Old Garden Roses: Why Grow Roses with History?
There is something special about planting roses with a story. Perhaps it is a variety that has been grown for generations. Perhaps it came from a historic garden, an old homestead, or a family garden where someone carefully tended it decades ago. Or perhaps you simply fell in love with the shape of its flowers, the fragrance, or the way it grows.
Whatever brings you to them, old garden roses offer something wonderfully different from the roses many gardeners first encounter at a garden center, namely their historical qualities.
And perhaps most importantly, they can become part of your history.
Why Grow Old Garden Roses?
Old garden roses have been treasured for generations for many reasons: their history, fragrance, flower forms, colors, growth habits, and their ability to bring character and structure to a garden.
But one of the most appealing things about old roses is their diversity.
Unlike the modern image many people have of a rose- a neatly shaped bush covered in large, formal "florist style" blooms- old garden roses can look remarkably different from one another!
They may:
- Climb walls, fences, arches, and trees
- Ramble through large spaces
- Form large, informal shrubs
- Create graceful mounds of foliage and flowers
- Trail or cascade
- Grow well in containers
- Produce one spectacular flowering season
- Repeat their flowering throughout the growing season
- Develop colorful rose hips after flowering
- Provide fragrance ranging from sweet and fruity to spicy, musky, tea-like, or richly "rosy"
This diversity makes old garden roses useful not only as individual specimens but also as wonderful landscape plants.
A large rose can provide the backbone of a garden bed. A climber can soften a wall or structure. A low-growing variety can fill the foreground of a border, while a fragrant rose near a walkway can turn an ordinary garden path into an experience.
What Makes a Rose an "Old Garden Rose"?
The term Old Garden Rose is another loose/common term for a True Antique rose, and refers to established groups of roses that were known and cultivated before the widespread rise of modern hybrid roses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Essentially, any rose introduced before 1867, when the world's first modern hybrid tea, La France, was introduced, is considered a true antique variety. We carry the climbing sport of La France, which was introduced a little later in 1893.
It is important to note that the term "old" garden rose does not simply mean that an individual rose plant is very old. A rose planted last year can belong to an old garden rose class, while a rose that has grown in someone's yard for 50 years may be a modern variety.
Old garden roses include a wide range of historic groups, including Gallicas, Damasks, Albas, Centifolias, Moss Roses, Chinas, Teas, Bourbons, Portlands, Noisettes, and others.
Each group developed through different combinations of natural variation, selection, cultivation, and hybridization, resulting in the tremendous diversity of roses we know today.
Are Old Garden Roses Easier to Grow?
This is one of the first questions new gardeners often ask, and the answer is sometimes, but not always.
Many historic roses have reputations for toughness and adaptability, and some have demonstrated remarkable persistence in gardens where they received little supplemental care. Roses found surviving at old homesites, cemeteries, and historic properties can be reminders of just how resilient certain varieties can be.
But it would be misleading to say that every old garden rose is automatically easier to grow than every modern rose.
Roses are living plants, and their performance depends on many factors, including:
- The individual variety
- Climate and hardiness
- Soil conditions
- Sunlight
- Water availability
- Disease and pest pressure
- Pruning
- Planting location
- Overall garden care
Some old roses are exceptionally resilient. Others may be more particular about their growing conditions.
The same is true of modern roses. Many newer varieties have been intentionally selected for characteristics such as disease resistance, repeat flowering, flower form, or compact growth and can perform beautifully with relatively little maintenance.
Rather than asking whether old roses or modern roses are "easier," it's more useful to choose a rose that is well suited to your particular garden.
Learn more about how to Select the Right Roses for Your Garden.
Old Roses and Modern Roses: What's the Difference?
The difference isn't simply that one group is old and the other is new.
Modern rose breeding has introduced an enormous range of colors, forms, growth habits, disease resistance, and bloom forms. Many modern roses are prized for their ability to repeat bloom throughout the growing season, while some historic roses are especially valued for their fragrance, graceful growth habits, distinctive flowers, or historical importance.
There is tremendous variety on both sides.
One characteristic that many gardeners associate with old garden roses is their informal, naturalistic growth habit. Rather than requiring frequent shaping to maintain a particular outline, many historic varieties have forms that can become beautiful landscape features in their own right.
And then there is fragrance. Rose fragrance is incredibly diverse, and some historic roses are famous for exceptionally rich scents. But fragrance isn't exclusive to old roses. Many modern roses are also highly fragrant.
The best way to understand the difference is not to think of old roses as "better" or modern roses as "better," but rather as different collections of characteristics shaped by different periods of rose breeding and selection.
Why Do Old Roses Matter?
There is another reason old roses are worth growing that has nothing to do with flower count, disease resistance, or garden performance.
They carry stories.
A historic rose can be connected to a particular place, person, culture, or period of history. Some varieties have traveled across continents. Others have survived in gardens long after the people who originally planted them were gone.
Because roses can be propagated vegetatively, a particular variety can be preserved and shared from generation to generation. That means the rose growing in your garden today may be genetically connected to plants that were growing decades, or even centuries, ago!
Unlike an antique piece of furniture that sits quietly in a room, a historic rose is a living object. It grows, flowers, changes with the seasons, and can be propagated again for someone else to enjoy.
That is part of what makes preserving historic roses so meaningful.
Tab. 66 depicting Old Blush rose from Henry Charles Andrews' monograph 'Roses' (1806) from archive.org
Roses Can Act as Living Memories
There is an emotional side to gardening that can be difficult to put into words; a fragrance can bring back a person, a flower can remind you of a childhood home, a garden can become the place where your family gathers year after year.
Felder Rushing, a longtime gardener, writer, and friend of Antique Rose Emporium, once shared a beautiful illustration of this idea. He described his young daughter smelling a rose and telling her to put her nose close and take a deep breath. His point was simple: years later, that fragrance could bring the memory of that moment rushing back for her.
That is one of the gifts of gardening: when you plant a rose today, you aren't only choosing what your garden will look like this season. You may be creating a memory that lasts much longer.
And someday, the rose you plant may be the rose someone else remembers you by.
How Old Garden Roses Fit Into Today's Garden
You don't need a historic home, an enormous garden, or a collection of dozens of roses to enjoy old garden roses.
A single rose can have a meaningful place in almost any landscape.
Consider using an old garden rose:
As a specimen plant
Give a beautiful rose room to become a focal point in the landscape.
Along a walkway
Plant a fragrant variety where you can enjoy its scent as you pass.
Against a fence or structure
Use a climbing rose to soften hard lines and add vertical interest.
In a mixed border
Combine roses with perennials, annuals, herbs, shrubs, and other plants to create a layered garden.
In a cottage-style garden
Many old garden roses pair naturally with informal planting designs.
In a container
Some varieties can be grown successfully in containers, making roses accessible to gardeners with patios, balconies, or limited garden space.
For wildlife and seasonal interest
Allowing some roses to develop hips can provide additional color after flowering and may offer food for wildlife.
Start Your Own Rose Story
Lamarque rose submitted in our Spring 2026 Photo Contest by Seiko I.
The history of old garden roses certainly isn't finished- every time a gardener plants one, tends one, propagates one, or shares its story, that history continues.
Maybe your rose will become the centerpiece of a garden you've spent years creating. Maybe its fragrance will become associated with your children's childhood. Maybe you'll pass a cutting along to a friend. Or perhaps decades from now, someone will walk through your garden and wonder about the beautiful old rose still blooming there.
That's the remarkable thing about these plants: Old garden roses aren't simply pieces of the past. They're living plants that give us a way to carry the past forward.
And you don't have to be an experienced Rosarian to begin! You simply have to plant a rose and give it the opportunity to grow.
Continue Learning:
Explore Our True Antique Roses
Discover historic and heritage roses available from Antique Rose Emporium.
Rose Gardening Terms Every Beginner Should Know
Build your rose-growing vocabulary with our beginner-friendly guide to common rose terminology.
How to Choose the Right Rose for Your Garden
Not sure which rose is right for your space? Start with your climate, garden conditions, and desired growth habit.
Planting Your Own-Root Rose
Learn how to give your new rose the best possible start.
If you have any other questions regarding more details on rose information, please see our other blogs or reach out to us at gardenquestions@weareroses.com.
