History of Garden Roses
Rose cultivation began in ancient Babylonia and Assyria and was passed
on through later civilisations to Europe. Early garden roses
were wild species and their natural forms and hybrids. They
were grown for their beauty, scent, rose-water, rose-oil
and later for medicinal and horticultural purposes. These
ancestral roses were the forerunners of the groups Gallica, Damask, Alba,
Centifolia and Moss.
It was not until the early 19th century, following the introduction of
cultivated roses from China, that deliberate crossing began.
Breeders then started to cross every available rose, which
resulted in so many new varieties, that an attempt was made
to put them in order in 1837 and again in 1848. Many of the
groups then recognised still exist and new ones have emerged
since.
Outside the south end of Kew's Palm House there are special beds with
examples of some of the major rose groups listed below.
Rose groups
Gallica
Damask
Alba
Moss
and China
Hybrid China, Portland and Bourbon
Noisette and Hybrid Perpetual
Hybrid Tea
Pernetiana and Dwarf Polyantha
Rambling and Climbing
Hybrid Musk and Hybrid Polyantha
More plants
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