This is not just a recent practice – rose cultivation probably began around 5,000 years ago in China and what is now Iraq. But it was the 19th century that saw a big explosion in breeding the flowers when a handful of Chinese roses were imported into Europe. They were repeat bloomers, making them of great interest to hybridizers who no longer had to wait once a year for their roses to bloom. These were crossed with European cultivars to produce the great variety that emerged in the 1800s. 

For example, In 1724, celebrated gardener the Duchess of Beaufort was only able to bring together 16 types of roses for her collection, but by 1828 there were 2,500 varieties. 

Empress Josephine of France also had a great interest in rose-growing and breeding and her gardens were a haven for rosarians (rose cultivators) from 1803-1814, with many new types being bred there.

Old and new

From the introduction of roses from China, experts today tend to divide all roses into two groups. There are "old roses" (those cultivated in Europe before 1800) and "modern roses" (those which began to be cultivated in England and France around the turn of the 19th century).

Until the process of hybridisation was understood in the 1800s, new rose varieties were the results of natural crosses or mutations, which were then nurtured by gardeners.

Breeding roses is a very rewarding activity. From the moment a breeder chooses the parent roses, until a few months later when the seedlings flower for the very first time, there is an exciting anticipation as each of these seedlings will be absolutely unique – the creation of the breeder.

David Austin
© David Austin Roses Limited

David Austin

Someone who would know all about this feeling is the acclaimed rose breeder and writer David Austin. Born in 1926, his aim was to create new roses by combining the charm and fragrance of Old Roses with the wide colour range and repeat-flowering qualities of Modern Roses such as Hybrid Teas, Floribundas and Grandifloras.

His first rose, 'Constance Spry', was introduced in 1963. In 1967 and 1968 he introduced 'Chianti' and 'Shropshire Lass'. From these, he developed repeat flowering varieties and called them 'English Roses'.  

David Austin started David Austin Roses in 1969 to introduce English Roses, as other rose nurseries were not particularly interested in them at the time. This was short-lived and Austin's roses soon became the most successful group of new roses in the 20th century.

Constance Spry rose
©David Austin Roses Limited

The David Austin nursery in Shropshire now runs one of the largest rose breeding programmes in the world, carrying out more than 150,000 crosses each year, producing about 400,000 seeds. From these about 250,000 seedlings will germinate, from which each year's new introductions (new rose varieties) are selected after nine years of trialing.

The five or six new garden varieties are introduced each May at the Chelsea Flower Show. 

Naming roses

Walk through a big rose garden and you may find yourself asking odd questions, such as whether William Shakespeare smells better than Charles Darwin… New varieties by David Austin have been named in honour of his family, well-known Rosarians, historical events or celebrities. In 2006, ballerina Darcey Bussell had a crimson rose named after her, and the year before Alan Titchmarsh became one of the privileged few to have a rose as a namesake. 

Darcey Bussell
©David Austin Roses Limited

Blue Rose

Breeding roses is not always easy – it can take years and hundreds of crosses to reach the desired plant. 

The holy grail of horticulture and rose breeding for many years has been the blue rose, and now a chance discovery in a laboratory has meant scientists have found a way to produce one. 

Doctors were trying to find out how the human liver breaks down drugs and when they moved a liver enzyme into a bacterium, it turned blue. They then moved this gene into plants. It’s expected blue roses will be hugely popular, winning five per cent of the international market for cut roses.