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Roses
For Noses
21 April 2003
The garden centres are well stocked with containerised
and container grown roses. There is a difference.
The former have been potted
up during the past winter. If they are not carefully
removed from their container when planting the
compost will fall off leaving you with bare
roots. For years the bush roses have dominated
the market but recently
more and more old and new varieties of shrub,
rambler and climbing roses have become available.
These are the roses of times past when perfume
was everything. ‘Comte de Chambord’
is a Portland rose growing to 5 ft high with
mid-pink double flowers throughout the summer
and a fragrance all of its own.
 The
old moss roses have lost their popularity which
is a shame as they are unique in looks and fragrance.
’Muscosa’ dates from the seventeenth
century with mossy flower stems and sepals.
It grows to
7 ft high with double, soft pink flowers for
two months of the summer. Rose ‘Trigintipetala’
is older than some hills. Its origins are lost
in the mists of time but has been grown since
before Christianity for the manufacture of Attar
of Roses perfume. It is a Damask species
with soft pink flowers.
 ‘Blush
Noisette’ is almost two hundred years
old and is still in demand. Given support it
will climb to 12-15 ft. The pale pink flowers
open from crimson buds.The flowers appear throughout
the summer and into early winter when they are
a deeper pink. The perfume makes me think of
cloves. Another favourite climbing noisette
is the Old Glory Rose, ‘Gloire de Dijon’.
It will flower all summer and autumn with highly
perfumed, creamy-apricot, double flowers. Succeeding
even on a North
wall it will grow to 15 ft in height.
 One
of the best of the old rambler roses is ‘Francois
Juranville’. It will grow to 20 ft in
height, flowering in early summer. The orange-pink
flowers are fully double with a good scent.
‘Russelliana’ is better known as
the ‘Old Spanish Rose’ or ‘Russell’s
Cottage Rose’. The stiff, thorny
stems will reach 25 ft. It will succeed in the
poorest of soil providing the roots don’t
suffer from a lack of water. The unusual flowers
are often green in the centre with purple-red
petals fading to pink. The perfume is wonderful.
Of the American ramblers ‘Baltimore Belle’
with its pale pink, double flowers has the best
fragrance. Shop around, you may get more than
you bargained for.
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