The Fall and Rise in the Popularity of Roses

In the 1960s and 1970s many British gardeners devoted entire beds to Hybrid Tea and Floribunda roses. Grown in straight lines they were given regular doses of every chemical on the market to keep black spot, powdery mildew and greenfly at bay. Rose gardens everywhere were bursting with colour from June to November. But for six months of the year all that was evident were bare sticks protruding from the soil.

Reasons Why the Popularity of the Rose Declined

The rapidly increasing band of garden designers jumped on this rather important flaw in the garden-worthy qualities of Britain’s favourite flower. This together with many new introductions of shrubs and especially herbaceous perennials led to the decline in the sale of rose bushes.

The trend in the 1980s was for total gardening. Trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs were all grown in harmony in the same bed, giving year round interest from their flowers, fruits and foliage, which, as an important bonus, covered the ground thereby helping to control weeds.

The Popularity of the Rose has Seen a Revival

Nostalgia has Played a Part

So what has driven the resurgence of the rose? A nostalgic yearning for the past means old roses including Gallicas, which are the oldest garden roses and originally grown by Greeks and Romans, are once again highly valued. ‘Belle De Crecy’ is one of the best, carrying abundant richly fragrant rich cerise-pink well-formed flowers.

The damasks are another very old group thought to have come from the Middle East. They are often paler than the Gallicas and wonderfully scented as typified in the loosely double, clear pink flowers of ‘Quatre Saisons’ (Rose of the Four Seasons).

Dating back to the Middle ages the Albas are tough, durable and beautifully scented. ‘Queen of Denmark’ has large, beautifully-formed soft glowing pink, old world scented flowers. Its robust constitution epitomizes the Albas.

The Main Reason for Renewed Interest in Roses

These venerable old timers are not the main reason for the renewed popularity of the rose although they have had considerable influence of a sexual nature.

Certain old roses have been crossed with modern Hybrid teas, and Floribundas and introduced by David Austin Roses. Known as English Roses these crosses combine the delicate charm and fragrance of old roses with the wide colour range, repeat flowering and disease resistance of modern roses. These roses have natural, shrubby growth, which makes them ideal plants for the mixed border. Varieties such as ‘Gertrude Jekyll’, with its rich pink fragrant blooms and the large flowered ‘Golden Celebration’ are highly regarded examples of English Roses.

Other Groups of Roses Have Seen a Revival in Popularity

Many other groups of rose including Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, Ground cover and Patio roses have got on board the rose revival train. The upturn in fortunes of the Royal National Rose Society (which just a few years ago seemed destined for oblivion) is evidence of Britain’s borne again love affair with the rose.

The Society’s recently redeveloped gardens are at St Albans in Hertfordshire.