Over the years we’ve tried garden roses from California and Holland and have always been disappointed. They don’t ship well and have a very short vase life. In fact, we were lucky if they arrived fit to use. The stems were always very weak and tended to have that droopy look. Unless you used them within a day or two they ended up not usable. We would never send these out in a vase arrangement. They might work for a wedding or a party were a weeks vase life was not that important. They cost a fortune and considering the amount of dumpage it just didn’t pay to buy these roses.

All that has changed. A German rose breeder Rosen Tantau has developed a line of garden roses that have greatly improve vase life and they’ve breeded a rose with much stronger stems. These roses are now being grown in Columbia by Alexdandra Roses.

If your a bride craving for that ‘garden look’ that’s featured in so many bridal magazine with big garden roses we have them at Knight’s. Just give us plenty of time to order them.

Mariatheresia:

This medium pink rose has a circular form that blooms out to a 3″ opening. It has a fairly fast arputure. All the roses bloomed out. It has little or no fragrance. It would work fine for weddings or party work. I wouldn’t recommend it for everyday arrangements because of it’s short vase life.

Rating (1 to for 4 stars)
Color: ***
Head Size **
Shape ***
Fragrance none
Vase Life * 3-4 days
Overall***

Pros: nice color, pretty form, all blooms fully opened
Cons: short vase life, average size head

Chippendale:

A salmon pink rose that fully opened into a spiral cup shape form. With a nice fragrance, these roses would be ideally suited for weddings and parties. Some of the roses we tested had some brown edges which is not unusual given the highly perishable nature of garden roses.

Rating (1 to four stars)
Color ****
Form ****
Fragrance ***
Head Size ***
Vase Life * 3-4 days
Overall ***1/2

Pros: spicy fragrance, uniform form, all flowers opened fully
Cons: short vase life

Waltzertraum:

The flower panel gave this stunning rose 4 stars. Waltzertraum is German for “Dream Waltz”. Walzertraum is a huge peony shaped hot pink garden roses that doesn’t have any discernable fragrance. Most of these roses opened about a 1/3 to 1/2 way. This would be a perfect substitute for peonies in weddings and probably a lot less expensive.

Rating (1 to four stars)
Color ****
Form ****
Fragrance: none
Head Size ****
Vase Life * 3-4 days
Overall ****
Pros: spicy fragrance, uniform form, all flowers opened fully
Cons: short vase life

Lovely Antique:

Here’s a garden rose that looks very similar to the hybrid tea called ‘Dolce Vita’. It’s a big bulbous white rose with hot pink edges. Nice rose to use in a wedding in which the overall color scheme was basically white, but you just wanted to add just a touch of pink.

Rating (1 to four stars)
Color ***
Form ***
Fragrance faint
Head Size ****
Vase Life * 3-4 days
Overall ***

Pros: large headsize,
Cons: short vase life, some roses never opened