Now the old roses are back in vogue, with hundreds of them brought back from near-death, and many new roses have been created in the "old rose" style.

     The heirloom roses look very different from the hybrid teas we grew up with. Hybrid teas have big, beautiful flowers on little scrawny bushes (or big scrawny bushes). Old roses have big, lush bushes covered in roses, but the individual flowers are small. Most of them have the very double form you see in old paintings. The oldest ones don't usually repeat bloom, offering instead an explosion of beauty in May or June. Newer varieties often do repeat bloom, though their first burst of bloom may not be as grand and glorious as that of the old-timers, which give their all just once per year.

     THE OLD LADY OF OLD ROSES website is a good place to begin learning about the old roses. Do click on "Roses in the Landscape" in the lefthand column. It gives you an idea of how old roses can transform a garden. One of the photos is of the Fantin Latour rose, which I used to have. It was a glorious, absolutely glorious, fountain of bloom once each year.

http://www.oldladyofoldroses.ca/

     Find here another batch of beauties, in Christchurch, New Zealand. You cannot get these lush effects with modern hybrid teas – only with the old roses.

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/botanical-gardens/old-rose-garden.html

     The next three sites are, (1) a very large heirloom rose nursery, (2) a site with old rose pictures, and (3) rose garden design.

http://www.heirloomroses.com/

http://www.justourpictures.com/roses/ogrs.html

http://members.aol.com/srbrubaker/roses/rcolor.htm