TOUGH OLD GARDEN ROSES: Antique garden roses are low maintenance, highly resilient
By Marie Graham
June 8, 2024
Archduke Charles (Photos by Marie Graham)
Archduke Charles, third bloom since arrival.
Archduke Charles, first bloom. (Marie Graham)
Old Blush in the Antique Rose Section.
Antique ‘old garden’ roses are one of my favorite flowers. I imagine that some of these roses arrived in Victoria through our early settlers in 1824.
These roses are low maintenance, not grafted, bloom during droughts, withstand hard freezes, require little attention, and don’t die if attacked by black spot, mildew, or aphids. You can even propagate these roses.
In 2001 Texas A&M Professor and Extension Horticulturist Emeritus Dr. William C. Welch’s presentation on old garden roses inspired me to learn as much as I could about them. He wrote Perennial Garden Color, my favorite gardening book.
The oldest rose located in the Victoria Educational Gardens is Old Blush. It was introduced in 1752. This pink flowered bush just blooms and blooms. It has semi-double medium-size flowers with loose clusters followed by large orange hips. It is fragrant and rapidly drops its bloom. Height and width are about 3- to 5-feet.
A 2023 addition to Victoria Educational Gardens is the Archduke Charles rose. It was introduced prior to 1837 and has full, shapely flowers that open with crimson outer petals and a neat pink center that darken to solid crimson in spring and fall. By mid-summer Archduke Charles no longer appears to be bicolor but is solid red. It can reach a height of 3- to 5-feet and a width of 3-feet and prefers a sunny location.
Archduke Charles was mentioned in The Victoria Sesquicentennial “Scrapbook” 1824-1974. It stated cuttings have been passed around since Captain Laurent Jessel first brought it to Victoria around Civil War days.
If you have never planted an old garden rose, try it. Plant in large pots or raised beds. These roses are hardy even in poor conditions; but rich well-drained soil gives the best results. To have proper drainage, add organic material.
Dig the planting hole in a sunny location that accommodates the natural spread of the roots. Plant at soil level or slightly deeper. Leave space between plants for good air circulation. Mulch a few times a year.
In two years the rose bush is well established and needs you to deeply water roots every week. Fertilize with commercial rose foods or organic fertilizers at least twice a year, mid-March and mid-October. Provide lots of water to dissolve fertilizer.
Take care with pruning. Never clip back more than a third of the bush because it can refuse to bloom. Lightly trim everblooming varieties during the year as the “trim” encourages flowering.
If you have a once-a-year bloomer, only prune after flowering is over. Dead or unwanted canes or twigs and unbalanced growth should be removed. If you train a climbing old garden rose, only dead or unwanted canes and twigs need removal.
Propagation is possible if a rose is no longer under a 17-year patent. Fall through spring is the best time to take an 8-inch tip cutting from a recently bloomed stem. Cut with pruning shears at a 45-degree angle. Place in cool water. Label and date.
Use a tall pot on the north or east side with a potting mix of equal parts sand, peat moss, and compost. Moisten mix well. Push rose cutting 3 inches into mix and pack. Water again. Retain only a few leaves at top of cutting. Place the pot in indirect sunlight.
Within eight weeks, roots form. Move to a small pot shortly after rooting. Move up the pot size by 2 inches with each move to a new pot. Never allow the rose to dry out.
Old garden roses are living history, rewarding, and survival proves toughness. Please join me in growing and treasuring them.
The Gardeners’ Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – Victoria County.
REFERENCES
ANTIQUE ROSE EMPORIUM: Archduke Charles
ANTIQUE ROSE EMPORIUM: Old Blush
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY PRESS: Welch, William C., Perennial Garden Color, Taylor Publishing Company, 1989, 196-239.