 7-10
	The Fairy - Polyantha - 1932 - This is one hard working little bush. It grows to 3 feet high and 4 feet wide, and bears clusters of 1" medium pink flowers constantly. The blooms bleach to almost white in the hot summer sun. It is an excellent container plant, and looks especially nice in whiskey barrels.	zones 5-9
	Fortune's Double Yellow - Miscellaneous Old Garden Rose - Discovered in 1845 - This is a climber. It is covered every spring with medium sized, semi-double, pale yellow flowers oftentimes bordered with pink. They are sweetly fragrant. It looks just like a sunset - it is a truly breathtaking sight. My neighbors have had one for years, and every spring, people from all over the neighborhood come to look at it. It climbs from 12 to 15 feet tall, or it can be used as a 5 by 5 foot messy bush. It has very grabby thorns, and is only hardy to zone 8. Because it only blooms in the spring, it is a good rose to plant other climbing plants with.	zones 8-9
	Katy Road Pink - Found Shrub - Introduction date unknown - This rose was found on Katy Road in Houston, Texas. It bears hot pink, semi-double flowers all year long, followed by hips. It will produce the most flowers if you pick off the hips after each blooming cycle. The flowers are large, up to 5 inches across, and fragrant. The bush can grow from 4 to 7 tall, and as wide. My neighbor's bush is about 6' by 6' right now, and when it's covered with huge hot pink flowers, it is pretty impressive.	zones 5-9
	Madame Isaac Pereire - - 1881 - This rose has very large blooms packed with petals, and it is very fragrant. It also has heavy-duty, unforgiving thorns. This bush is an excellent candidate for pegging, since it grows up to seven feet tall, no matter how hard you prune it :-).	zones 5-9
	Maggie - Found - This rose is very fragrant, and is one of the most reliable repeat blooming s. The bloom is a soft crimson, and very double. It grows from 4 to 8 feet tall, and is hard to kill with a lawnmower. (Ask me how I know!) I've also been told that it withstands being eaten by horses.	zones 6-10
	Marie Pavie - Polyantha - 1888 - This is a charming little rose that bears clusters of fragrant, medium sized (2 inch) flowers all season long. the buds start out pink, and open to almost white. The flowers are double, but open flat to expose their yellow stamens. It grows about 4 feet high, and 3 feet wide. It is shade tolerant, and nearly thornless.	zones 5-9
	Martha Gonzales - Found China - This cheerful little rose is very dense and compact, and bears bright red flowers all season. It grows 2 to 3 feet tall, and is invaluable for landscaping.	zones 7-10
	Mermaid - Hybrid Braceata - 1918 - This is a very vigorous climber, with monster thorns - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! :-) It bears large, single yellow flowers with prominent orange-gold stamens. Depending on sun exposure, the yellow will vary from sulpher yellow to almost white. It blooms heavily in late spring, with scattered flowers through the summer and fall. It is excellent for growing over eyesores, old buildings, sheds, etc.	zones 7-9
	Mevrouw Nathalie Nypels - Polyantha - 1919 - This is a very nicely shaped, compact little bush that grows to 3 feet tall and wide. The flowers are semi-double, dark to medium pink, produced in clusters, and sweetly fragrant. It blooms all season, and would do well in containers.	zones 5-9
	Mrs. Dudley Cross - Tea - 1907 - This is a very well-know rose, and for good reason. It blooms regularly, bearing large, double, fragrant, creamy yellow flowers edged with pink (the amount of pink varies with how much sun it gets). It is thornless, and grows 3 to 5 feet tall.	zones 7-10
	Mutabilis - China - before 1894 - This rose is also known as the butterfly rose, because the blossoms change colors as they age. The single blooms start out yellow, turn pink, and end up red. The bush often bears blooms in all different stages so that it looks like a group of butterflies perched all over the bush. The bush grows 4 to 5 feet high by 6 or 7 feet wide, and is in bloom just about all season.	zones 6-10
	Penelope - Hybrid Musk - 1924 - This rose bears charming white/cream/pink flowers, oftentimes in clusters. The blooms are sweetly scented, and it also makes hips. The bush is very chunky, and grows up to six feet tall and wide.	zones 6-9
	Perle d'Or - Polyantha - Almost exactly like Cecile Brunner, except that the color is more apricot than pink - However, the degree of apricot varies with sun and heat. It blooms all season long, and is really covered with blooms in the spring and fall. It grows about 4 feet tall, and is slightly fragrant.	zones 6-9
	Sombreuil - Climbing Tea - 1850 - This rose climbs 8 to 12 feet, and has very double, creamy white flowers. The petal placement on these is just incredible! The flowers are very flat, and are also fragrant. It is a repeat bloomer.	zones 6-10
	Souvenir de la Malmaison - - 1843 - The flowers on this rose are just gorgeous! There are many shell pink petals all packed in there, and the fragrance is wonderful. (Can you tell I like this rose?) The bush grows 3 to 4 feet tall, and about that wide. It is a reliable repeat bloomer. There is also a climbing sport of this rose that climbs to 12 feet tall.	zones 6-9
	Veilchenblau - Hybrid Multiflora - 1909 - This rose you either love or hate. Several of my friends love it. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I really don't care for it, however, every now and then, the color is just right. At such times, I would swear that it is one of the most beautiful roses in the world. It is a nearly thornless climber that bears small, purplish-blue flowers with prominent yellow stamens. They are usually borne in huge clusters in the springtime. It grows to 10 or 12 feet long. It is one of the few violet blooming roses, and very effective when planted with white or light colored roses.	zones 6-9

• Antique roses are hybrids, but old ones. The hybridizers back then were more interested in garden worthy shrubs than huge flowers. As a result, these old hybrids are in general more disease resistant, and less fussy than the modern hybrids. For the first year or so, they appreciate being watered about once a week until they get well established. After that, they still appreciate a drink once in a while especially if you have hot, dry summers.
• In general, the best time to plant roses is in the spring or fall. Fall is an especially good time in the south, where the winters are mild, because it gives the roses time to be growing roots without trying to put out foliage, too.
• If you are new to antique roses, I highly recommend that you read a book called "The Organic Rose Garden" by Liz Druitt. It goes over a lot of the basic care for old roses, as well as having a section with descriptions and pictures of a lot of the different varieties. It is especially helpful for those gardening in southern areas, as it is written from a southern perspective.
• Click on this link for some more specific details about rose care: Care for Antique Roses

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