Roses for Every Day, Part 1

by Lydia Holley February 14, 2022

Whether or not you received roses for Valentine’s Day, you can plant bare root roses now. But roses are a vastly varied group of plants, and each class has their own qualities. Choosing the right rose involves a bit of research, but when you are through, you will have the perfect rose for the spot you wish to fill.

Antique roses are roses from any class introduced before 1867. Why the specific date? Because that’s when they crossed a tea rose with a hybrid perpetual rose and ended up with the hybrid tea ‘La France.’ Of course, they had been hybridizing roses for some time, but this was the first hybrid tea. It was different from other roses. So different, it eventually divided roses into modern or antique categories. Hybrid teas had bigger blooms, longer stems, upright forms. And they liked to be pruned, putting all their energy into large blooms instead of bushy branches and multiple flowers. Suddenly, rose breeders had something new to play with.

Hybrid tea roses became very popular and are the long-stemmed, large-flowered roses most people think of when they imagine a rose bloom. The problem? They were not bred for disease resistance or for scent. Still, they became the most popular class of rose to plant during the mid-century. Why? Because people gravitated to the bright colors offered and they had anti-fungals to spray. Unfortunately, roses got a reputation for being difficult to grow.

Of course, now, few people want to spray their roses every week. And the rose industry has changed to meet consumer’s demands. Since the 1980s, hybrid teas have been bred not only for their form and color but also for disease resistance.

If you want to grow hybrid teas, you may not want the same rose your mother or grandmother grew in their garden that needs to be babied. But you can certainly grow hybrid teas without spraying or much more care and effort you give other plants. Look for roses resistant to blackspot and mildew. Resistance to rust is also a plus, but not something we experience regularly in East Texas. Learn to prune and you will be able to enjoy the large blooms of a hybrid tea without any extra work.

And what if you want fragrance? That, too, is making a comeback in the breeding programs. So when you dip your nose into the center of the flower’s petals, you will come away with a smile.

For more information, call 903-675-6130, email [email protected].