Types of Rose

English flower gardens today abound with the scent and colour from a variety of different roses. They have a combination of the best attributes of old roses as well as the best of modern Hybrid Teas and Floribundas. They are able to tolerate English wet weather conditions. As well as being scented, English roses have a wide range of colour, old fashioned shape, flower repeatedly and are resistant to disease.

Medicinal Properties of the Rose

The rose is often used for medicinal purposes. First recorded in the 13th century, the apothecary rose, R. gallica officinalis was used to produce jellies, oils, powder and as a curative for a number of illnesses. In comparison, it may by surprising to know that during the 17th century the demand for roses and rose oil was so high it was considered to be legal tender, (it takes something in the region of 10-15,000 blooms to make just 11g of rose oil).

Tussie Mussies, also spelled Tuzzie Muzzie, date back to Elizabethan times. They were originally small posies of fragrant flowers and herbs thought to have been carried to overpower obnoxious smells. Victorian men often sent Tussie Mussies made up of roses to communicate devotion, love and trust. Different colour roses had different meanings, for example red roses signified love, and light pink meant admiration and white and red for unity. Tussie Mussies are often used to signify anniversaries; for example 6 roses signify a 6 month relationship anniversary or perhaps a 6th wedding anniversary, and of course florists are inundated for orders for red roses for suitors to declare their undying love on Valentine’s Day.

Today it is common for people and prominent organisations in the public eye to have roses named after them; for example the floribunda rose, Queen Elizabeth, produced by Harkness Roses in 1954 and ‘Harnova’, created to celebrate the centenary of the Girl Guides Association in the UK.

Types of Rose

Throughout history figures of note have been passionate about this beautiful flower. Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte was a devotee of the rose. At the time of her death, in 1814, her rose garden at the Palace of Malmaison outside Paris was thought to have over 250 different types of rose. Some of the different types of rose available today include:

Damask roses, which are not found in the wild, are derived from Rosa X damascene. Traditionally, it is said that the name comes from the word ‘ Damascus’ and that the rose was originally brought back by the Crusaders but this is open to debate.

Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist, named the Albas roses. Alba refers to the colour of the flower, which is white, cream, blush or pink but never deep, intense colours.

Moss roses have dense moss-like bristles or sticky green hairs covering the outside of the flowers and the stems and the sticky substance is secreted by glands in the plant.

Tea roses were named because their scent was supposed to resemble the smell from a newly opened chest of tea. Originally cultivated in China, the hybrids of the original tea roses were an important factor in developing pale yellow characteristics within the flower. Guillot, a French breeder, developed Hybrid Teas by crossing a Tea rose with a Hybrid Perpetual. Hybrid Teas have two separate flowering seasons and now form the mainstream of modern rose groups. Floribundas produce clusters of flowers over a long flowering season. Crossing Hybrid Teas with Hybrid Polyanthas creating floribundas, a type of rose which is excellent for cutting and many of which are perfumed.

Hybrid Perpetuals were developed in the 1820s. First called Hybrid Remontant, Hybrid Perpetuals are a rose that flowers twice, thus extending the flowering season.

Crossing the Japanese rose, Rosa polyantha and a China rose created Polyanthas, although the exact Chinese rose is unknown.

Sources

• Harkness Roses
• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Kew Gardens online
• Rose-gardening-made-easy.com