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sara_ann_gw

Prettiest Antique Rose Blooms?

sara_ann-z6bok
9 years ago

Since I am a novice at growing antique roses I am curious to know which ones in your opinion have the prettiest blooms? I've seen quite a few pictures of some lovely ones. Two that stand out for me are Fantin Latour and Marchesa Boccella. Which ones are some of your favorites for beauty of bloom?

Comments (19)

  • Curdle 10a (Australia)
    9 years ago

    Havent got many truly antique ones (curse you Austin catalogues for your budget sucking promises of easily obtained, compact size, fragrance and beautiful old fashioned type flowers) yet.. .
    Classic choice would be Souvenir de la Malmaison; its glowingly pretty, pinky and fragrant..but sometimes its just a bit too perfect.
    I have a soft spot for Perle D'or... tiny but cute..those little apricot ribbons are just lovely.

  • sara_ann-z6bok
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Curdle - I would agree about SDLM, I just planted two of them. Perle D'or sounds like a really good rose and the blooms are lovely.

  • Poorbutroserich Susan Nashville
    9 years ago

    today it is Reve d'Or!
    susan

  • ogrose_tx
    9 years ago

    I'm a sucker for Duchesse de Brabant.

  • monarda_gw
    9 years ago

    Those that have survived tend to be among the prettiest -- they have survived in cultivation for hundreds of years for that reason. Of course they are not "pretty" according to the criteria of modern hybrid teas, but according to a whole other standard, more like that of wild flowers -- or bushes - and old paintings.

  • sara_ann-z6bok
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Ogrose - That rose is lovely. Monarda, to me they are pretty, that is why I want to learn more about them from people who grow them.

  • monarda_gw
    9 years ago

    I think two of the prettiest are the Bourbon roses Reine Victoria and its sport Mme Pierre Oger. I remember a stem of the last in a long-necked iron vase in my mother's house in Pennsylvania. I couldn't take my eyes of it. Its flowers are cup-shaped and very poised on their long stems (most old roses have very short stems, nestled among the leaves, and this too is considered beautiful). The thing about these two Bourbon roses is that they get darker in color as they "fade" and seem lit up from inside. There is nothing quite like them. Of course, they are not all that easy to grow, though my mother had no problem at all.

    There are so many that are beyond pretty -- they are exquisitely beautiful, such as Souvenir de la Malmaison, mentioned above, and Common Moss.

    Personally, I particularly like the tiny flowers and ferny leaves of the Scots roses : Stanwell Perpetual, which is a cross with a tea rose (?), is one of the most beautiful of all the roses and was beloved of Gertrude Jekyll.

    I recently planted Excellenz von Schubert, a lilac colored musk rose, and find its rounded flowers so charming, though maybe it is not as old as those mentioned above. The best thing is to explore some of the wonderful websites (not to mention books) devoted to old roses and do ones' personal research.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Old rose garden at Wyck House Germantown, Pa

  • ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
    9 years ago

    Souvenir de la Malmaison, La France, William R. Smith, Aunt Margy's Rose. I have great hopes for Emily, Dr. O'Donel Brown, Hoag House Cream and Reine de Violettes, but they're very young and it will be several years before I can make a judgment on them.

    Ingrid

  • portlandmysteryrose
    9 years ago

    Colder climate: La Ville de Bruxelles, Madame Hardy, Charles de Mills, Tuscany Superb, Felicite Parmentier

    Warmer climate: Duchesse de Brabant, Devoniensis, Gloire de Dijon, Marechal Niel, double white or double yellow Lady Banks

    Carol

  • avalon2007
    9 years ago

    My list of the prettiest OGR blooms in my garden, taking into account color and form:

    Sombreuile

    Mrs. B.R. Cant- full, old-fashioned bloom

    Louisiana Arcadia Tea - just lovely, photos don't do it justice

    SDLM -gorgeous, but very weak plant here, may not survive

    Lady Hillingdon- striking, glows when the sun shines through it

    Duchess du Brabant - lovely cups

    Baronne Prevost - form, color and fragrance

    Louis Phillippe -form, color, fragrance, health and rebloom!

    There are probably others, but these are the ones that come to mind because they have bloomed recently.

  • melissa_thefarm
    9 years ago

    There are just too many to name. I mean, seriously. The ones mentioned are lovely, but many other old roses are very lovely as well. I'll just mention 'Centifolia', 'Ypsilante', 'Etoile de Lyon', 'Mme. Antoine Mari', 'Marechal Niel', 'Shailer's White Moss'. But then there are marvelous roses that may not be quite as beautiful, but are still very beautiful, and who would be without them?... like 'Alain Blanchard', with freckles; and 'Rose-Marie Viaud', with little lilac flowers like Parma violets, though scentless, or the grace and fragrance of 'Cornelia', though this is technically a modern rose, or the trailing branches of the Banksiaes with their delicate leaves and upturned buds getting ready to open (I was just out admiring this one).
    Melissa

  • sara_ann-z6bok
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you everyone - I'm enjoying looking them up as I have time, some lovely ones indeed! One I've noticed several of you mention is Marechal Niel, and I would agree, Haven't seen them all yet, it is a pleasant task though.

  • sara_ann-z6bok
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    There have been so many unique and beautiful roses named and I appreciate everyone's contributions.

  • luxrosa
    9 years ago

    Mlle. Cecille Brunner' darling dainty pink blooms with a reliable sweet Damask scent . This is the roses I've loved longest, for fifty years.
    Lady Banks alba plena inspiring for its' purity of white.
    Belle Sultane, a dark exotic beauty with a spangle of golden pollen in the center surrounded by wine-purple petals, one of the ranunculus shaped Gallicas.
    Marachel Niel' my favorite yellow rose of all time. Golden yellow sweet scented roses.
    Mme. Berkeley an Old Garden Tea that has medium sized blooms of peach and pink with petals that spiral prettily in the center.
    a rose that stopped me in my tracks on a ramble through a rose park
    'La villes des Bruxelles' a once blooming summer Damask. A voluptuous large pink rose that sings of the 1800's.

    I love the variety of blooms and foliage in the Antique roses and the Moss on the Moss roses which adds such a great degree of charm. The long leafy sepals on a Damask rose draws me nearer. The darling small roses on 'Beauty of Edsell' with that pertness of foliage seen on a Scots rosebush, (Hybrid Spinosissima in the U.S.)with leaves attractive enough to deserve a place in the garden, in addition to the roses that bloom a month each year. Today I stopped to gaze at the arching canes of dozens of plants of lutea banksiae that are growing over a cyclone fence surrounding a railroad property on my way to the library today. I imagined that same rose glorifying a hillside bank in China. Each light hued egg yolk yellow rose duplicated by thousands upon thousands, creating a cloud of beauty.
    Mutabilis that gives an overall gay effect that lifts the heart, and seems as though the bush were covered with multi -colored butterflies.
    The huge pink and cream blooms of 'Susan Louise' that dangle from a tree- sized plant and which bloom from spring through Christmas.
    I've spent hours gazing at a single Old Garden Tea rose, Angels Camp Tea' for one, in a vase, a prolonged meditation on roses from a class an author noted for its' roses showing a great delicacy of beauty.
    Cornelia' another vote for a charming pink rose, small light pink to bright pink petals surrounding a boss of gold. A Pemberton Hybrid Musk from the 1930's.
    Roses, roses and roses galore
    roses from antiquity produce more forms of beauty.
    I deem.

    Lux

  • jacqueline9CA
    9 years ago

    Of course it is a matter of personal taste, and also what roses have bloomed lately or are blooming right now.

    I like the large semi-doubles which have such elegant graceful blooms, such as Fortune's Double Yellow (ancient Chinese gigantica hybrid), or Pax (a hybrid musk from 1918). Here is a pic of FDY:

  • jacqueline9CA
    9 years ago

    Here is a picture I took today of an open bloom on Pax.

    Jackie

  • sara_ann-z6bok
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Jackie - Those are both lovely. Especially like the Fortune's Double Yellow.

  • portlandmysteryrose
    9 years ago

    Oh, I almost forgot Bayse's Purple. One of my very favs! Carol