Natural roses

Roses are often reserved for formal gardens, forgetting that they are originally civilized brambles that were so popular with the first gardeners that they were selected and then hybridized, to the point of arriving at cultivars that no longer have much in the way of wildness, some even have no thorns!

Natural gardeners also have their roses. Here is a selection of natural roses that are easy to find and easy to live with, without treatment, without complication.

Natural roses for a hedge

The first of all in Europe is of course the rose hip, rosa canina, which serves as a rootstock for many roses. This hardy shrub with an arching habit supports well a calcareous or heavy soil, and it even grows in the shade!

The rosehip can be used as an open hedge, associated with hazelnut or dogwood trees. In spring, its simple flowers with golden stamens are a delight. In autumn it attracts birds with its red fruits full of vitamins, do not cut them: they are a food guard for the winter!

The rough rose or rosa rugosa comes to us from Asia, more precisely the North East of China and Japan, hence its name of Japanese Rose. It is often disliked, used to roundabouts and freeway service areas on the pretext that it tolerates pollution and sea spray very well, we forget that it can make very pretty rustic hedges. Its embossed foliage is particularly covering. When not pruned, it quickly reaches a height of 1.5 to 2 meters. Its delicately scented petals are used for rotting pots. Its large fruits are also very decorative. A tip: install a plant every 1.20m and mix white and pink colors. The first two years, prune to obtain a dense hedge. If you have an oceanic climate, be careful to contain this very strong plant which is considered invasive on the coast. Calcareous soils do not suit it and make its leaves yellow.

The fruits of rosehips or Rosa rugosa are used for rose hip jam.

Natural roses for the bottom of a bed

The botanical rose Rosa glauca is perfect for the bottom of a bed. It is the only rose cultivated for its foliage! This shrub reaches 3 or 4 meters high if it is at its ease. Its foliage is wonderful at the bottom of a bed to bring out pink flowers for example. Its young leaves are purple, then they turn to metallic blue gray if the exposure is shaded, or keep their purple reflection if the exposure is sunny. Its mountainous origins make it a good candidate for dry and stony soil. Combine it with perennial geraniums and foxgloves to accentuate its country side. The English use it as a background for their rose beds in shades of pink or cream. Its small bright pink flowers are followed by small red fruits in autumn.

For a wild place we associate it with a small willow called red osier, the Salix purpurea nana.

Climbing roses

As for climbing roses, the 'New Dawn' is an easy rose that can colonize a fence or wall under its vegetal ardor. It gives off natural pearly pink flowers with a light fragrance. It blooms all summer long. This undemanding rosebush can climb to a height of almost 5 meters and can even withstand northern exposure. Place a few columbines and bistort knotweed at its feet, or mix it with a honeysuckle.

Should we bury the rose graft?

The majority of today's roses have a grafting point that many gardeners look at with suspicion when it comes to burying it. Opinions are divided on the subject...

What is the grafting point?

Today's roses are often grafted. A variety chosen for its aesthetic characteristics (beauty of the flower, abundance of the bloom, perfume...) is grafted on a resistant rootstock, which makes it possible to obtain plants offering all the qualities required to be appreciated by gardeners. The rootstock allows better resistance to cold, humidity or to a specific soil (acid pH, clay soil...) as well as to various diseases. The more vigorous the rootstock, the more likely the rose will remain healthy.

The grafting point qualifies the part where the graft has been fixed on the rootstock. It can be recognized by the bulge it forms on the stem. On classic roses, it is located a little above the collar (part corresponding to the junction between the roots and the stem). Branches are always formed after the grafting point, but sometimes it happens that the rootstock takes over and branches come out under the grafting point. It will be necessary to cut them to favour the graft.

Questions at the time of the plantation

When planting a rose, the gardener is sometimes at a loss as to where to place the graft. Some recommend to bury it, others not: it is difficult to find one's way...

Everything depends on the region and the planting period. The best time is between October and May, except in high altitude and in heavy soil where it is preferable to wait until March to favour the chances of recovery.

In mild regions and in humid soil, the rosebush should be planted with an apparent grafting point. It is not necessary to bury it. It would risk rotting.

Everywhere else, it is recommended to bury the grafting point, about 2 cm deep, in order to protect it from the cold and to avoid that the rootstock produces suckers. This is particularly valid for the frosty varieties as well as the dwarf cultivars.

Ridging will be done every week during the first two months to keep the grafting point buried. As soon as spring arrives, the protective mound can be removed. If you plant in spring as soon as all risk of frost is eliminated, it is useless to bury the grafting point especially if you live in a mild region.

Generally speaking, if your soil retains excess humidity, think of ensuring a good drainage before planting and prefer to cover the grafting point with a thick mulch of dead leaves to avoid cryptogamic diseases attacking this sensitive part especially if it is constantly bathed in mud.

Dressing the foot of the roses

Roses are the star plants of the garden in spring, and even longer for the remontant varieties. By choosing wisely, you can dress the base of your rose bushes in a durable way, creating a splendid setting for a good part of the year.

Why dress the base of roses?

Some shrub roses can become a little thin at the base, especially as they get older. Medium-sized plants will fill in this visual space and enhance the beauty of the roses, while taking over from the blooms during slower periods.  Another advantage: they will shade the base of the shrub, keeping the soil cooler for longer.

Some plants even provide protection against disease and pests, while others create a contrast of colors or textures, so don't be afraid to plant!

The best plants to dress up the base of roses

The perennial geranium is undoubtedly a first choice plant to dress up the base of bush roses. Very hardy, it can remain in place in the garden without fear of frost, and comes in many varieties. Among them, 'Johnsons Blue', the best known, whose deep blue color enhances yellow, pink or white roses. Also in blue shades, think of campanulas, these robust and easy to grow plants that are at home in most gardens, or nepeta, which blooms abundantly from May to November in lavender blue spikes.

Very graphic, large irises accompany the flowering of roses in spring, in beds or in mixed borders; their colors, whose palette is very wide, adapt to all shades of roses!

Lupines also work wonders at the foot of roses, especially varieties with large white spikes that will contrast perfectly with red roses. Here again, you can vary the pleasures depending on the color of the roses, creating scenes with similar shades of pink and mauve, or on the contrary, creating flashy contrasts with orange and blue.

Think also of penstemon to give a little wild side to your beds. These very easy to grow perennials bloom for many months, in clusters of bells, sometimes pastel, sometimes bright, depending on the variety. There are so many varieties that you won't have any trouble finding a color that goes perfectly with your roses. In the same style, the gaura, gives a country note from May to October, all without any particular maintenance or effort from the gardener. White, pale pink or fuchsia, gauras bring lightness to beds or flowerbeds.

Gypsophila and its myriad of small, vaporous flowers, whose pure white color is a perfect match for all shades and styles of roses, is widely used by florists to enhance rose bouquets. Do the same in the garden!

To combine business with pleasure, plant decorative alliums at the foot of your roses. They will protect them from cryptogamic diseases as well as from certain parasites while magnifying them thanks to their large mauve pompons.

Finally, think of plants with decorative foliage such as heuchera, which will be happy in the shade of your roses, forming splendid shades of color, or santolina, mugwort and lavender with silver foliage, which are always very easy to combine with all the colors of roses.

History of the rose and the rose bush

Throughout the northern hemisphere, the history of the rose goes back to the dawn of time. Rightly the queen of the garden, the rose is a jewel that gardeners have patiently fashioned from generation to generation.

According to scientists, the first roses appeared nearly 35 million years ago. Although little is known about these early specimens, numerous writings from antiquity show that the queen of flowers was already appreciated by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. At that time, only a white variety was cultivated mainly for its medicinal virtues.

According to historical accounts, roses were also cultivated in China about 5000 years ago. These flowers originated in Central Asia and spread throughout the northern hemisphere without ever crossing the equator.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, when the crusades were stirring hearts and passions, armed travelers brought back new varieties of rose from the Near East, including the mythical Damascus rose, which from the 13th century made the fortune of Provins in the Paris region. This rose was originally planted on the island of Samos in honor of the goddess Aphrodite. Later, it was honored in Rome with the goddess of love, Venus. It was at this time that the cultivation of the rose in France really began with gallica officinalis (Rose des Apotyhicaires). This variety brought back from the Holy Land was first cultivated for its medicinal virtues before being appreciated for its beauty in the garden. It was from this variety that rose oil was made in the Middle Ages.

In France, the most cultivated old roses were then the Gallic also called Roses of France (Rose de Provins, Charles de Mills, Tuscany) but also varieties of white roses also called Alba (Céleste, Jeanne d'Arc, Cuisse de Nymphe), Damask roses (Félicité Hardy, Quatre Saisons, Rose du Roi), Centfeuilles roses (Rosa Centifolia, Rose des Peintres, Petite de Hollande) and finally Moussus roses (Moussu commun, Salet). All these varieties had common features: developed in large bushes, they usually presented a unique and abundant flowering. Each very fragrant flower was composed of numerous petals varying from pure white to dark purple. Only the Damask rose (Four Seasons) was a remontant. It was the origin of the first remontant roses in the West.

In 1700, the arrival of roses from China and Japan revolutionized rose growing in France. Within a few years, the number of varieties exploded to the delight of European gardeners, who had fallen under the spell of this bewitchingly fragrant plant.

Many years after the crusades and the introduction of varieties from the Near East in the West, a discovery upset the horizon of the rose growers of the time. Around the year 1700, exotic varieties such as roses from India, China or Japan were added to the now known varieties we mentioned in the first part of our history of roses. The arrival of these Chinese varieties took place via the United Kingdom, the United States and Reunion Island. These remontant specimens opened the door to blooms from June to October.

The first crosses between the already well-established roses and these newcomers produced non-remontant varieties such as Bourbon roses (Mme Pierre Oger, Souvenir de la Malmaison), Hazelnut roses (Rose Noisette, Desprez with yellow flowers), Tea roses (Adam, Gloire de Dijon) but also remontant hybrids (Baronne Prévost, Reine des Violettes...).

Other varieties were also imported in the 18th century from Holland and Belgium, including the Centifolia rose or Rose Chou aux cent pétales. This last variety was quickly adopted by the perfumers of Grasse and gave birth in turn to the sparkling roses to the roses with lettuce leaves. At the beginning of the 18th century, botanists had listed all possible strains. Some spontaneous hybrids appeared such as Alba, Centifolia, Portland, Bourbon and the famous Tea Rose.

For a long time, rose growers were faced with a problem. These roses originating from hot countries could not stand the cold of Europe! To remedy this fragility, the rose growers of the time decided to proceed to hybridizations to create stronger and more vigorous roses. The fruit of these first hybridizations gave a tremendous impulse to the creation of hundreds of new varieties that are generally grouped under the name of old roses. This name includes no less than 10,000 varieties and cultivars, all of which have the particularity of having been created before 1920.

The propagation of roses by sowing

A fun experiment, the multiplication of roses by sowing is within everyone's reach. With a little patience you will obtain beautiful surprises!

To know before starting

The majority of roses sold on the market are grafted hybrids for a better resistance to diseases, parasites or unfavorable climates but also to combine the qualities of the two original plants. The sowing of these species may therefore give you a result absolutely different from the mother plant, thus offering you some nice surprises! As the rose is allogamous (i.e. cross-pollinated), you will most often obtain plants that are different from the original plant.

The seedling is very interesting for all those who want to try to obtain a new variety of rose by hybridization.

Harvesting the seeds

Always choose a healthy rose to collect your seeds;

• Pick the rose hips when they are mature, when they start to wilt and soften with a well disinfected pruning shears;
• let the rosehips dry in the open air and under cover for a few days before opening them;
• place the seeds in river sand to which you have added charcoal powder to avoid the development of cryptogamic diseases;
• Pour the seeds into a small paper envelope, write the name of the rose on it, and place the envelope in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator for at least one month (vernalization). The relative cold will trigger the 'awakening' of the seeds.

Sowing roses

• Fill a polystyrene box (like the ones you find at your fishmonger's) with a light mixture of 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 river sand and 1/3 peat moss. Add a handful of charcoal powder to this mixture;
• Pack the surface of the mixture and water to moisten the substrate;
• with a pencil, draw small furrows 10 cm apart;
• Place the seeds in the furrows, spacing them 5 cm apart;
• Then cover the seeds with half a centimeter of river sand;
• spray the surface gently to moisten it well without disturbing the seeds;
• place the box in the dark at a temperature lower than 10°C, but not frozen;
• install then the box under cold frame and keep the substrate slightly wet during all the period of germination.

And then?

Once the seedlings have 4 leaves, transplant into individual rose pots (deeper than wide). The substrate should be well drained and composed of good commercial potting soil, a little vermiculite, clay and chopped straw. Be sure to water your seedlings well and to add fertilizer during the growth period. The plantation in full ground could be envisaged in the autumn, two years after the sowing.

Planting a rose tree

How and when to plant a rose tree? It varies according to whether you buy it in a container or bare root.

When to plant a rose?

Containerized roses can be planted almost all year round, but for bare-root roses, the best time is in autumn.

In any case, avoid periods of frost.

How to plant a rose tree?

Dig a hole at least one and a half times wider than the root ball or the roots to put in it. The root ball must be comfortable in the hole. The roots need loose soil around them to grow properly.

Shorten the roots a little in the case of bare root roses, and prune them. Spread the roots over the entire hole.

Place well-decomposed manure in the bottom of the hole and place your rose in the center with the graft point at ground level.

Fill the hole with garden soil (roses like heavy soil so there is no need to add potting soil) well loosened so that it penetrates well between the roots. Pack the soil to bring it in contact with the roots and form a bowl.

Water abundantly after planting and bring water afterwards, especially during the dry season.

How to plant a climbing rose?

Move your rose bush about 20 cm away from its support and place the roots on the opposite side of the support.