By Monrovia Nursery Company
Photographs by Doreen Wynja for Monrovia
Roses are back! Gardeners are looking for roses for all kinds of needs, in different heights and juicy colors. They’ve also been missing the beloved rose fragrance, which has often been sacrificed for disease resistance and other sought-after characteristics of newer rose varieties.
2023 brings great news for those feeling nostalgic for the fragrant roses of the past. Gorgeous new roses are hitting the market this year, and they offer fragrance, compact habit, and cold hardiness, on top of the disease resistance and easy-care habit that years of breeding has afforded modern roses.
Why all the excitement over roses?
Demand for roses is being driven by a renewed interest in classic flowering shrubs and romantic nostalgia plants, a design trend we call New Victorian style. “Blame it on Bridgerton,” says Katie Tamony, chief marketing officer at Monrovia, referencing the popular Netflix series. Gardeners are gravitating toward plants that a bring a sense of history, and a kind of lush abandon to the garden, such as roses, lilacs, hydrangeas, and hollyhocks. “This trend is an elevated, maximized version of cottage or cottage core,” says Tamony. “Our roses bring a romantic mood to the garden without the chaos—you can tuck these in easily anywhere.”
The New Victorian Garden is casual and rambling, but not disorganized, typically with a palette of peach, purples, pinks, and white. Monrovia’s new roses are a natural for this trend, but they also fit any design that begs for color, fragrance, and beauty.
Eau De Parfum rose Bubbly.
New Fragrant Roses
The time-honored romance of fragrant roses is here to stay with new roses that offer exceptionally fragrant blooms and that beautiful, traditional rose look. Eau De Parfum™ shrub roses and Heavenly Ascent® climbing roses are highly anticipated and delightfully fragrant roses that recently hit the market. Plus, these roses begin blooming in spring and will bloom continuously until the first frost, making them one of the longest-blooming scented flowers available.
The new Eau de Parfum roses offer exceptionally fragrant blooms with a high petal count for that beautiful, traditional rose look. This series also features excellent disease resistance and is available now in limited release for 2023 in four vibrant colors including Berry, Bling, Blush, and Bubbly. Every color in the series is a repeat bloomer, putting on a show from early spring through first frost. Eau de Parfum roses top out at four feet tall and wide and are recommended for USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 5-10.
A smaller climber with large, very fragrant flowers that bloom abundantly and continuously. Trained onto a trellis, they provide a colorful vertical accent and a classic cottage garden look. This own-root variety has shown good disease tolerance, as well. They can grow up to eight feet tall with support, and are recommended for zones 5-9.
Terrific amounts of beautiful blooms on a smaller, far more compact plant than others of its kind. Blooms from mid-spring all the way into fall. A great, easy-care option for tough conditions, this extra-cold-hardy rose is tolerant of sea spray and road salt. Plus, the leaves turn golden yellow in fall. These compact growers reach only three feet tall and wide, and are perfect for growing in zones 3-9.
By Laura Root
Photos courtesy of Jackson & Perkins
Gardeners are always thinking ahead to the next season or the next year. And, fall is the ideal time to think about spring. Flowering shrubs, perennials and spring bulbs are great choices.
Click here for an interesting article about spring bulbs.
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