The Development of Modern Roses
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009Climbing roses are popular both with people whose enthusiasm is for old roses and with lovers of the new. Most derive from a group of wild species called the Synstylae, which have lots of small white flowers in large clusters.
During the 1970s, the frontier between the larger miniature roses (larger in flower size and height) and the smaller Floribundas seemed to merge; the intermediates are now sometimes lumped together as patio roses.
Plant hunters had for centuries introduced new plants into cultivation From other parts of the world. The expeditions and their botanical booty increased enormously towards the end of the century, and introduced a large number of new rose species from eastern Asia.
Horticulturists in Europe and America, both amateur and professional, started to cross these Asian species with the Hybrid Perpetuals and Tea roses to produce new races and groups of garden roses.
Any rose raised in the last 100 years that does not fit neatly into a defined category is called a shrub rose. This includes primary hybrids like (Dupontir, over-large Floribundas like ‘Fred Loads’ and most of the super-hardy Buck, Explorer, and Parkland roses.