The Albas are one of the oldest races of the rose, dating as far back as the fifteenth century.
They are also exquisitely beautiful with grey green leaves and pastel shaded flowers. They are healthy, highly perfume...
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Named after their place of birth, the Ile de Bourbon, an island in the southern Indian Ocean, this is a diverse family, from shrubs of around three feet to vigorous climbers. Flowers from a varied palette are usuall...
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Roses of One Hundred Petals, also known as the Provence Roses, date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
They are the full faced, blowsy roses so often found in the works of the Old Masters, where ...
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As one might guess, these roses originally derived from China, where it is thought that they existed as early as the tenth century, possibly before.
They were used extensively in hybridisation programmes when the...
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The Damasks are a very old family of roses and were prized for their scent in the Middle East where they were used for the extraction of attar to produce perfume.
It is not known when they first came to Europe bu...
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A race of mixed progeny, the phrase ‘English Roses’ was adopted to market roses which are mixture of old and new.
They combine the old fashioned look of roses such as the Gallicas and Bourbons, and are usually perf...
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As with the Modern Hybrid Teas it was also deemed necessary to change the name of these roses from Floribunda to Cluster Flowered. This met with similar resistance and it is now common to find both titles used simultaneous...
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It is largely believed that the crusaders from the 12th and 13th centuries, carried roses from the East to Europe and many of them were probably Gallicas; for it is known that the Persians had a Gallica as a religious ...
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Originally called Pemberton Roses after the Rev. Joseph Pemberton who bred them between 1913 and 1926, these were the first really neatly proportioned, continuous flowering cluster roses.
His varieties remain popular ...
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Whilst not totally perpetual this group of roses will usually supply at least one second flush of flower each year. Most date from the early 1800’s and are the ancestors of modern day Hybrid Teas, they clearly disp...
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