I found this forum last year when I started growing old roses; I’ve learned a lot from all of you so want to say a big thank you! I garden on a large deck in San Francisco and everything is in containers (annuals, perennials, CA native plants as well as roses). Despite living in the fog belt my roses also bloomed early this spring thanks to the heatwave we had in late winter.

Pompom Blanc Parfait

Rosa Mundi

Rose de Rescht + Comte de Chambord

Grüss an Aachen

Wise Portia

First flowers on a tiny band of Treasure Trail

Marianne, the first rose to bloom this spring, back in March.

So glad to see Alexander nurseries mentioned here as I've been meaning to post on them. Their customer service is outstanding! Everything was A1 including the rose! I had noticed they had this otherwise unavailable rose in their garden On HMF. A fellow forum member AlsoMentioned they had it and they had dealt with them before. Otherwise I might have been reluctant to order. So glad I did.

Ian - wow!!! What darling blooms!! Thanks!

Gorgeous, Portland!! That color is intense!

Catspa - wonderful individual blooms!! I gasped when I saw the first one.

Foggy - oh, SWOOON over your roses!!!

Ian, thank you for more Bella Donna pics! Damasks in general are rarely seen these days, and Bella is an extra rare sight indeed yet an exquisite example of this historical class. For fun, here are some La Ville de Bruxelles sepals and another photo or two of buds and blooms. Damasks do seem to enjoy dressing their buds in frilly, fancy sepals!

Catspa and Ian and Paul,

Speaking of sepals, I have to say that I love the “crested“ conversation going on here. I am a huge sepals fan. I currently only grow Crested Damask but have often visited Ralph Moore’s creations on HMF. I am beyond impressed by his accomplishments! The gorgeous blooms, scent and sepals he developed in his cultivars all traveled well genetically! Crested Damask is super charmer and great ambassador for this line started by Moore. Someday, I need to grow another kind of crested rose, Crested Moss (Chapeau de Napolean). It’s always sold out when I go hunting. Maybe I’ll buy another 25 gallon pot and restart my quest. Carol

I usually am NOT a fan of pinks but there truly is something special about the pinks of the old garden roses. Especially those in the Damask and Centifolia class. It's a cotton candy/bubblegum pink.

I think the Damasks are my favorite of the old garden group.

And let me tell you this, I have a LOT of old garden roses in their first and second year currently and the Autumn Damask is so far one of the most vigorous I have. Can't wait for it to bloom.

Thanks for the picture, Portland. That is seriously a beautiful rose...AND...Pretty sepals!!

And, I think out of all the different types of roses there are, in my opinion, the Damask have the richest and most significant history.

We wouldn't have the Portland, Bourbon OR Hybrid Perpetual class(s) without the Damask themselves!

Foggyroses, thank you so much for the photos! I am so happy that you are growing antique roses and that you discovered this forum. You have a wonderful potted collection on your San Francisco deck. Like you, I grow a number of my old roses in pots. They seem to be fine even after years. My potted Marianne will likely need a 25 gallon someday, so I’ll be upsizing her as she matures. My other Marianne will go in the ground. She’s a big rose, but I think you and I will succeed in keeping her contained. :) Carol

Catspa, that is a magnificent Odorata! Thank you so much for posting pics. I wish I could grow it, but it would consume my entire garden. Ha, ha. Even after decades of growing roses, some optimistic part of my brain still has trouble accepting that tiny bands of OGRs eventually become house eaters (or bad neighbors). I had to remove a Madame Alfred Carriere after the nth time of whacking canes and retying others so her gorgeous, sabered self didn’t murder my neighbor.

Ian, I agree that OGR pinks are the best pinks!

Salet (Moss) from Vintage Gardens

Another couple of photos of Umbra beginning to fade to gorgeous mauve-grey shades.

And with Marianne.

Marianne—because one can never have enough Marianne!

Just for kicks, and because I’m guessing that a bunch of urban rose gardeners on this forum can relate, here are a couple of quick shots of my front beds. I grow a crazy number of shrubs, perennials, herbs, etc. packed into a few feet. Some of my neighbors must shake their heads as they walk by. Does this sight look familiar—houses and lawns lined up along the street and then suddenly your garden appears like a botanical explosion! Ha, ha.

My ”parking strip”.

I’m going to go ahead and post Basye’s Purple since we’re including species and near species roses.

That golden loveliness in the back is Paul Barden‘s Hybrid Musk rose Jeri Jennings growing on a tuteur. Close-up below.

Another shot of Rosa Mundi breaking into song…I mean blooms all along a cane.

And an almost Apothecary Rose colored, mostly crimson, candy striped bloom.

Tricolor de Flandre

Help? Question:

Has anyone else lost the first comments posted in this thread? When I select ”see the full comments,” more comments appear but the first ones still seem to be missing. The post says 130 comments. I can see my original post and shots of Marianne, I can see Melissa’s featured answer and then I can see my comment thanking Melissa, Sheila, Nollie and Paul plus what must be all the comments after that one. But everything I posted early in the thread and everything Melissa, Sheila, Nollie and Paul posted early in the thread are are missing! What the heck?! Am I crazy? Or is it Howzzzz? Carol

I’ve just looked in, meaning to comment, Carol. I sorted by oldest first then clicked ‘see 81 more comments‘ and all posts was there. I’ve just done it again and it was exactly as you said. Definitely Houzz gremlins! I have noticed it on other threads occasionally, where subsequent replies made no sense because of missing earlier posts.

Houzz is a weirdo sometimes. I've had double threads send, double messages be sent and problems with uploading pictures. No telling what it is this time...Oof

Portland, I love your collection soo much. Between Salet, Umbra & Basye's Purple I'm not sure which is best. Basye Purple I absolutely love and Salet repeat blooms (for a moss)

I could still see all the comments if I clicked twice.

Carol, I love your garden!!!!

‘Marianne’ is one of the earliest roses here, with ’Therese Bugnet’ and ’Umbra’:

The aphids have been bad this year, I believe because May was very cool and they were out before the wasps and ladybugs.

Rose de Rescht is going onto it's second flush! I love it's scented buds..I really like this rose.

Any other roses similar to that of RdR?

Thank you for your kind words, Portland and Rosecanadian. Learning about and starting to grow old garden roses has been one of the great joys of this past year for me, and I don’t know anyone in my ”real” life who has them! At the same time, being limited to growing them in pots has been an interesting challenge to address. (I do have a plot at our neighborhood community garden but there are shrub size restrictions in place, so the only OGR up there is a small and very happy Duchess of Portland among some pink yarrow and purple verbena). Back on my deck, Marianne went from a two gallon to a seven gallon container in just four months; I have that 25 gallon one ready, too :).

Other OGRs I grow include Reine des Violettes, La Reine, Sidonie, Belle de Crecy, Rose de Meaux, and Armide, though they have not yet bloomed this year. I know I am in a warm zone and may be pushing it with some of the once bloomers, but I‘m game to try!

I always look forward to this thread each spring. I only have a few things to share so far.

Indigo

Song of the stars

As Carol puts it, Paul’s Unnamed Purple Gallica.

A found rose some have suggested is Pompom Spong and hybrid musk Will Scarlet.

Some of the most fun I’ve had in the garden is growing plants from seeds. This one came from a batch of Indigo seeds I grew one year. The picture is deceiving as the flowers are only silver dollar sized and the plant stays under 2’.

By the way, does anyone grow George Vibert? Seems intriguing and quite rare.

@chris209 - Those indigo seedlings are insanely beautiful! Is it a repeat bloomer?

Hi Ian, rarely it will produce a late season stray bloom, but overall seems like a once-bloomer.

Re 'Georges Vibert', I've tried it any number of times--it seems to be fairly available in Europe--but it keeps getting swamped by grass. Don't know if the current attempt is alive.

Does anyone have Celsiana or Alba Semi Plena for trade or buy? Not sure where exactly I could ask but this thread popped in mind.

Thanks Melissa. I’m intrigued.

This rose is a bit of a mystery to me. It appeared in my pot ghetto and I had no idea where it came from. My best guess is it resulted from a bunch of seedlings I collected from beneath my frau dagmar hastrup rose. Most were straightforward rugosa types but they all took years to bloom so i think i may have lost track of this one while waiting. I have Marianne growing closely nearby so i wonder if there could be a relationship.

Susan-Williams Ellis is not an old rose but it really could be mistaken for one.

The gallicas have started here, so I'll begin with the Albas

I think this is Alba Maxima.

Chloris

Moving on to the Damasks

Madam Hardy

Ispahan

Now for the Gallicas

Apothecary Rose

Gloire de France

Jenny Duval

Oellet Flammand

A climbing tea rose called E. Veyrat Hermanos in the garden today.

mad_gallica: I love your roses!

Matt: that's a lovely photo, but your rose also reminds me of one in my garden, a lanky Tea that came without a name. Photo below:

The muddled, knotted bloom form and darker center are similar, but my rose is never as dark as your photo shows. Any thoughts?

‘Allegra’

‘Cardinal de Richelieu’

Matthew, I love E. Veyrat Hermanos but I dont have room for another climber. Where did you get yours? It’s a little hard to find.

I believe it’s a tea, not a gallica, but who cares. It’s just gorgeous.

It is a climbing tea rose, Sylvia. It was actually gifted to me by Jolene Adams when she moved and downsized, but it is currently available from Rogue Valley Roses. The first flush tends to ball on me when the weather is colder and wet, but once it warms up it does well for me. I’m also in zone 10a, Oakland, CA.

Lovely pics everyone! I adore the form of Gallicas and Damasks, but too warm in my zone for these lovelies!

@portlandmysteryrose, loved your “botanical explosion” amidst the rest of the neighborhood comment! I also love the incorporation of ferns and roses. A much more common sight in the PNW than SoCal, but I’d like to try it in one of back beds. :)

Thank you all for continuing the thread while I stepped away for a bit . It’s so heartening to see these antique beauties in everyone’s gardens, old forum friends’ gardens and new ones! My Rosa Mundi, Salet, JC/Marchesa and La Ville still have a couple of blooms each. Please keep the photos and conversation going as roses bloom and questions arise. I’ll pop in and out…

jjkOC, I hope your fern experiment is a success! I started using ferns as lacy accents when I moved to the PNW from Minnesota (after moving from TX to MN on my gardening journey of extremes). They definitely offer a regional spin to a rose garden, but they also give it a bit of a lush, tropical feel which seems like it would suit S Cal and soothe in the summer heat.

Chris, as always, your roses are magnificent! Sending you a PUPG fan club high five. :) I have been looking at Georges Vibert as well. I’ve seen it offered on a couple of sites. If you decide to try him out, I’d love to know your thoughts.

MadGallica—gorgeous roses every year and one of my fav forum names!

Josg Maggsib—Are you enjoying Paul Barden’s Allegra as much as I do?

Carol

Even most of the remontant roses are resting at the moment while Portland hits the mid 90s before a late June cool down. Leaning into hydrangeas and daylilies while reblooming roses power up for another flush.

Easy on the Eyes and Rose de Rescht

Marchesa Boccella

Easy on the Eyes

My ‘Allegras’ are very vigorous and had some huge, wonderful blooms this year. I did have problems with balling on them, as well as on ’Felicite Parmentier’ and ’Queen of Denmark’ and ’Botzaris’. I think I will deadhead more aggressively next year. I am actually going to build a tripod for my larger ’Allegra’ this week.

Carol, a couple of "Angry Juno" Clara Thomson. As a co-parent you need more photos.

Whole body shot.

Josg, I suffer balling on roses here, too, depending on how my varieties with full, unfurled buds time their opening. Portland is a temperate rainforest! Are your springs generally wet like ours? I often go outside in the sunbreaks and pull apart the outer guard petals. That helps somewhat. A tripod sounds perfect! My Allegra would likely benefit from one soon. I’d love to see photos when you train her.

Sheila, thank you so much for the growing baby pictures. Clara T is magnificent! Her color is a triumph! She has such a fun backstory, and it’s a privilege to be her co-parent! :)

Just for fun, some of my vintage hydrangeas taking the stage during my roses’ intermission.

Blaumeise

Libelle

Harlequin

I grow both mopheads for me and lacecaps for the bees.

My front garden is hunkering down in the PNW heat wave. My two dark varieties of David Austin roses which surely must have Gallica and Hybrid Perpetual in their lineages, Tradescant and The Prince, are persevering in the mid 90s temps!

Pardon the gap in the parking strip planting. It’s waiting for a vintage daylily. I moved my Gallica roses from the strip due to rising summer temperatures and increasing street traffic. That‘s why I offered very few shots of PUPG, Camaieux and its reversion and The Apothecary this year.

Not OGRs but David Austin’s original descendants of OGRs surely ignited a renewed interest in antique roses!

The Prince

Tradescant

I applaud all of you OGR lovers who are breeding or collecting seeds and growing the offspring.

Chris, I adore your silver dollar baby!

Carol, your garden is adorable!