Roses from Sissinghurst: 15 of the best
Sissinghurst Castle is famous for its roses. Discover the rose cultivars that Vita Sackville-West grew there and find out more about them with head gardener Troy Scott-Smith. Photographs Rachel Warne.
When Troy Scott-Smith, head gardener at Sissinghurst discovered that some of the roses that the garden's original creator Vita Sackville-West had planted were no longer growing there, he set out to put them back.
"Vita's own diaries and notebooks, along with catalogues she marked with potential rose orders, have helped us identify many of the roses she grew, while lists left by former head gardeners have provided greater detail," he explains. "We may never find all of the lost roses, but tracking them down and discovering some new favourites has brought great pleasure."
Discover more about the garden at Sissinghurst garden and some of its most special roses in this video with head gardener Troy Scott-Smith, and find out the names of Vita's top 15 roses below.
Here's our guide to the best single flowered roses to buy
The loveliest roses at Sissinghurst Castle
Rosa ‘Adélaïde d’Orléans’
An ideal rambler rose for a pergola or trellis, with delicate flowers that hang like jewels along the length of its long, pliable stems. 4.5m. AGM*. RHS H6, USDA 5a-10†.
Buy Rosa ‘Adélaïde d’Orléans’ from David Austin
Rosa ‘Albertine’
A well-known rose rambler you often see in gardens with a delicious fragrance of tinned pineapple. Can be grown on a wall or allowed to do as it likes among shrubs. 3.6m. AGM. RHS H6, USDA 4a-8b.
Rosa ‘Alchymist’
A modern floribunda climbing rose from the German breeder Kordes in 1956. Grown for its golden-yellow-orange blooms and striking copper-bronze foliage. 6m. RHS H6, USDA 4a-9b.
Buy Rosa ‘Alchymist’ from David Austin
Rosa ‘Allen Chandler’
Grown over the entrance arch, this rose takes centre stage at Sissinghurst. Its brilliant scarlet-red flowers are followed by copious orange-red hips. 4.7m.
Buy Rosa ‘Allen Chandler’ from David Austin
Rosa ‘Blanche Double de Coubert’
A rose cherished by Vita, not only for the length of its flowering period but also for the power of its fragrance. 1.5m. AGM. RHS H7, USDA 3a-9b.
Find Rosa ‘Blanche Double de Coubert’ through the RHS
Rosa ‘Blanche Moreau’
An extraordinary rose with creamy-white double flowers that contrast with the purple-brown, heavily mossed stems and leaf stalks. Flowers only once. 1.8m.
Buy Rosa ‘Blanche Moreau’ from Trevor White Roses
Rosa ‘Bleu Magenta’
A splendid, late-flowering rose rambler that can usefully extend the season. Little scent, but few thorns. 6m. AGM. RHS H7, USDA 5a-9b.
Buy Rosa ‘Bleu Magenta’ from David Austin
Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’
Apricot-yellow flowers of delicious scent are beautifully presented in small clusters against the red-brown stems and bronze tinted leaves. This rose is rarely out of flower.1.2m. AGM. RHS H6, USDA 6a-10b.
Rosa ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’
A gallica rose, much loved by Vita for its sumptuous velvet-purple colouring. 1m. RHS H7, USDA 4a-8b.
Rosa ‘Céleste’
Flowers of delicate pink emerge from beautiful buds all set among glaucous grey leaves. Associates well with roses of rich purple. 1.8m. AGM. RHS H7.
Find Rosa 'Céleste' through the RHS
Rosa ‘Charles de Mills’
The crimson-purple to dark-lilac colouring is really splendid on this rose when planted with strong pink varieties. 1.2m. AGM. RHS H7, USDA 4a-8b.
Rosa ‘Complicata’
At Sissinghurst we grow this glorious gallica as both a free-standing rose shrub and climbing up the Elizabethan wall, and I’m also experimenting growing it in our meadow. Its large, single, pink flowers surround a circle of gold stamens. 3m. RHS H7, USDA 4a-8b.
Buy Rosa 'Complicata' from Peter Beales
Rosa ‘Constance Spry’
This climber/shrub rose is named after the florist who did so much to popularise old roses. Clear-pink, double flowers are cupped at first and smell of myrrh. 2.5m. AGM. RHS H6, USDA 5a-10b.
Rosa ‘De Resht’
A damask/gallica rose introduced by Nancy Lindsay. Fuschia-red flowers with purple tints are abundant and are held above the foliage on short stems. 1.2m. AGM. RHS H7, USDA 4a-9b.
Buy Rosa 'De Resht' from Gardening Express
Rosa ‘Duplex’
Formerly known as Rosa ‘Wolley-Dod’, this shrub rose grows in deep shade at Sissinghurst, its pink flowers contrasting beautifully with the healthy foliage. 3m.
Buy Rosa 'Duplex' from Trevor White Roses
More of Vita's roses found at Sissinghurst:
Rosa ‘Dusky Maiden’, Rosa ‘Fantin-Latour’, Rosa ‘Felicia’, Rosa ‘Félicité Perpétue’, Rosa ‘Flora’, Rosa ‘Francis E Lester’, Rosa ‘Fritz Nobis’, Rosa ‘Geranium’, Rosa ‘Henri Martin’, Rosa ‘Honorine de Brabant’, Rosa ‘Ispahan’, Rosa ‘Kathleen’, Rosa ‘Kordes’ Magenta’, Rosa ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’, Rosa ‘Madame Lauriol de Barny’, Rosa ‘May Queen’, Rosa ‘Mrs Honey Dyson’, Rosa ‘Noisette Carnée’, Rosa nutkana ‘Plena’, Rosa ‘Penelope’, Rosa rubiginosa, Rosa ‘Sissinghurst Castle’, Rosa ‘Souvenir du Docteur Jamain’, Rosa ‘The Garland’, Rosa ‘Variegata di Bologna’, Rosa ‘Wickwar’, Rosa ‘William Lobb’, Rosa x polliniana, Rosa ‘Zigeunerknabe’.
Useful information
Two websites that proved extremely useful in Troy's search for rare rose cultivars were: helpmefind.com/rose/ and combinedroselist.com, which publishes an annual list of around 15,000 cultivars worldwide.
Specialist rose suppliers
Visit Sissinghurst Castle Garden:
Address: Biddenden Road, near Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 2AB
Website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst-castle-garden
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