The late winter month of February brings into focus the romantic festival of Valentine. Did you know that a gift of a thornless rose is said to represent ‘love at first sight’, and a single rose of any colour other than red means ‘thank you’? The single red rose doesn’t need any explanation, but if you feel generous and buy a bunch of twelve red roses, it could mean ‘I want to marry you’.
Living roses also make a wonderful gift. They can be planted now, provided the ground is frost-free. You can include a dose of mycorrhizal fungi, which will form a symbiotic relationship with any tree or shrub.
Types of Roses
There are dozens of different types of roses and thousands of varieties in each category. New roses are being bred every year, but some of the old favourites include:
• Wild roses such as Rosa rugosa and Rosa canina, which can make wonderful informal hedges.
• Old Garden rose varieties, which are often over 100 years old, such as the pink, perfumed Rosa chinensis – the China rose.
• Hybrid tea roses such as: ‘Compassion’, an apricot pink, scented beauty; ‘Claret’, a red /crimson variety with lovely fragrance; and ‘Aphrodite’, a pink rose with good disease resistance. Hybrid tea originate from the old tea roses, which smelled of spiced tea. They have strong, single blooms that are good for cutting.
• Floribunda roses have a profusion of smaller flowers, which appear in delightful clusters. These flower repeatedly and it is possible to have floribunda roses all through spring and into late summer.
• Patio roses are smaller than the shrub varieties and suitable for pots and containers. If you have a courtyard garden or even a large window box, this might be the one for you. The Gold Standard, award winning ‘George Best’ is a rather wonderful red, fading to pink. ‘Special Friend’ is the palest of pinks with a delicate fragrance.
• Ground-cover roses can look wonderful at the front of a border or draping across a low wall. Rosa ‘Kent’ is a white variety that has many excellent attributes, including large clusters of rain-tolerant blooms.
• Shrub roses are the modern equivalent to the Old Garden variety. They have been bred to be generally fairly disease resistant, having fairly large blooms that flower for many weeks. An unusual one is ‘Ferdinand Pichard’, being striped in clashing colours of bold pink, crimson and purple.
• Rambling roses are probably not for the faint-hearted! They grow beautifully through trees but might be too vigorous for a trellis or pergola. They generally flower just once a year, but it’s a show worth waiting for, particularly the white ‘Rambling Rector’.
• Climbing roses are a more orderly bunch of characters that love to grow over pergolas and can usually be trained to obey the chief gardener. They often flower more than once per year. Try ‘Gardener’s Glory’, a yellow rose that is a Gold Standard award winner, or ‘Gloriana’, a striking purple rose that flowers almost all summer long.
• Then there are the miniature roses, which are often purchased as indoor plants. They can be planted outdoors, which might help them to thrive. They make a charming gift, albeit not spectacular.
By Caroline Knight
