Antique/Historical Roses

One of the reasons I grow roses is because fragrant flowers make me swoon, and fragrant roses are totally irresistable. It takes a fair amount of research to find modern roses that are fragrant, but it's much easier with the very old roses.

So far, these are all own root plants, and the oldest went in late last year. So they are mostly babies, though Sombreuil has done very well this year, after a rather late start. Next year they'll all be much better, and hopefully, so will the pictures!

This is Sombreuil, which is a pillar rose, or a short climber. It's a tea, and opens flat and quartered. I planted it to grow over an arbored gate, and if it makes as much ground next year as it did this, the gate should begin to look much better dressed. The catalogues list it as creamy white, but this one seems to show a flushed center quite regularly. We'll see how it looks next year.

Here is Eugene de Beauharnais, a china rose. It is unbelievably fragrant, but I'm afraid I haven't given it a place it likes and may have to move it. It has bloomed continuously nonetheless, but I think it would be happier with more sun.

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