Old and popular rose varieties

Old and popular varieties of roses are also today roses by far the most popular plants in the garden and around the house. Tea or hybrid tea roses alternate with polyantha and floribunda roses and there are also roses that can be used as ground cover. Tree roses, climbing roses and wild roses enrich the diversity of species and not only delight rose lovers.

Many garden owners also try their hand at hobby growing, but most simply enjoy the beautiful blooms and intoxicating scent. One also likes to speak of "Old roses' and 'Modern Roses'. The difference between the two designations is only a year. This means that a rose that existed before 1867 is called an Old Rose. All roses bred after that are therefore modern roses. A well-known representative of the Old Roses is the 'Scarlet Ember' from Kordes, but all Hybrid Teas fall into the category of Modern Roses. The most popular roses are the yellow 'Gloria Dei', the purple 'Charles de Mills', the 'Amaretto', 'Pomponella', the 'Cinderella' or the beautiful 'Rhapsody in Blue'. But every rose lover has their own favorites.

Buying roses is a matter of trust

If you want to have roses in your garden, you will not bother with the sowing, because it is a very big effort to grow roses from seeds. The purchase of container roses or roses as root-packed goods is less problematic. You can also buy the roses from the gardener or breeder, because here the rose lover can get competent advice if he so desires. Buying roses from a mail order company is also possible, but you should already know the trade and have had good experiences.

Plant roses properly

When can roses be planted? – The best planting time is from October to the end of April, with the exception of the frosty periods. If you plant in the spring, your roses can certainly grow. But the plant has more to do with root development than flowering. Roses planted in the fall do not need to develop foliage and flowers, they can rather develop the roots.

• Before planting, the roses should be watered again: in autumn approx. two hours, in spring you should put them in the water for up to ten hours.
• The roots and graft sites should be covered with water to allow the roots to soak.
• Many roses want a sunny spot, but not blazing sun. A partially shaded location is also ideal.
• Do not plant on the south side of house walls, as the masonry heats up too much here and gives off the heat to the roses.
• The roses cannot tolerate the heat, the flowers tend to wilt and the roses become more susceptible to diseases.

A deep, humus-rich and loose soil is the best basis for growth for the roses. This allows the roots to develop optimally, as rose roots grow deep down. In addition, no waterlogging should be able to form, which is also harmful to the plants. The soil should have a neutral to slightly alkaline pH. And the rose lover should note something else that is important. On the ground, on the already planted roses were unsuitable for replanting, the soil should be replaced better.

Proper care of roses

Every rose lover wants their roses to be the most beautiful and bloom the longest. However, many types of roses require the appropriate care to ensure that they bloom beautifully and for a long time. This includes regular maintenance of the plants:

• Wilted flowers must be removed to prevent seed heads (rosehips) from forming.
• Regular pruning should also not be forgotten, because the summer cut will increase the abundance of flowers.

But how do you cut properly? In the spring you should cut out frozen and weak shoots, as well as old wood. Hybrid tea roses should grow to a shoot height of approx. 20 cm, but the shoots should have at least three to five eyes so that the rose can sprout well. The higher you let the shoots stand, the more eyes must be present on the shoots. But it should be noted that more is not always good. The more you cut back, the better and stronger the plant will sprout. In summer you cut back to the next possible eye and remove faded shoots.

However, cutting is not enough when it comes to maintenance if you want strong and healthy plants. A handful of fertilizer should also help:

• No fertilizer should be given to new plants.
• If you fertilize, then from mid-May and above all with a complete fertilizer.
• You can fertilize until the second half of July, after which you should stop fertilizing.
• Phosphorus and potash can only give the plants a good start in the following spring in late autumn or the beginning of winter.
• Fertilize with nitrogen from March to early June to help the roses grow well.

And the roses need water too. One should remember that it is better to soak the soil once so that the deep-lying roots can absorb the water. Surface watering doesn't do the plants much good.

When the roses are sick

Every garden lover wants to have strong and healthy roses in their garden. But despite good care, regular pruning and precise fertilizer application, it can happen that the roses get sick. Cold, damp weather can also contribute to this, for example, because that is the breeding ground for fungi. However, gray mold and powdery mildew are also common rose diseases in bad weather. But roses can also get diseases in other ways, for example the rose rust or the blackspot. If brown spots appear on the leaves, the buds dry up and fall off, then it is probably blackspot. Gray powdery stains found on the leaves, flower stalks and buds indicate powdery mildew. But living pests also like to infest the roses, such as spider mites, rosehoppers, rose leaf roller wasps and the hated aphid. If you follow all the instructions, you will have a lot of fun with your roses.

Background knowledge on rose varieties

There are over 300 varieties of roses. Roses are shrubs from the rose family. In the West, the rose is considered the noblest of all flowers and is the symbol (red rose) of love par excellence. The roses originally come from China. Confucius (551 BC) Chr. until 479 BC BC) first reported of roses in the royal gardens of Beijing. In Germany, the first rose breed was developed by Daniel August Schwartzkopf in 1773, the pearl of Weißenstein. The past centuries have produced countless interesting varieties of roses. Unfortunately, many are no longer available. It is believed that there have been over 30,000 varieties of roses to date. Gardeners divide the roses into several types:

• There are old roses
• hybrid tea and hybrid tea,
• bed roses,
• climbing roses and rambler roses,
• shrub roses,
• Small shrub roses and wild roses.

In rose classes, a distinction is made between wild roses and garden roses. Hybrid tea roses belong almost exclusively to hybrid tea roses. They are characterized by large, elegantly shaped individual flowers on strong stalks. This variety is floriferous and comes in many colors.
Bed roses have a particularly large number of small-flowered, dense inflorescences and are therefore well suited for beds and borders. There are filled and unfilled varieties. They are compact and bloom well into the fall. They don't lose their flowers when it rains.

Distinctive features of popular varieties of roses

• shrub roses grow bushy. They can grow up to three meters high and have different flower shapes. Many varieties have an attractive rosehip decoration. A distinction is made between once-blooming and multi-blooming varieties.
• climbing roses form long annual shoots that need support and attachment. They are particularly suitable for greening pergolas and scaffolding.
• Ground covering roses are short and grow extensively. Height growth varies depending on the variety. They are particularly suitable for planting on slopes and embankments. The roses grow very dense. Only a small amount of light can reach the earth. As a result, weed growth is largely prevented.

Old or historic roses are predominantly shrub roses. Breeding or selection of the varieties dates back a long time. They are usually very resistant to diseases. They have interesting flower shapes and are very fragrant. However, they lack the profusion and profuse flowering of modern roses.

• Wild roses are very robust. They are often used as windbreak in the open countryside or as embankments and slopes for soil stabilization.
• English roses combine the wide range of colors and the long flowering period of modern rose varieties with the charm and fine scent of old roses.
• Rambler roses form long, soft shoots and are particularly suitable for greening light trees.

More and more varieties of roses are not only blooming beautifully in the garden, they are also pleasing to the eye in pots or in pots. in the bucket. It should be noted that roses are deep-rooting and therefore prefer tall containers because they love a lot of soil under the roots. The advantage of these roses is that you can always create new color and fragrance combinations by rearranging the pots. Also standard roses (rose stem) are very popular, both in the tub and in the garden. Their advantage is that you can still use low-growing plants as ground cover can plant and you can create so many different variations.

Learn more about roses