Rare Roses

When it comes to rare roses..there's always a question about what's the rarest!

Of course, there are always true black or blue breeds, which have eluded science to this day. Mostly people are looking for the rarest antique or old rose. After all, who wouldn't like to brag about a true one of a kind rose in their garden!

With the advent of hybridization in Europe in the mid 19th century, many antique breeds fell out of favor. In fact, many of them ended up dying off for good. To help prevent this, European gardeners gathered up as many species as they could and started a central storing nursery in Germany at the end of the century. Over many years it grew into the European Rosarium, which has the most diverse set of uncommon species in the world, with almost 30 acres. Some of the rare breeds it has includes the Viridiflora, a green species and the Nigrette. It's been claimed that three thousand breeds are unique to this rosarium. So that would be a good place to start.

In the United States, there is nothing as vast as that collection. However, California does have several rare rosariums that are worth visiting. The San Jose Heritage Rose Garden is particularly nice.