IN THE GARDEN | Old roses are bewitching

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Do make time to visit the SA Rosarium during the Bedford Country Gardens 2025 event.

It’s where you will find out more about the highly fragranced, gorgeous and voluptuous blooming “old roses”, some dating back to the 1500s.

The garden show will have two open dates on October 31 to November 2, as well as the following weekend from November 7 to 9.

Seasoned farmland gardener and old rose enthusiast Kim van Niekerk was recently invited to present a talk on the SA Rosarium at the Historic Rose Group in York in England where she met many interesting rose lovers.

“The group has adopted us as a sister garden and we have become a member of this international group,” Van Niekerk said. “They will be visiting us in South Africa next year.”

The SA Rosarium in Bedford, which because of its location enjoys its own microclimate, provides a sanctuary and growing space for a collection of all old roses and their parent plants that arrived many years ago on South African soil.

There you will be able to enjoy seeing the old roses available and choose which you would like to buy to take home to your own garden.

Eighteen years ago, a group of “old rose” enthusiasts were inspired to create the SA Rosarium as an old rose sanctuary in Bedford after they had visited Senlis in France where Van Niekerk and Heritage Rose Society members from the area attended the World Heritage Rose congress.

Realising at this event that many countries around the world had established a garden of preservation for old roses but South Africa had not, the group was encouraged to establish the same organisation in SA.

It was developed with a grant from the Rose Organisation of South Africa (Rosa) and is a garden for all of SA.

The purpose of the SA Rosarium is not to be a show garden but a space for the mother of each type, family and colour of the “old rose” to grow. 

And so, preserving the original genetic material. In turn, it provides a nursery for collectors and rose lovers to find these treasures for purchase.

Old roses are known for their powerful fragrance, hardiness, disease resistance and character.

China, bourbon, old tea roses and hybrid perpetuals will repeat bloom but some are just early summer bloomers.

Their high quality fragrance is often sourced for rose oil and rose water.

Old roses are tough and disease resistant, having adapted over time to grow in many climates.

How did they decide of the many old roses in existence which to collect for the Rosarium in Bedford?

“We needed a focus on which to collect for our Rosarium as the worldwide species numbers are too many for this garden,” Van Niekerk said.

The book by Dr Gwen Fagan, The Roses of the Cape of Good Hope, is where she, her husband Gawie and helpers went on a journey to rediscover the old roses documented in many shipping journals which had confirmed their arrival here.

In this treasured book every rose they found is pictured, along with a description and information about it.

“The Rosarium aims to house all the species portrayed in Gwen Fagan’s book,” Van Niekerk said.

Many of the roses were found on farms in the Eastern Cape region in old graveyards, mission villages, cemeteries, farm buildings and private collections.

For the land to be identified as a home for the Rosarium it needed to be possible to transfer it into The Rosarium Trust as a title deed.

“Its siting was to be near where the majority of the interested people lived so the work could be done,” Van Niekerk explained.

Fagan, who turned 101 in September, was asked to design the garden and be fully involved in the roses’ placement.

She was a medical practitioner until 1969 but left her practice to join her husband Gawie’s architectural firm, Gabriel Fagan Architects, as a historical researcher and landscape planner. She has a PhD in landscape design.

Fagan came back to visit the garden last year.

How old are the roses which grow in the Rosarium?

“Some date back to the 1500s with varying ages,” Van Niekerk said. “Some were grown from pieces and others were moved here as big shrubs.

“All old roses should be able to grow on their own roots.”

In contrast, most commercially grown roses are not grown on their own roots. Rather they are grafted onto separate rootstock which allows for mass production, to improve hardiness and resistance to pests and diseases.

A grafted rose will have a knobbly part at the base between the roots and the top growth.

Van Niekerk says at the Rosarium they propagate the old roses as plants for sale. The garden provides a showcase and inspiration for people to buy plants to spread the love of old roses.

“Hopefully everyone’s garden could be home to old roses for their perfume, a climbing ‘security’ plant, a waterwise hedging option, for attracting pollinators, birds and for the species genetics.”

Old tea roses flower most of the year, as do some of the climbers.

What is involved in caring for old roses?

“We fertilise and feed the roses twice a year,” Van Niekerk said. “We prune lightly only on those branches which get in the way.

“Then do some deadheading of the tea roses to encourage and increase the blooms. Many of the roses are not pruned too much.

“We allow the rose hips to develop in the autumn for another interesting colour and nutritional flush.

“The main thing is to prepare the soil properly as any plant is only as healthy as the soil in which it grows. We refrain from using sprays and chemical fertilisers.

“We have been using Atlantic fertiliser for many years. The whole garden is companion planted which discourages visits from pests and disease.

Van Niekerk invites you to join the Heritage Rose Society. The cost is R100 per annum. You will receive regular newsletters with loads of information. Contact Van Niekerk on 082-775-5178 or speak to her at the Rosarium when you visit there.

• In the Garden is written by feature writer, garden enthusiast and former teacher Julia Smith, who has returned home to live in Chintsa East. The column aims to inform novice and accomplished gardeners on how to make the most of their green patches