Modern shrub roses have it all

large, but lush with leaves and blossoms.

Antique roses are those cultivated before 1867, when the first hybrid tea rose, La France, entered the scene. Antique roses are grouped into families with names evocative of romantic, old gardens: Gallica, Damask, Alba, Centifolia and Moss. Variety names such as Belle Isis, Gloire de France, Maiden’s Blush and Belle Amour complete the image.

Antique roses have a blowsy, casual air about them. These are roses that aren’t offended by offering support for clematis vines, or by having delphinium spires poke up through their branches. The blossoms have distinctive fragrances and pastel petals crumpled atop stems like crepe paper in a teacup. Many antique roses are cold-hardy and disease-resistant. One of my favorites is a Damask rose named Rosa Ispahan with intensely fragrant, pink blooms.

Species roses, another kind of shrub rose, are garden-worthy wild roses that have been moved over the centuries into gardens. Cold hardiness and disease resistance reflect their wild heritage. Blossoms of species roses usually have a single row of petals, bestowing a simple charm. Father Hugo’s rose is a species rose whose ferny foliage provides the show all season long, after the cheery, lemon-yellow blossoms have faded.

Most antique and species roses flower but once a season, which is undoubtedly one reason why their popularity was eclipsed by hybrid tea roses. (Rosa Ispahan, the antique rose, makes up for this lapse by flowering over a long period.)

Enter now modern shrub roses. Some have it all: full bodied-plants, disease resistance, and blooms with old-fashioned shapes and colors that appear all season. “Modern shrub rose” is a broad category and includes what might be called English roses, David Austin roses, Romantica roses and more.

Blooms within each family of rose vary widely from one variety to the next. Look through books and catalogs to sort through their characteristics. Books and catalogs also will cover some kinds of roses not mentioned here, such as climbers, ramblers and miniatures. But I don’t think those were the kinds that my sisterin-law had in mind for her garden.

LEE REICH VIA AP From breeder David Austin comes the Strawberry Hill rose, one of many modern shrub roses that capture the look of old-fashioned roses with disease resistance.