I love all roses and I grow all different varieties. I have many hybrid teas, floribundas, minis, minifloras, some shrubs, some climbers, old garden roses, and some hybrid rugosas.

All of these roses are vigorous bloomers that give me color and fragrance all season long. Many of them produce their final blooms in November, and once I had blooms in December! Very rare for a Southern New England garden.

Seasonal roses

In the plant world, though, there are many cultivars that have a season. Astilbe blooms in early summer. Wild daisies bloom in June, as does the beautiful sky blue Wild Chicory that my Gram called ‘Bachelor’s Buttons.’ Irises put on their display in early June and are sword-shaped foliage for the rest of the season. Hostas bloom mid-summer as does Queen Anne’s Lace and Yarrow. Eupatoria, Joe Pye Weed, puts on gorgeous displays with the early goldenrod in August. I could go on and on, but as one perennial finishes, another starts its bloom cycle. All these plants are beautiful in the garden despite the fact that they only bloom for a month or so.

Once Upon A Time

When I was a young rosarian, I wanted roses that would bloom all summer long. I wanted to grow ‘antique’ roses, too. However, they had to be rebloomers. I planted ‘La Reine Victoria,’ ‘Madame Pierre Oger,’ and ‘Le Comte de Chambord.’ They were all fragrant and lovely and most had a tendency to outgrow their spaces in a hurry. I still have ‘Le Conte’ and ‘Mme Pierre,’ and I love them both. As my gardening life rolled along, though, I found other ‘antiques’ in friends’ gardens that were one time bloomers, and the blossoms were spectacular! My friend, Mirjana, has a ‘Cardinale de Richelieu’ that is fabulously purple and has a fragrance to die for. My friend, Dave, grows many once-blooming Old Garden Roses in his huge garden near the Connecticut shore. I don’t think Dave and Sandy have much mowing to do as their entire property is garden…Dave does roses and Sandy does perennials. Any visit to their garden is always a treat for the senses.

Old garden roses

Some years ago, while I was the Rosarian Consultant at Elizabeth Park, the Heritage Garden (all old garden roses) got a redesign. My friend Ali designed it as a real heritage garden. All the roses to be saved from the old garden had to be pre-1867 when the first hybrid tea, ‘La France,’ was introduced. She went through and dug up the keepers and we grew them in containers on our driveways until we replanted them in the end of August. Ali called me the night before the bulldozers came in and told me to go salvage whatever I wanted. This was my first introduction to growing once bloomers in my gardens. And, I discovered that it was easy to find room for them…they reliably bloom in their own season, just as our valued perennials do.

An Old Variety

My neighbor, Vickie, lives in a very old house next door, and she loves to garden in her spare time. There are several old garden roses on her property that were planted over a hundred years ago. I love to go visit them in June and breathe in their fragrance! One I am particularly in love with is a lovely soft pink/semi double damask rose called ‘Celsiana.’ Whoever planted this rose underplanted it with Baptisia, or False Indigo. It makes a stunning display! Last summer, after it was finished blooming, Vickie gave me permission to take cuttings from this beauty. I took two, rooted them, and grew them in the house all winter! I gave one away this spring, and will be planting the other this weekend. Last Monday, my friends Dave and Sandy, brought me some ‘Celsiana’ from their garden…oh, joy!! I planted it the other day, where it can grow as huge as it likes and can send out runners all over the place!

Here’s the scoop on ‘Celsiana:’ She is a rosa damascena, or damask rose. This is the type of rose perfume is made of! She is extremely fragrant, has semi-double light pink flowers that fade to white. She grows 3-6′ tall and 3-5′ wide and is hardy in zones 4B to 9B.

I hope you will consider growing some of these beautiful old ladies that have their season just as perennials do…I know they have given me something else rosie to fall in love with, and have enriched my life and my garden. Happy rose growing!