Old-fashioned Roses

Dorothy Perkins Roses on Our Fence

     Ever since I can remember, the picket fence around our house has been adorned in summer with Dorothy Perkins roses.  In fact, several of the fences in Oysterville sport Dorothy Perkins.  By looking on the internet, I found that the rose was first developed in 1901 and soon became one of the most widely planted roses in the world.  I wouldn’t be surprised if my grandmother planted it here soon after moving into the house in 1902.
     It has a sweet fragrance and is easily accessible, but the deer seem to leave it alone.  I’m not complaining!  They do enough damage to our York roses, also an old-fashioned variety.  Both the Dorothy Perkins and the Yorks make lovely bouquets but I’m always torn between leaving them as they grow and bringing them inside.  Nyel is tells me that I should plant a cutting garden, but I know I would feel the same way about that – something like having your cake and eating it too.
     There is a third old-fashioned rose that grows in our garden and down the adjacent lane.  I’ve seen it on the old fences in Seaview, too.  It is pink with single-layer petals and has a very delicate fragrance which seems to heighten toward dusk.  We’ve always referred to it simply as “the wild rose.”  The deer by-pass it, as they do the Dorothy Perkins.  The blossoms are a bit sparse although the thorns are plentiful, so the tourists don’t bother it either.  Neither do I.  Each blossom is short-lived and so a bouquet only lasts a day or two, whereas left to its own devices, it blooms continuously all summer long – the perfect rose to enjoy on late evening walks down to the bay.

3 Responses to “Old-fashioned Roses”

  1. The house where my aunt lives in Seaview was built in 1891 and was my grandparents summer home from the 1940s until my aunt and uncle moved there in the early ’70s. There were old fashioned roses growing at the end of the porch and I always loved them. Don Anderson has some old fashioneds going up the hill from our house in Ilwaco and yesterday, as a friend and I were tooling around the Oregon countryside going to lavender farms I commented on an old house with a wall of them along the road and wondered about the woman who planted them, doubtless long ago.

  2. In my early gardening days, as soon as I found out about heirloom roses, I planted only this type. They are so hardy and do not require the fussing over that hybrids can. I also especially like David Austin’s new old-fashioned roses. Heirloom Roses, St. Paul, OR, is one source for the old roses. I like it because its catalog and website are filled with gems of information and lovely photographs. Its beautiful gardens are well worth a visit. When I drive around the peninsula, I keep my eye peeled for the old-fashioneds.

  3. sandy stonebreaker says:

    Grew up in Ill. with Dorothy on just about every farm and house.
    Like you the others we simply referred to as wild roses. There seems a bit of controversy as to whether they are really roses.

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