Brief History Of Roses & Our June Coupon

A Brief History Of Roses

The

Rosa by Redoute

renowned rose, from the genus Rosa and the family Rosaceae, has fascinated gardeners and horticulturists for eons. Roses originated in Central Asia somewhere between 60 and 70 million years ago. Fossilized species have been found in Oregon and Montana that are estimated to be 35 million years old. Our modern day roses evolved from these wild roses through a millennium of cross breeding and hybridization. Rosa Gallica, sometimes called the French Rose, is one of the oldest known identified species from the ancient world. Writings of the propagation and trading in roses go back as far as 900 BC by the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. So prized were the roses in ancient Rome that there were over 2000 public gardens documented around 400 AD. During the 18th century the China rose, Rosa Chinenis, was introduced into Europe and with its propensity of continual blooming, became a huge sensation with the breeders. Today over 100 species of roses are documented with thousand of varieties. Many varieties of the wild roses can still be found as far north as Alaska and as far south as Mexico and North Africa. (but none have been found south of the equator)

Roses can be classified into two very broad groupings.The Old Garden Roses,

including the ancient world roses, medieval roses and new world roses. Modern
Charles de Mills Gallica
Garden Roses are the roses generally found in nurseries and catalogs today.They continually bloom during the growing season and bloom on new wood. Interestingly, ancient and medieval roses would only bear on 2 year wood and then only bloomed once per season. The exception to that was the Rosa Chinenis. Most of our modern garden roses have been developed since the mid 1800's, with the ever increasing sophistication of breeding techniques and new discoveries.

There are numerous types of modern day roses. Some of the most popular today are hybrid teas, floribundas. grandiflora, polyantha, climbing and miniatures. Other types include English roses (David Austin), carpet roses and landscape or shrub roses. Each of these modern roses have been bred for color, shape, size,

Abraham Darby

habit and disease resistance. Today breeding and propagation continues to provide new forms, new colors, and characteristics that allow healthy growth in a variable cornucopia of climates. The majority of roses today are grafted onto a specific rootstock which provides increased health, vigor and habit stability. A growing trend we are now seeing in the

Rose Hips

marketplace is producing quality roses on their own roots.

Planting Tip: Find an area that provides a minimum of 4-5 hours of sun per day, digging the hole slightly larger than the pot it came in. If your soil is hard, somewhat rocky or clayish, we recommend digging the hole even larger and mix your existing soil with several shovels of good organic mulch or peat moss. We are looking for a well drained, organic soil mixture. Before planting you may want to throw a handful of bone meal into the bottom of the hole. Set the new rose in the hole and backfill with the new soil mixture. Lift the rose so that the root graft is above the soil line, or if planting with own root roses, about one inch deeper than the soil level when it was in the pot. Water in well. It would be ok to spread a handful or two of slow release organic fertilizer at this time around the plant. Work the fertilizer slightly into the top of the soil, and your done! Make sure it gets enough water the first several months and you are on your way to a healthy rose plant! Roses are a great addition to your landscape and are easy to maintain with a minimum of attention.

Click here for our rose list