'What's in a name? That which we call a rose; By any other name would smell as sweet.'
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2 scene 2
Roses have a long and colorful history, in fact according to fossil evidence, the rose has a 35 million year history. Today, with over 30,000 varieties of roses in production, roses have the most intricate genealogy of any known flower species.
In line with their prehistoric ancestry, roses are intricately involved in many of our histories and societies. As an emblem, the rose has been, and still is, depicted as part of many national crests. It's been adopted by a myriad of political alliances, and even international business has embraced its form on occasions.
'It was roses, roses all the way.'
- Robert Browning
England, for one, has always had a close affinity with the rose.
During the Wars of the Roses, fought in 15th century England, the then king, Henry VI of Lancaster had the red Apothecar's rose, Rosa gallica officinalis, as his emblem, whilst his opponent, Richard, Duke of York, sported the white rose, Rosa alba as the emblem of his House of York.
No other bloom experiences the same high esteem that the rose enjoys. In temperate climates, roses are more widely grown than any other decorative plant, and as cut flowers they are never out of vogue.
Today, the English garden rose is enjoying a renaissance thanks to an English rose hybridizer and breeder named David Austin. Through an intensive breeding program, Austin has bred what are probably the most highly scented roses available at any price. This new breed of 'English Garden Roses' isn't actually recognized as a new class of rose at all though, because these roses are in fact a hybrid, developed by crossing the 'Old Garden Roses' with the more modern Hybrid tea and floribundas.
Unfortunately, so many roses, in recent years, have been bred for their visual appeal alone, with fragrance a forgotten quality, and modern gardeners have often asked that growers return to developing roses which are once again perfumed.
These new English roses have flowers that are suggestive of the classic gallica and damask roses with the added attraction of flowering repeatedly during the summer. They also benefit from a much wider and more modern color range. They have a larger head, more petals and a lot more fragrance than your typical rose and are often grown as a large full bodied bush.
Unfortunately these roses have poor disease resistance and are not the hardiest of roses either. Many of them suffer from the same plant disorders as those which affect the modern Hybrid tea and floribunda roses. Despite these limitations, Austin's English roses have been taken to the hearts of rose growers worldwide, and many nurseries now have licenses to both grow and market them internationally.
Keith Berwick is a rose growing enthusiast who has been growing roses both professionally and for pleasure for over 40 years and enjoys helping others to get started in this rewarding hobby. For more great information on the English garden rose, visit www.rosecaretoptips.com
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