La Roseraie de L'Haÿ Les Roses in Paris, France

A Rose garden or Rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses. Designs vary tremendously and roses may be displayed alongside other plants or grouped by individual variety, colour or class in rose beds.

Origins of the rose garden [link]

Although roses have been selected and grown in China for over 1,000 years,^[1] the forerunner of the rose garden as we know it today was planted by empress Joséphine de Beauharnais at Malmaison, France in the years between 1799-1814.^[2] Joséphine imported both leading gardening talent and scores of roses, financing many plant collecting trips. At her death in 1814, the garden included more than 250 varieties of rose. It is said that her plant hunters also introduced some 200 other plants to France, among them the dahlia. ^[3]

Ruston's Roses in South Australia

Public rose gardens [link]

Public rose gardens are a feature of many towns and cities. Notable gardens include:

Australia [link]

• Ruston's Roses in Renmark, South Australia houses the National Rose Collection of Australia (since 2005) and displays more than 4,000 modern and old garden varieties. The garden, which started life as a commercial fruit orchard, began supplying the cut-flower trade and by the mid 1970s it focused entirely on supplying roses as both cut flowers and garden plants.^[4][5]

Belgium [link]

• Coloma Castle, six miles (10 km) south of Brussels has more than 60,000 rose plants of some 3,000 different varieties. These include a complete collection of Belgian-raised roses and an area devoted to historic roses. The largest rose garden features varieties grouped by country and by breeder.^[6]

Canada [link]

• Royal Botanical Gardens, Ontario has a Centennial Rose Garden in its Hamilton complex. Laid out in 1967, it features Floribunda and Hybrid Tea roses, as well as collections of old varieties.^[7]

Denmark [link]

• Gerlev Rosenpark near Frederikssund includes a large collection of historic roses and a complete inventory of roses bred by Poulsen, displayed according to the year they were introduced.^[8]

Parc de Bagatelle in Paris

France [link]

• Roseraie du Val-de-Marne, L'Haÿ-les-Roses, is in the southern suburbs of Paris and was laid out in 1899 for the businessman Jules Gravereux. By 1914 the gardens had become so famous that the commune of L'Haÿ was renamed. Like Malmaison, the garden was built with the intention of displaying every rose in the world, and in the early years of the 20th century it contained 7,000 rose cultivars. Today it has around 2,000 species and 3,000 cultivars.^[9]

• Parc de Bagatelle, in Paris was the brainchild of Commissioner of Gardens for Paris Jean-Claude Forestier and is laid out in strict geometric style. It contains more than 9,000 roses of over 1,000 varieties. The first international competition for roses was organised here in 1907 and has been held annually ever since.^[10][11]

• Parc de la Tête d'Or in Lyon was opened in 1964 in the city where modern rose hybridisation began. It contains four rose gardens, as well as trial grounds for new French varieties.^[12]

Germany [link]

• Europa-Rosarium in Sangerhausen, Germany was founded by the German Rose Society in 1898, opening to the public five years later. The foundation of the huge rose collection was species roses collected by the amateur rosarian Albert Hoffmann. The gardens acquired few new varieties from 1950-1990, but its collection of earlier classes - Polyanthas, Hybrid Perpetuals, Noisette hybrids and ramblers - is encyclopedic. Some 2,000 cultivars are said to be unique to the garden.^[13]

• Rosarium Uetersen in Uetersen, Germany was established in 1929, with assistance from Mathias Tantau and Wilhelm Kordes. It contains over 1,000 rose varieties.

• Westfalenpark in Dortmund was developed in 1969 as the West German National Rosarium and contains around 50,000 roses within a contemporary design. It has themed rose gardens, including a romantic and a medieval garden, and glasshouses containing tender roses.^[14][15]

Italy [link]

• Fineschi Garden, in the Cavriglia municipality of Tuscany was created by a rose-loving surgeon over a 40-year period and now extends over more than eight acres. It has sections devoted to different varieties, including Gallica and Hybrid Perpetual roses and also to the work of different breeders. These include important collections from less well-known rose growing nations, such as Argentina, Poland and Portugal. The garden is open for a limited period during the summer.^[16][17]

Netherlands [link]

• Westbroekpark is a public park in in The Hague, and the large rose garden and trial grounds for testing new varieties was created in 1961. More than 20,000 rose plants are set out in large beds and the focus is on new varieties.^[18][19]

Switzerland [link]

• Parc de la Grange in Geneva is a terraced formal setting where a huge variety of roses are combined with statuary, pools and fountains. During the summer months the garden is floodlit after dark to show off the roses.^[20]

Queen Mary Gardens in Regent's Park, London

UK [link]

• Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire is a 13th-century former priory on the banks of the River Test, now owned by the National Trust. The rose garden is a much later addition, having been created in 1972 by Graham Stuart Thomas, the British horticulturalist and rosarian. It houses a National Collection of historic shrub roses.^[21]

• Royal National Rose Society Gardens is the official garden of the Royal National Rose Society and is located at its headquarters near St Albans. Reopened in 2007, after a four-year closure and redesign, it contains more than 7,000 plants of 2,500 varieties. Features include a collection showing the history of the rose, roses with companion plantings and designs to provide inspiration for growing roses in small gardens. ^[22]

• Queen Mary Gardens in Regent's Park, London is a circular rose garden surrounded by a ring of pillars where climbers and ramblers are displayed. It includes a mix of formal rose beds and more informal displays and some 40,000 roses are in bloom in the summer.^[23][24]

US [link]

• The Huntington Library in San Marino, California includes a vast botanical garden laid out in the early 20th century. While the garden is perhaps more famous for camellia and cactus collections, the 1908 rose garden displays varieties of all types and shows its history and development as a garden plant.^[25]

• The Gardens of the American Rose Center in Shreveport, Louisiana is headquarters of the American Rose Society and opened in 1974 (having relocated from Columbus, Ohio. It contains more than 65 individual rose gardens and 20,000 roses, shown with companion plants, sculptures and fountains.^[26]

• Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden in New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York displays over 4000 rose plants with over 600 varieties. ^[27]

Further reading [link]

The World Federation of Rose Societies^[28] produces an annual directory drawn up by national rose societies in each of its 39 member countries. This includes a catalogue of rose gardens considered nationally significant.

See also [link]

Garden Roses

Gallery [link]

• 

  Rose Garden at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada

• 

  Rose garden at Hever Castle in Kent

• 

  Aramaki rose park in Hyogo prefecture Japan

• 

  El Retiro rose garden in Madrid

• 

  International Rose Test Garden in Portland, Oregon

See also [link]

	Botany portal
	Gardening portal

• Rose
  • List of Rosa species
  • Garden roses
    • List of rose cultivars named after people
    • Rose garden
      • Rose trial grounds
    • Rose show
  • Rose cultivars

Bibliography [link]

• Jardins de roses, André Gayraud, éditions du Chêne, ISBN 2-84277-041-2
• Roseraies et jardins de roses, H. Fuchs in Le Bon jardinier, encyclopédie horticole, tome 1, La Maison rustique, Paris, 1964, ISBN 2-7066-0044-6.

References [link]

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rose

• Collection of Roses
• Find My Roses Index
• Hardy Roses including Antique Old Garden Roses, Shrub, and Species Roses
• Infojardin
• Namen der Rosen
• Peter Beales Roses
• Welt der Rosen
• World Federation of Rose Societies