By Christine Reid.

The rose. It has inspired poets, writers and artists for centuries. It’s almost certainly the most popular flower in the United States, if not the world. And with countless different cultivars, there is a rose for every garden, not just lavish English estates and quaint French cottage gardens. Yes, there are roses that do well even here, in Central Texas, with its droughts, floods, summer heat and capricious winter cold snaps. They’re called antiques, or old roses, and boy, are they Texas tough! 

“One reason I came to love the antiques is the fact that they can pretty much maintain life in just about all conditions,” Kyle Garden Club member Shirley Lucas noted. “Antiques are survivors,” she said. “Once established, I find that true antiques will just about do without me!” 

When Lucas moved to Kyle in 2000 and wanted to grow flowers, she thought, “Doesn’t everyone love roses?” After digging the planting hole, she discovered nature’s cement, caliche. It was then she learned her first lesson in growing roses: prepare the soil. Lucas and soil amendments were soon on a first-name basis as she removed a foot of what she euphemistically called ‘dirt’ and added compost, landscape mix, manure and mulch. “I truly believe that if the soil isn’t good, most of your efforts will be in vain,” Lucas said.

Hays County Master Gardener Velma Hasty also loves roses. She must, since she has around 50 of them at her home in San Marcos! While her landscape is filled with both modern and old roses (those introduced prior to 1867), “I like the antique roses best,” Hasty revealed. She’s discovered that her antiques don’t have much of a problem with black spot or aphids, as long as they’re situated in the right place, and pruning is a snap. “I have found you really can’t hurt them if you just shear them,” Hasty said. She used to be very careful when she cut them back but, heck, why do it the hard way if you don’t have to? “Now I just shear them.” 

Hasty also has a rose-growing regimen that has worked for her. She puts down weed cloth and then adds mulch around the roses, which helps fertilize them. On most of the roses, she uses a drip irrigation system to water them. They get watered 10 minutes twice a week and do fine.

Like modern roses, most antiques require full sun, good drainage, good air circulation and mulch. They respond well to organic fertilizers like fish emulsion, which can be applied in the spring and fall. Except for once-flowering bloomers, like the Lady Banks roses, which are pruned right after blooming, you cut back old roses by about a third in mid-February and again in late August to early September. Pruning them then will encourage a flush of blooms as well as remove dead or crossing canes and will open up the rose to the sunshine, which helps prevent fungal problems.

Some of Hasty’s favorite roses are Souvenir de la Malmaison, Mutabilis, G. Nabonnand, Duchesse de Brabant and Belinda’s Dream, which is technically not an old rose, but has many of the same characteristics. It’s an Earth-Kind rose – a Texas A&M designation that means it grows well in Texas and has high pest and disease resistance. Many antique roses are on the Earth-Kind list. Also, many roses introduced after 1867 are just as sturdy and easy to grow as the roses considered heirlooms. An important distinction is that old roses are grown on their own root stock, unlike many hybrid roses, which are often budded onto another variety’s hardier root stock.

For Lucas, Souvenir de la Malmaison is also one of her favorite roses, along with Caldwell Pink, yellow Lady Banks, Old Blush and Mrs. B. R. Cant, which she calls “indestructible.” Lucas gets a lot of pleasure out of grouping the roses with other plants and putting different colors together. “I’m learning the garden is never ‘finished,’” she explained. “It is always evolving.”

When it comes to old roses, there’s one in Germany that is estimated to be more than 1,000 years old. In the courtyard of the Hildesheim Cathedral, the rose is climbing approximately 50 feet up an apse, a semi-circular recessed area on one end of the church. It even survived a bombing during World War II. 

While it’s not nearly as old, one of the world’s largest rose bushes is located in Tombstone, Arizona. In 1885, a homesick Scottish bride planted a cutting of her favorite rose, the white Lady Banks, at the inn where she was staying. It not only grew, it thrived and now spreads over an arbor that covers approximately 8,500 square feet. 

The Lady Banks rose comes in yellow as well as white, and does well here, though the white variety is slightly less cold hardy. It’s a fast-growing, nearly thornless climber that could very possibly live for 75 years or longer. It’s also said to be deer resistant, unlike most other roses. While the yellow Lady Banks has no fragrance, the white form smells like violets. And they both put on a spectacular show in the spring, when they push out a profusion of feathery blooms.

The reasons old roses are popular, especially in Texas: they’re resilient, they’re pretty and they (almost always) have a wonderful fragrance. Their charming beauty has graced old, abandoned homesteads and forgotten graveyards. Some even produce rose hips for making tea (use only if grown organically), such as Old Blush. If you plant the right variety in the right place in the right way, it will reward you with years of loveliness and fragrance.

With the help of the internet or a history book, it’s not too difficult to decide which is the largest rose or the oldest. But pinning down the prettiest rose ... that can be a difficult call. It’s one of those “eye of the beholder” situations. Maybe the prettiest rose is simply the one that’s in bloom, right now, in your own garden. 

Please send questions to [email protected] or call (512) 398-6011.

Best roses for central Texas

Small roses

The Fairy –grows up to 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Has clusters of small, light-pink blossoms that turn white when it’s hot. Blooms spring through fall. Thorny but has attractive, bright green foliage. No fragrance.

Caldwell Pink – grows up to 4 feet by 4 feet. Produces an abundance of small, lilac-pink flowers spring to fall. Very nice in containers. No fragrance.

Perle d’Or – 4 feet tall and wide. Lovely old rose that has very fragrant, pompon-shaped blooms. Healthy and strong grower. Drought tolerant, once established. Repeat bloomer.

Medium roses

Mutabilis – 6 feet tall. A distinctive-looking China rose with blooms that start out yellow, changing to orange, then pink and finally crimson. Also known as the butterfly rose as all of the different colored blooms look like fluttering butterflies. Blooms spring to frost. A healthy, popular rose that is easy to grow. Very light fragrance.

Belinda’s Dream – 5 feet tall and wide. Fast-growing rose that produces good cut flowers for a vase. Lovely, full pink blooms produced throughout growing season. Rich fragrance.

Old Blush – 3-6 feet tall. Should be called ‘Old Dependable’ for its habit of steadily producing medium-sized, lilac-pink blooms all season long. Has soft, pleasant fragrance. Doesn’t need to be fussed over.

Climbing Roses

Zephirine Drouhin – climbs 6-12 feet. With its cerise-pink flowers and outstanding fragrance, this is a rose that gets much-deserved attention. The canes are thornless, making it perfect for climbing in an area where people pass by. The foliage is thick and healthy, with coppery-purple new growth contrasting well with the blooms. Repeat bloomer.

Red Cascade – climbs up to 12-18 feet. This rose can climb a structure or cascade over the sides of a container with style. No fragrance, but healthy, fine leaves and a miniature, deep red bloom. Flowers are produced spring to frost. Easy to grow.

Planting and taking care of old roses

First, pick the right variety of rose for your yard; learn how big it will get and how it will fit into your landscape. Plan to locate the rose in an area that gets at least six hours of direct sun daily, with good air circulation and adequate drainage. Before planting the rose, incorporate organic matter such as composted manure or vegetative matter into the soil. 

The hole you dig should put the rose at the same level it was growing at in the pot and the width of the hole should be twice the size of the pot’s diameter. Add enough soil to cover the roots and then water to help settle the soil and to remove air pockets. Then add more soil until the hole is filled and water thoroughly. Apply several inches of shredded cedar or hardwood mulch around the rose, making sure to keep the mulch from touching the base of the rose. Water regularly, keeping the root ball moist until the root system is established. 

Feed in the spring and fall with organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion. Periodically apply liquid seaweed to help strengthen the plant. Spraying the roses with diluted compost tea during the growing season will help deter black spot and other fungal problems.

Most old roses benefit from pruning twice a year, around Valentine’s Day and Labor Day, just before the spring and fall blooming periods. Cut off about one third of the rose bush, evening out the shape, cutting off dead or broken canes and opening up the interior of the rose to the sun. Don’t prune roses during the heat of summer or the cold of winter, as that will produce tender growth that could be damaged by the weather. Thin climbing roses only when needed and cut back once-blooming roses right after they produce flowers.