Each year in May, people familiar with the Columbus Park of Roses know that the place to visit is  the Heritage Garden, located on the east side of the park, where Old Garden Roses may be found. (There is even a small parking lot at that end of the park).

The real beauty of Old Garden Roses is the fragrance they impart to the garden. Experience the bloom and fragrance for yourself in the Heritage Rose Garden. This specialty garden was established in 1986, with many of the cultivars dating back to Asian and Mediterranean cultures.

In 1966, the American Rose Society defined Old Garden Roses — or Heritage Roses — as those types that existed prior to 1867, the year the first hybrid tea rose was introduced. That rose was “La France.”

Within the generic definition of Old Garden Rose, a number of popular sub divisions exist based on the historical developments and characteristics of the rose. Distinctive characteristics of the flora form are: quartered, cupped, imbricated or expanded, reflexed, globular or compact. 

Most Old Garden Roses will produce a spring crop of blooms and no more the rest of the year. After that first burst of blooms, most will produce rose hips — the plant’s fruit — providing a different kind of beauty that lasts through the winter.

Pictured above is the first rose to bloom in the Heritage Garden, Father Hugo’s rose or R. Hugonis, a wild rose of China that was discovered by E.H. Wilson in 1899 and made commercially available in 1921. Make the Heritage Garden a destination in May to see the peak bloom.

Contributor: Bill Riddle