Each year we replace at least five beds of roses. Our Selection Committee has the glorious job of selecting the new varieties that will go in. They have the choice from the Trial Beds and they have read all the literature (most of which is sales pitch, and bears no resemblance to the final result) and make a choice. The choice is based on height, vigour, colour and best mass display. They then sell their choices to Council and we get to enjoy the result.
Imagine if you are in Europe in 1596. A French nurseryman, Gerard, produces a catalogue for your selection. It lists 16 roses (and 225 carnations and 437 tulips).
By 1800, catalogues have increased to 100 varieties, because of the start of importation of China roses and crossbreeding from them. In 1814 Empress Josephine claims to have a complete collection of 250 roses in her garden at Malmaison. Du Pont, a famous Belgian rose breeder, offered his collection of rose hybrids to the Palais Luxembourg, and by the 1850s they had 1800 different species and varieties.
Then there was an explosion. Botanica Encyclopedia of Roses., published in 1998 lists 7000 varieties. Modern Roses 12 of 2010 lists over 30,000 roses by registered names, with about 3000 new registrations each year.
Doesn’t our Selection Committee have an easy choice?
However, let us not get too excited by all this European stuff. When Gerard produced his famous catalogue in 1596, the Chinese had been growing roses for centuries. About 500 BC, Confucius wrote that the Emperor of China had over 600 BOOKS about roses.
