Antique Roses have their charm....

Somewhere in the mid-60's the American Rose Society came up with the bright idea to break down the categories of roses. This was largely due to the huge increase in rose popularity and the exploding varieties of hybrid teas that were hitting the market.

I do like a lot of the old rose or antique rose varieties because of their incredible fragrance. In this group is a climber "Zepherin Drouhin" that was developed in 1867 or 1868 depending on the resource you look at. Mine has grown as tall as 20 feet tall before getting ripped to shreds when a strong Santa Ana comes along in the fall. This rose has been cut back to a few 3 foot tall canes 3 times in 10 years.

So there you go 3 frames of the climber "Zepherin Drouhin".