ALL ABOUT ROSES
Old Garden Roses and 'Vintage' Roses
Alba Roses: Sensuous and Saintly
by Rhea Worrell
Rhea Worrell is a cyber-rosarian living in North Carolina. She is an avid gardener and an author of many fine articles on old garden roses.
Alba roses embody contradictions. Though the alba designation suggests blandness, and they are delicately tinted, this class of roses is remarkable for its ruggedness. Although the color range of their flowers is limited to white and pink, they are unsurpassed--within that range--for their subtle, blushed tints and creamy luminescence. While their blooms are delicate-looking, the plant on which they grow is a tough and imposing trooper, which can endure neglect and harsh conditions. Albas are generally very large shrubs of 6-8 feet, yet because of their easy culture and the subdued coloration of their foliage, are quite useful in the garden. Though Albas are full of contradictions, there is nothing puzzling about their wonderful and unique fragrance and easygoing nature.
One Alba rose in particular has been titled a nymph, a virgin, a seductress and a royal personage. Pretty confusing? All one can deduce is that this rose--Great Maiden's Blush--has been stirring people's emotions for quite some time.
Rosa alba was first cultivated by the Greeks and Romans and was widely grown in medieval times. They may be descended from a cross of Damask roses (R. damascena) and the wild Dog Rose, a native of Europe (R. canina). At any rate, they have many of the latter's qualities: smooth stems with fine prickles, pale, fragrant flowers, and vigorous, cascading habit. The date of their introduction is debated, but they have been widely planted and many endure.
Albas are, for the most part, very large shrubs that reach 6-8 feet or more. Their foliage is a soft, medium gray-green and slightly crinkled. They typically
Rosa alba was first cultivated by the Greeks and Romans and was widely grown in medieval times. They may be descended from a cross of Damask roses (R. damascena) and the wild Dog Rose, a native of Europe (R. canina). At any rate, they have many of the latter's qualities: smooth stems with fine prickles, pale, fragrant flowers, and vigorous, cascading habit. The date of their introduction is debated, but they have been widely planted and many endure.
Albas are, for the most part, very large shrubs that reach 6-8 feet or more. Their foliage is a soft, medium gray-green and slightly crinkled. They typically
have long cascading canes, which form a bell-shaped or fountain-like shrub that can be utilized as a specimen, or as part of a shrub border. Alternatively, their long canes can be trained against a fence or wall or into a tree. Some bear decorative hips.
They bloom once a year, in June. Their blooms range from single to very full. Their colors fall mostly in the white/pale pink range, with a delicate, translucent petal texture. Many are cream-colored or blushed with yellow or pink. Königin von Dänemark has the deepest pink blooms of this class.
They bloom once a year, in June. Their blooms range from single to very full. Their colors fall mostly in the white/pale pink range, with a delicate, translucent petal texture. Many are cream-colored or blushed with yellow or pink. Königin von Dänemark has the deepest pink blooms of this class.
Albas are very tough customers, who will tolerate poor soil, shade and indifferent maintenance. They are vigorous, quite hardy, and both pest- and disease-resistant. Their ease of cultivation, endurance, flower form and fragrance are their greatest assets. Their shortcomings are their somewhat unwieldy form, large size and short season of bloom.
NOTABLE ALBAS:
Alba Maxima (Great Double, White Cheshire Rose, Jacobite Rose). A very large, imposing no-maintenance shrub. Gray-green foliage backs masses of incredibly fragrant white flowers.
Alba semi-plena (White Rose of York). An elegant, symmetrical shrub studded with large single blooms of soft white centered with golden stamens and followed by red hips in autumn. So fragrant it is used to produce attar of roses. An excellent subject for large gardens.
NOTABLE ALBAS:
Alba Maxima (Great Double, White Cheshire Rose, Jacobite Rose). A very large, imposing no-maintenance shrub. Gray-green foliage backs masses of incredibly fragrant white flowers.
Alba semi-plena (White Rose of York). An elegant, symmetrical shrub studded with large single blooms of soft white centered with golden stamens and followed by red hips in autumn. So fragrant it is used to produce attar of roses. An excellent subject for large gardens.
Celestial A rose with subtle attributes. Soft pink, cupped blooms are small but pretty and sweetly fragrant. The shrub is 5' x 4' and heavily foliaged.
Félicité Parmentier Currently, one of the most favored of the albas, Félicité is more refined than some of her relatives. She has large serrated leaves of matte green, with a profusion of very full, very beautiful, very fragrant flowers of a clear, blush pink. The shrub on which they appear is compact, yet bushy, reaching only 4 feet.
Great Maiden's Blush (Cuisse de Nymph, La Royale, La Seduisante, Virginale, Incarnata) A gracefully arching 6' shrub, Maiden's Blush presents delightfully-scented, loosely double blooms of a soft, translucent, peachy-pink against matte grey-green leaves. Here is one of the world's favorite roses. There is a more compact sport, Small Maiden's Blush.
"[She] holds her flowers longer than most. This is a very beautiful old rose, many-petalled, of an exquisite shell pink clustering among the gray-green foliage, extremely sweet-scented, and for every reason perfect..." Vita Sackville-West.
Mme Legras de St. Germain Stunningly perfect flowers of pure white with a pale yellow gleam and a green button eye in the center. They embellish the smooth, light green leaves of a 6' shrub.
Mme. Plantier This very large bell-shaped shrub is extremely vigorous. Its gracefully drooping canes can be pruned into a shrub form or left as is to climb trees or fences. Its clusters of small, sweet-scented creamy white blooms have green button eyes and an outstanding fragrance.
Mme Legras de St. Germain Stunningly perfect flowers of pure white with a pale yellow gleam and a green button eye in the center. They embellish the smooth, light green leaves of a 6' shrub.
Mme. Plantier This very large bell-shaped shrub is extremely vigorous. Its gracefully drooping canes can be pruned into a shrub form or left as is to climb trees or fences. Its clusters of small, sweet-scented creamy white blooms have green button eyes and an outstanding fragrance.
Vita Sackville-West once described Mme. Plantier as a 15'x15' shrub "...tapering toward the top like the waist of a Victorian beauty and pouring down in a vast crinoline stitched all over with its white sweet-scented clusters of flower... [Mme. Plantier] gleams, a pear-shaped ghost, contriving to look both matronly and virginal."
Queen of Denmark Another favorite of this class is Königin von Dänemark, with its rich pink blooms, which are heavily petalled, with a green button eye and a beautiful fragrance.(Vita Sackville-West compared their color to crushed strawberries and cream). The leaves are lightly crinkled dark green on a modest-sized shrub of 4 feet.
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Alba Roses rated 8.5 or higher by the ARS in 1996: Alba semi-plena, Celestial, Félicité Parmentier, Great Maiden's Blush, and Mme. Legras de St. Germain.
SOURCES
Two books by Vita Sackville-West:
"A Joy of Gardening"
"Vita Sackville-West's Garden Book"
Roses
You love the roses--so do I. I wish The sky would rain down roses, as they rain From off the shaken bush. Why will it not? Then all the valley would be pink and white And soft to tread on. They would fall as light As feathers, smelling sweet: and it would be Like sleeping and yet waking, all at once.
- George Eliot
Queen of Denmark Another favorite of this class is Königin von Dänemark, with its rich pink blooms, which are heavily petalled, with a green button eye and a beautiful fragrance.(Vita Sackville-West compared their color to crushed strawberries and cream). The leaves are lightly crinkled dark green on a modest-sized shrub of 4 feet.
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Alba Roses rated 8.5 or higher by the ARS in 1996: Alba semi-plena, Celestial, Félicité Parmentier, Great Maiden's Blush, and Mme. Legras de St. Germain.
SOURCES
Two books by Vita Sackville-West:
"A Joy of Gardening"
"Vita Sackville-West's Garden Book"
Roses
You love the roses--so do I. I wish The sky would rain down roses, as they rain From off the shaken bush. Why will it not? Then all the valley would be pink and white And soft to tread on. They would fall as light As feathers, smelling sweet: and it would be Like sleeping and yet waking, all at once.
- George Eliot
