Paintings of roses decorated rooms in the Minoan city of Knossos near the north coast of the island of Crete about 3,000 B.C.
Three millennia later, in 41 B.C. Cleopatra demonstrated how the rich could really live it up on her royal barge at Tarsus in Cilicia. According to Ernle Bradford’s 1971 biography: “At another banquet she had the whole floor of the saloon covered with roses to the depth of several feet, the roses being held in place by nets attached to the side walls, so that the guests found themselves walking upon a solid, scented carpet of flowers.”
The tradition if not the extravagance continues. Here in Canada, Sheridan Nurseries rapidly approaches its 100th anniversary after moving to somewhat expanded facilities than were available at Bay and Charles streets in Toronto. Sheridan continues to offer an excellent selection of the Ottawa Explorer series of very hardy disease-resistant shrub roses along with related Parkland series from the prairies.
These Canadian developed roses receive rave reviews in the northern tier of the United States but a prophet in his own country . . . well, you know the rest. Sheridan also offers the Easy Elegance Series™ also noted for their hardiness, colour and disease resistance.
Pickering Nurseries have long been the port of call for rosarians in south-central Ontario. Now some 100 km east of their named birthplace they can be found on the outskirts of Port Hope. They also carry a very wide selection of Explorer and Parkland roses hybridized by Agriculture Canada. Why not then the widely hyped new Artist Series? The Pickering people told us they looked and failed to be impressed. They are not as good as the aforesaid Explorer or Parkland series, we were told.
Pickering Nurseries offer literally hundreds of other roses, new, old and antique. Every one are grown in their own fields, including the famed David Austin® roses from across the Atlantic.
Ah yes, a name any modern-day Cleopatra make an asp of herself. English roses developed by famed David C. H. Austin (now joined by David J. C. Austin) have been perhaps the greatest revolution in the Rosa since Napoleon’s Josephine. The Shropshire nursery rose garden contains over 900 varieties. Many rose fanciers rightly take anything Austin proclaims as almost gospel. A number of Canadian nurseries, wholesale and retail, offer a selection of those that have been found to be hardy in our climate – alas, not all are.
David Austin® recently decided it was necessary to re-classify the English Roses. They are now divided into five separate groups, all related in some way to Old Roses. Look now for English Old Rose Hybrids, English Musk Roses, the Leander Group, Alba Rose Hybrids and Climbing English Roses.
In the romance of the rose garden, tree roses border beds and walkways, or maybe centred in planters. Extreme southwest coastal B.C. may offer gardeners the chance to enjoy such an experience. Until recently in the rest of the country this was a thing only of dreams except for the very keenest, most painstaking rose fanciers. Now many wholesale nurseries have discovered that by budding hardy shrub varieties onto multiflora rootstock results in a reasonable hardy tree rose.
While Napoleon Bonaparte was busy extinguishing the lives of tens of thousands to the glory of his vertically challenged self, his elegant first wife Josephine was sponsoring the collecting and creating roses. Perhaps a little of this rubbed off on the self-crowned Emperor. He once observed that, “Where flowers degenerate man cannot live.” Rose fanciers everywhere would be inclined to agree.
Look for all these and other roses, old and new, at your local garden centre this season. Or start by visiting web sites of those mentioned above:
www.davidaustinroses.com
www.pickeringnurseries.com
www.sheridannurseries.com
