When looking for roses in next year’s garden, try an heirloom rose. These are older roses (many shrub roses) which the hybrid teas replaced in the last 30 years for their long blooming time. However, many of the older roses have a hardiness and disease resistance that can not be beaten. They also have odd colors that stand out and an old history of the family they are in.
I remember my Grandmother was in a rose club in Winner. Her house on Polk Street was surrounded by roses and climbing roses many I assume are now heirloom roses and never had a problem with winter kill.
For instance, the Apothecary’s rose is the oldest cultivated rose going back to the Crusades. The red color symbolizes the blood of the Christian martyrs. The petals were dried and rolled in beads which became the rosary.
Damask roses are an old variety of highly fragrant roses, usually pinkish in colors, used for fragrance in early French perfumes. A true shrub rose with double flowers.
La France rose is noted as being the first developed hybrid tea rose. Hybrid teas have a big single flower on each branch.
There are some nurseries online that specialize in heirloom roses.
