Top 20 of best reblooming heritage roses

Top 20 of best REBLOOMING heritage roses.

Many rose lovers think that all old Heritage roses are once flowering but that's certainly not true. With the Bourbons, Noisettes, Tea Noisettes, Teas, China's, Hybrid Perpetuals and Portlands we have more than 300 old reblooming varieties. Not every nursery offers a wide range of reblooming heritage roses and I know that Europe and Australia are a bit spoiled in this regard. But also the USA certainly has nurseries that offer a very good old rose catalog. The internet is your best tool here. On my blog you can find the best rose nurseries according to country.

We've only looked at reblooming skills so the roses in this top 20 are reblooming champions

The Top 20 in random order:

Souvenir de la Malmaison (Bush) 

Lady Hillingdon (Bush and climber)

Mme Boll / Comte de Chambord / Mme Knorr

Jacques Cartier / Marchesa Boccella

Rose de Rescht

Rose du Roi

Salet

Reine des violettes

Alister Stella Grey

Devoniensis (Bush and climber)

Honorine de Brabant

Crépuscule

Desprez

Mme Alfred Carrière

Zepherine Drouhin

Gloire de Dijon

Mme Bérard

Mme Isaac Pereire/ Mme Ernest Calvat

Louise Odier

La reine Victoria / Mme Pierre Oger

One tip: Portlands, Noisettes, Tea Noisettes are almost Perpetual blooming. Teas and China's too but many people don't have the right zone to grow them and that's why I left them out. If you are in zone 8b and more the Teas and China's are first choice.

Top 20 of best once blooming heritage roses

Top 20 of best once blooming HERITAGE roses

Once blooming heritage roses still are the gems of the rose world. They bloom once for several weeks with a stunning display of drop dead gorgeous flowers which are often very fragrant. Far more healthy than their reblooming brothers and sisters they are carefree gems in any garden. Of course there are much more than 20 very good once blooming heritage roses but again choices had to be made. In random order (no particular order):

Königin von Dänemark (Queen of Denmark)

Ispahan

La Ville de Bruxelles

Petite Lisette

Great maiden's blush

Charles de Mills

Félicité Parmentier

Mme Louis L'évêque

Fantin Latour

Duchesse de Montebello

Duchesse d'Angoulême

Mme Hardy

Gloire de France

Aimable Amie

Belle Isis

Coup d'Hebé

Blairii No 2

Rosa Gallica Officinalis

Petite de Hollande 

Village Maid

Many others are equally good and I would like to mention Mme Plantier, De Meaux, Chapeau de Napoléon, Belle de Crecy, Captain John Ingram, Duc de Guiche, L'évêque and many others

Top 20 of best English roses (David Austin roses)

Top 20 of best English roses (David Austin roses)

Many many responses and many different varieties so it's not easy to distille the top 20. Remember: The top 20 is in RANDOM order. I'll mention other varieties that deserved a spot in the top 20 too but choices had to be made so don't be sad when your favorites are not in the top 20 (it could easily be a top 30)

The Top 20:

Lady of Shalott

Olivia rose Austin 

Eustacia Vye

Emily Brontë

James L. Austin

Gentle Hermione

P. A. O. K.

Generous gardener

Molineux

Scepter 'd Isle

Gertrude Jekyll

Bathsheba

Crown Princess Margareta

Jubilee Celebration

Jude the obscure

Evelyn

St Swithun

Constance Spry

Charles Austin

Spirit of freedom

Also very recommended and could easily join the TOP 20:

Golden Celebration

Grace

Queen of Sweden

Lady Emma Hamilton

The lady gardener

Boscobel

James Galway

Port sunlight

Tranquility

Roald Dahl

The Wedgwood rose

Englantyne

Mary rose/Redouté/Winchester Cathedral

The ancient Mariner

Strawberry hill

Etc...

Top 20 of best reblooming climbing roses

BEST REBLOOMING CLIMBING ROSES

A top 20 selection in random order!

The list is made up of real climbing roses that rebloom almost continuously (Perpetual) through late spring, summer and autumn. Two Flushes isn't enough to make the list. I've also looked at availability which is an important factor too. Noisettes and Tea Noisettes undoubtedly rebloom the most so they are well represented in the list. Your input has been very valuable. There are really good repeating climbers which didn't make this list but are still a good choice. Some examples are Bouquet d'or, Mme Bérard, Gloire de Dijon (find a strong specimen), Strawberry hill, Teasing Georgia, The Wedgwood rose, A Shropshire Lad, Jasmina, Laguna, Bienvenue, Coral dawn, Awakening, New dawn, Bantry Bay, Sénégal, Étoile de Hollande climbing, Meg, Compassion, Sombreuil, Plaisanterie, St Swithun, Spirit of freedom, etc...

Now the Top 20 in random! order 

Lady Hillingdon climbing

Mme Alfred Carrière

Rêve d'or

Blush Noisette

Scent from heaven

Alibaba

Devoniensis climbing

Crépuscule

Crown Princess Margareta

Bathsheba

Mme Caroline Testout climbing

Desprez (à fleurs jaunes)

Maréchal Niel

Aloha

Ghislaine de Feligonde

Iceberg climbing (Schneewittchen /Fee des neiges)

Lady Sylvia/Mme Butterfly climbing

Alister Stella Grey

Perfumed breeze

Colette

Most nurseries have several of these climbers available. In Europe, USA, Asia, Australia and New Zealand and South Africa and probably countries in Latin America such as Argentina and Chile.

I hope you will use this as a helpful tool when you're thinking of buying a good repeat blooming climber.

Rêve d'or 

Top 20 best Hybrid Teas

BEST REBLOOMING AND HEALTHY HYBRID TEAS TOP 20

Hybrid Teas dominated the rose world for more than an entire century but their reign is declining rapidly. More and more modern Hybrids (crosses between different families of modern roses) are released and new real HT's with pure upright growth and only some flowers at the top are getting rare in the EU. Most new roses are a cross between HT's, floribundas, species roses and DA roses. But in this top 20 we only have real typical HT's. We've looked at health, reblooming quality and fragrance because everyone loves a fragrant rose.

The Top 20:

Chandos Beauty

Prince Jardinier (Francis Meilland)

Sophie Rochas

Line Renaud (Dee-Lish)

Pope John Paul II

Frédéric Mistral

Belinda's dream

Diamond Jubilee

Valencia

Savoy Hotel

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Pure poetry)

Sœur Emmanuelle (cathedral bells)

Sweet Mademoiselle (Mlle Meilland)

Tropicana

Paul Ricard

La rose du Petit prince

Charles de Gaulle

Pullman Orient express

Double delight

Annapurna 

So these are in random order some of the best HT's you can buy at this moment. Of course there are many others that are also worth growing but they just lack that bit of extra health, reblooming speed or fragrance.

These include: Just Joey, Chicago Peace, Peace (Mme A Meilland), Gräfin Diana, Fragrant cloud (duftwolke), Yves Piaget, Chartreuse de Parme, André Le Notre, Tiffany, Beverly, Maria Callas, Barbra Streisand and many others.

Prince Jardinier / Francis Meilland 

Top 20 most fragrant roses

Top 20 of most fragrant roses!

An almost impossible task as there are far more extremely fragrant roses than 20. So we do a top 20 and I'll add plentiful of other candidates. They All are in random order except for no 1 but that's my privilege lol. The TOP 20 was created after a poll at Dirk's rose group, for real rose addicts, a Facebook group. 

Top 20:

1) Mme Isaac Pereire & Mme Ernest Calvat (Bourbon) 

Abraham Darby (English rose)

Jude the obscure (English rose)

Sœur Emmanuelle (HT)

Pope John Paul II (HT)

La France (first HT)

Louise Odier (Bourbon)

Gertrude Jekyll (English rose)

Evelyn (English rose)

Anna Olivier (Tea)

Lady Hillingdon climbing (Tea)

Étoile de Hollande climbing (climbing HT)

Pompadour (HT)

Madame Anisette (HT)

Caroline's Heart (Modern Hybrid)

Line Renaud (HT)

La rose de Molinard (HT)

Mme Boll/Comte de Chambord (Portland)

Jacques Cartier/Marchesa Boccella (Portland)

Reine Victoria and Mme Pierre Oger (Bourbon)

Felicia (Hybrid Musk)

Other extremely fragrant roses include: Crown Princess Margareta, Sharifa Asma, Lady Emma Hamilton, Mary rose/Redouté/Winchester Cathedral, Yolande d'aragon, Mrs John Laing, Golden Celebration, Jubilee Celebration, Munstead Wood, Chandos Beauty, Augusta Luise, Friesa, Margaret Merrill, Rose edouard, La Ville de Bruxelles, Ispahan, Perfumed Breeze, Yves Piaget, Chartreuse de Parme, André Le Notre, Devoniensis, Desprez, Souvenir de la Malmaison, Ulrich Brunner fils, Eugène Fürst, Mme Plantier, Félicité Parmentier, Belle Isis, Charles Austin, Constance Spry, Maréchal Niel, Scent from heaven, Rose de Rescht, Henri Delbard, Général Jacqueminot, Souvenir du docteur jamain, Minerva, Heritage, Wife of Bath, St Swithun, Tiffany, Valencia and so many others...

Mme Isaac Pereire in my garden 

The Gigantea project

Rosa Gigantea, Empress of roses, was brought to Europe in the 19th century. Because of her lack of hardiness it took a while before breeders started to cross with this giant rambling rose with massive flowers. Belle Portugaise and Étoile de Portugal were amongst the first Gigantea hybrids to appear on the market but due to their limited cold hardiness they generally were grown in warmer regions or in greenhouses. At the beginning of the 20th century the Hybrid Teas became all the rage and other rose families were almost forgotten in Europe. Still, a few new Gigantea hybrids appeared: Folette (Sénateur Lafolette)and Emmanuella de Mouchy to name a few but they never became well known but they managed to survive the difficult 20th century.

In Australia the situation was different. Due to the ideal climatic circumstances breeder Alistair Clark took on the challenge and started to cross with our R. Gigantea and with great success. Lorraine Lee, Aussie Sixer, Golden Vision, Nancy Hayward and many others are still Australian gems and widely grown in south Australia but except for Lorraine Lee few made it into Europe. 

In the USA some Giganteas such as Twilight mist and Nessie were created but they stayed mainly unknown and are currently threatened with extinction. Also some sports and seedlings from Belle Portugaise were found: Susan Louise and Belle Blanche but they also didn't find their way to many customers.

In China Lijiang road rose was discovered: A giant Gigantea hybrid that made it to Europe. Today she's one of the most widespread Gigantea hybrids in the rose world. A light yellow sport is also available. 

And then Viru Viraraghavan from India began to use R. Gigantea in his crossings. Viru, a very humble man got assistance from his wife Girija. In the beginning (sixties and seventies) Viru mainly wanted to cross with R. Gigantea because she was a native rose to India. Viru and Girija loved the European Tea roses such as Rêve d'or, Safrano and Madame Falcot. They did well in many parts of India and Viru wanted to use these roses in his future crossings with R. Gigantea. Many varieties appeared and not few had exquisite flowers. They did very well in the moist but hot climate of Kodaikanal in India. 

When climate change started it became clear that the European, classic roses, but also HT's and English roses from David Austin weren't made for hotter times with more periods of drought. Not only in Europe the roses started to feel the climate stress but also in India and other warm parts of the world. Viru realized that his Gigantea Hybrids could be the missing link in obtaining new, heat, drought and rain resistant roses. He continued his work and in 2023 he had more than 60 varieties of which a majority with Gigantea blood. Most are climbers with very big, Tea rose shaped flowers and a nice Tea fragrance. Some rebloom and some do not but all are strong and vigorous.

The biggest problem for Viru was in getting his creations to Europe, USA and Australia. Due to horticultural laws and quarantine rules it proved to be a major task. Some varieties reached the USA and Australia but Europe was a problem. Still, Viru and Girija succeeded in getting some cutting material to Davide de Libera of Novaspina nursery in Italy. Davide started to propagate them.

Then I came in the picture. Because our rose garden was suffering from heat and drought the past years I decided to switch to more heat and drought resistant roses so I ended up with the Teas, Tea Noisettes and China's. From that moment on R. Gigantea came across my path naturally as she's a parent of the China's. I came in contact with Viru and Girija and there was an immediate click between us. Viru's creations really impressed me and I wanted to help him getting them to Western Europe. Sadly Viru died in December 2023 being well in his eighties. I made a commitment in getting his roses to Belgium, France and Spain. Girija brought me in contact with Helga Brichet and Di Durston, two very important ladies in the rose world. Helga is President emeritus of the international rose association and Di is a Tea rose expert from Australia. She wrote the highly acclaimed Tea rose book: Old Tea roses for warm gardens.

Helga has an acclaimed rose garden in Perugia Italy and it's best known for housing the biggest collection of Gigantea hybrids in the world. Helga wanted to help me in spreading the Giganteas into Europe. She's going to send grafting material of all her Giganteas to Lens roses in Belgium in July 2025. Lens will graft them and then I will have several specimens of each variety. Some will get planted in my garden, at Park Abbey in Leuven and some will go to Loubert nursery in France. Loubert is the largest heritage rose nursery in the world and Jérôme Chêne, the owner, showed major interest in my project. Loubert will be able to spread the Giganteas all over Western Europe.

Last year I contacted Davide from Novaspina asking him if he could send me some of the Viru Giganteas and he said yes. I'm expecting them the coming weeks so this means I can finally start growing them and spread them to Lens roses, Loubert roses and other nurseries and rose enthusiasts. I will keep you informed about how it will unfold the coming weeks, months and years so stay tuned! 

Prix J. P. Redouté

J. P. Redouté from Belgium became immortal with his unsurpassed horticultural drawings. Especially his rose drawings are highly praised. 

Dominique Massad from Guillot wanted to honor the great man with a rose. Prix J. P. Redouté was released in 2010 as part of the old fashioned Générosa collection from Guillot

The Générosa collection is extremely popular in South and Eastern Europe including Russia and Ukraine. They prefer the Générosa varieties to those from DA. When I spoke to the owner of a famous Italian rose nursery last week she told me that they disliked the modern DA varieties and preferred the old ones, a complaint that's heard very often 

But back to Prix JP Redouté: Clusters of medium sized, rosette shaped flowers in the warm colors pink, orange, peach and apricot. A strong Tea with vanilla fragrance adds to the beauty. 

Growth is rather upright and can reach 120X80 cm or 4X3 feet. With some support she can get taller and would make a beautiful small climber or obelisk rose.

She blooms all summer and well into autumn. Health is good and the flowers are rain resistant. Very hardy zone 4b to 9b

A beautiful splash of color! 

Spirit of freedom

Spirit of freedom, Austin 2002

English rose 

Abraham Darby X Unknown seedling 

A magnificent rose in all respect and a wonderful example of the old Austin varieties. 

It's parent Abraham Darby dislikes rain and is a blackspot and rust martyr but Spirit of freedom can stand rain and is much more healthy. 

I never grew this specific variety but I bought it for my rose aunty back in 2004. Today, it's still one of her treasured beauties as it grows on an 2,50 meters obelisk in full sun. We prune it lightly so never more than 1/3 is removed.

It's a tall rose and it def needs support. Its much taller than wide so approx 250X100 cm or 8X4 feet. Foliage is light green and healthy. The buds appear in small clusters and open into big, very full blooms. First cupped like Constance Spry or a Centifolia but later they open up more. A delicious, almost Bourbon, fragrance adds to their beauty.

Spirit of freedom is a good reblooming rose and can deliver up to three flushes. Zone 6b to 9b. Rain and partial shade tolerant. They do burn in very hot sun. 

I must admit that it's a rose I would buy for in my Tea rose garden because she looks like my Bourbon roses such as Coup d'Hebé. 

A very recommended DA rose 

Shade tolerant roses?

On so many rose sites you read about "Shade tolerant roses" but that's a wrong description. There are very few shade tolerant roses but there are roses coping with less sunlight. Not one rose would choose for a shady option as all wild roses thrive in full sun. They have their thorns to cling onto other plants or structures to rise up and get as much sunlight as possible.

Our cultivated roses are all descendants from those wild species so full sun is what they love most. There are however cultivated roses which can cope with partial shade, especially in the afternoon, when the sun is at her strongest. Dark red roses don't prefer partial shade but we give it to them to prevent burning of their beautiful dark flowers. Dark red roses don't mind the hot sun as long as they can produce seed but we like pristine flowers so we give them partial shade to protect the color.

So if it was up to our roses they would never prefer partial shade let alone full shade. Here are some roses coping with a partial shade position: Alba roses such as Félicité Parmentier (mine has partial shade), Madame Plantier and Königin von Dänemark Are Extremely Hardy and can cope well with shade. They only flower once. 

Gallica roses such as Charles de Mills, Officinalis etc... again they only bloom once for a few weeks. 

Westerland, Ghislaine de Feligonde, Ballerina, ramblers, Lady Hillingdon climbing, Mme Alfred Carrière, Mme Isaac Pereire, Bourbon queen, Coup d'Hebé. All these roses can bloom in partial shade.

But what if you only have full shade or a North facing garden. Then I would only recommend the Alba roses as they are the most tough. They won't perform at the best of their abilities but you'll have flowers for sure.

Don't forget that many many roses can grow in big pots so you can let them grow on a terrace or patio with full sun or partial shade. If you only have a 100% shady garden I would try the Alba's.