Descriptions and photographs help shoppers a great deal when choosing old roses. The ideal way to find favorites and determine if a plant is suitable for its chosen location is to view plants next to others in a garden setting. For this reason, public gardens are great places to explore, get ideas, and be encouraged. There are many rose gardens, worldwide, and some specialize in heritage Victorian roses.
Visit A Grower
This is also a good way for finding particular cultivars and choosing favorites from among the very best the grower has to offer. Talk to personnel. Learn specifics about a rose and its history. Part of the charm of Victorian roses is the history of the people who have lovingly cared for them over the decades. Some of them have quite fascinating stories behind their genus and their preservation. When looking up the history of a heritage rose, try a book called Old Roses (National Trust, author Graham Murphy). This book lists many public gardens where old roses can be viewed – and not just Victorian roses, ancient genuses, too, such as the Apothecary’s rose.
Some of purest genused and most-loved Victorian era roses caringly brought along and preserved into the 21st-century by rose gardeners around the world are listed below with the date of their genus as offered by the National Trust.
A Brief Description of Victorian Roses of Note
- Adélaide d’Orléans: A rambler/climber of 1818. This rose is white with a pink cast that shines as an undertone or iridescence. Its scent is lightly floral like primrose.
- Banksiae Lutea: A rambler/climber from 1824. Its scent is sweet violets; its many-layered blossoms grow as small bouquets of light yellow that appears vintage. Its underglow is an antique-looking cream. As it climbs, clumps hang in sprays of Victorian nosegays.
- Cardin√°l de Richelieu: A Gallica rose from 1840. This spicy, fresh scented rose is intense purple with a silvery undertone.
- Chapeau de Napoleon: A Centifolia rose from 1826 is spicy, sweet. Its clean, fresh middle-hued pink, many-layered, cup-shaped blossoms lighten to blush-pink or silvery-pink near its outermost petals.
- Compte de Chambord: Is a Portland rose from 1863. Its scent is spiked sugar. Its rolled back, outer petals of antique blush-pink intensify toward the center to a light bluish-pink. This rose is an early season bloomer that continues to produce gorgeous blossoms through summer and doesn’t quit until frosts of autumn nights shut its blooming down.
- Despréz a Fleur Jaunes: A Noisette/Climber of 1826 has a fresh, fruity, floral scent. Its double blooming, triple-cast blossoms appear like a ripening peach from the underside with creamy-yellow upperside petals.
- Empress Josephine: Is a Gallica that was ‘born’ prior to 1820. Scented a bit like a creamy Chai tea latte its vibrant, lavender-pink centers fade to dusky blush-pinks at its outer, rolled petals.
- Général Jacqueminot: A Hybrid Perpetual from 1853 smells both of sweet and spice. It is a deep, velvety red flower, darker in hue than Henri Martin, and is stunningly intense in color set against vibrant green foliage.
- Henri Martin: Is a Moss rose from 1863 which has a citrus blossom scent with upper hint of pepper. A most lovely, almost perfect-shaped rose blossom amid intense red-pink buds open out to silk-looking, deep lilac-pink casting silk shine silvery pink when turned in the light.
- Madame Isaac Pereire: This Bourbon rose, from 1880, has blossoms of double rosettes scented like raspberries and cream. Silver tipped, fuschia with a yellow eye, these dramatically arranged petals appear outlined in silver when caught in the light.
- Madame Zoetman’s: A Damask rose from 1830. Scented like sandalwood, this rose inspires like the loveliest, most desirable, creamy, silk organza with buds of young, tightly held cream-colored petals tipped in antique aubergine.
- Petite Lisette: A Damask rose dating back to 1817 has a deep, musky scent. Gwenyth-pink, multi-layered rosettes swirl about, pinwheel fashion, with dark-pink tinged buds – a light, yet intense, blush color is set amid vibrant hued green foliage.
- Souvenir de Jeanne Balandreau: A Hybrid Perpetual rose from 1899, Its deep red – like Coco Chanel lipstick – is striped with white touches on lime stalks and foliage.
- Stanwell Perpetual: A Scots rose from 1838. It is perfumed like old-fashioned corsages of light mauve pink chintz. Its light-ochre eyes spread out among its petals, ready to clip from deep blue-green foliage and pin on any suitor of old time.
Victorian roses are a rare and worthy find. For information about these roses of the past and the niche of Victorian roses read: A Brief History of Victorian Era Roses, also written by Kara Smith.
Many other rare, beautiful plants worth featuring in the garden can be learned about by reading: Rare and Indigenous Bulbs Varieties: Where to Find and Reasons to Plant Rare and Exotic Bulbs also written by Kara Smith.