Rose(s) of the Month-  July 2004
by Deborah Haydock

Old Glory

Why grow Old Garden Roses?  I love their form, powerful fragrance, and the dramatic statement they make in the June garden.  The fact that they have survived the test of time is a tremendous testament to their strength and beauty.

The following three old garden roses are all top-rated by the American Rose Society and are large shrubs.  I enjoy these more than my small ogr's as they really put out the color and fragrance and are breathtaking in full display.  You can never "look down" on any of them...

For those of you who don't grow ogr's because many only bloom once a year, please consider your garden without tulips, lilacs, irises, and most other perennials, all of whom bloom for only a few weeks but whose breathtaking graces we never question.

Ogr's take a few years to mature; in my garden they have reached their prime in about 3 years.  So be patient and you will be vastly rewarded!

Alika, Madame Zoetmans, and Henri Martin

Alika
Hybrid Gallica,1906.
ARS rating: 8.8
Summary:  An absolute winner of a large, fragrant shrub, with single, dramatic fragrant flowers, for the larger garden.

If I were forced to pick among them, Alika would be my favorite old garden rose.  Oddly, it is almost impossible to find her described in any of my rose books (I must not have the best books!).  She is not for the small garden, growing easily over 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide.  In her maturity, she will take on a strong, graceful vase shape.  Alika is laden with deep pink, almost crimson flowers with dramatic yellow stamens.  The flowers are not only bold and beautiful, measuring up to 3" across, but are exceptionally fragrant. 

Alika's foliage is medium green and about as disease-resistant as any rose can be (she has never been sprayed in my yard, and with the exception of a few holes in lower leaves, looks magnificent).  She seems to bloom all at once, giving quite a bold look, but the blooms keep coming over a period of several weeks. On my bush, I dare say she had close to a hundred blooms which open a deep, almost maroon pink, and fade slightly to a vibrant pink.  She is a must for rose growers smitten with that innocent single-rose look, but who also want a dramatic and fragrant shrub to grace their landscape.

Removing spent flowers or mulching around her, with the highly fragrant damask rose, Mme. Zoetmans nearby, is like spending a day in the Garden of Eden.  Beware, though--you may have to pass a few on to friends, as Alika (mine having been grafted onto rootstock) has a tendency to sucker, each tiny sprout coming up covered with blooms!  (P.S. -- If any ogr growers out there would like to give Alika a try, I have a few of these babies to give you.  Write me at earthsong59@aol.com).

Madame Zoetmans
Damask, 1830.
ARS rating:  8.7
Summary:  A squarish shaped, large shrub piled with pink to white, extremely fragrant flowers with dense petals, with that lovely old rose shape.

Smaller in size than Alika but still considered a large shrub, Mme. Zoetmans grows to about 6 feet tall, though she is about 4 feet in my garden and about as wide.  Her dense branches are immersed with dozens of small to medium, densely stacked flowers, with the exquisite swirling pattern characteristic of the old garden rose.  The smallish flowers open an innocent blush pink and fade to white, with a clean, sweet, lemon-tinted fragrance that will make you swoon.  Like Alika, I have never sprayed her, and the lovely mid-green foliage is next to perfect.  There is some yellowing on lower branches which don't get the sun, due to the tremendous density of branches and flowers.  Mme. Zoetmans is a cousin to Madame Hardy, another famous damask rose.

Zoetmans is for the romantic and more relaxed gardener, not the precise type.  She grows lavishly, extravagantly, and needs some staking to keep the dozens of branches from tipping to the ground.  When her voluminous petals finally drop, she creates a blanket of fragrant mulch, like a snow dusting in June.  Even one blossom in a tiny bowl is a statement of great beauty, but it is easy to collect many for fragrant vase collections over the course of her several-week bloom in June.  No bug has seemed to care for eating her foliage, and I think perhaps they are not fond of her intense damask perfume.  When her last blossom concluded its show, I felt that pang of grief of saying goodbye to a cherished friend for another year.  If you are a fragrance buff, don't miss out on this lovely lady, or give Madame Hardy a try and let's compare notes.

Henri Martin
Moss, 1862.
ARS rating: 8.7
Summary:  A squarish shrub, packed with deep crimson, fragrant flowers of camellia
shape, with a long bloom time.

It is almost July as I write, and Henri Martin is still blooming his heart out.  A shape similar to that of Zoetmans above, he is 3 feet tall in my garden (can grow to 5 or 6 feet apparently), and about as wide.  My bush is laden with vibrant, crimson blooms (in fact, quite similar to Alika's color, and the two roses look great planted as neighbors).  These gorgeous, intensely-colored flowers open to look like frilly camellias.  The mossing (fuzzy growth on sepals and calyx) is moderate but attractive.  Rayford Clayton Reddell writes in The Rose Bible, "Henri Martin is famed for its color, as pure crimson as you can imagine."

I have had these vibrant pink/red blooms for weeks now with no sign of quitting yet.  As with my other shrubs described here, I have had no issues with the foliage, no blackspot, and rarely a bug seems to like it.  This is not true of all ogr's, however, as my Alba Semi-plena attracts every flying critter in the yard.

In summary, if you want large, fragrant, beautiful shrubs in June, and vases with fragrant flowers to grace your home, consider the old garden roses.  Disease resistance and winter hardiness (don't even worry about winter protecting) are additional bonuses.  You will be bridging the gap between yesterday and tomorrow by planting these beauties in your garden today.