The Rosarium’s Areas
The Gothenburg Rosarium is divided into two main areas:
- The Rose Park (old garden roses)
- The Rose Oval (modern roses)
This division refers to the year 1867, when the first Hybrid Tea rose, ’La France’, was introduced. Some exceptions exist: Noisette, China, and Tea roses grow near the Rose Oval despite being old garden roses, as they were key to creating modern roses. Since it is precisely these roses, of Chinese origin, that were decisive for the emergence of modern roses, it seems logical to grow them together.
The Rose Park
In the Rose Park, which was laid out in 2008, roses grow alongside a great number of perennials and ornamental grasses, including coneflowers, catmint, woodland sage and blue bristle grass. The old garden roses are shrub roses, usually once-flowering, and have an open growth habit, which means they coexist well and can establish themselves among perennials. When most of the old garden roses have finished flowering in the middle of July, there remains a long period in which the perennials are in full and vibrant bloom.
The Rose Park is laid out in the stylised shape of a rosebud, with the beds, edged by gravel paths, forming the petals. The different groups of roses take up different amounts of space – Gallica roses which constitute a big collection of 90 or so varieties grow in the largest number of beds, while Portland and Hybrid Perpetual roses are considerably fewer and share one bed. This free composition of the beds means that there are many ways to wander round the Rose Park, as the different groups of roses are not organised according to a clear line of development – though of course the history of the evolution of the rose is not as clear and simple as that either. This is where the rose group signs come in handy.
A rose pergola traverses the Rose Park with clematis and vigorous climbing roses in shades of white, leading to the pond in the shape of a wedding ring – this is the Wedding Place (Bröllopsplatsen), a fine place to tie the knot, but also for more modest contemplation in the company of – aside from roses, of course – magnolias and mulberry trees.
The Rose Oval
The Rose Oval retains its 1980s shape from the rosarium’s beginnings, with the Seashell fountain (Snäckan) at the far end. The play of water and its cheerful splashing during summer matches the modern roses’ cascades of colour.
Otherwise, the roses grow in fairly orderly rows among perennials, annuals and bulbs in 40 or so beds laid out in an oval shape.
The Rose Oval sees many more changes than the Rose Park, since the selection of modern roses is constantly being renewed. Some of the beds in the Rose Oval are characterised more by volume planting, with many examples of a few varieties, or themed by scent, colour palette or insect-friendliness.
Conceptual gardens
Between the back of the Greenhouse and the Gazebo are three rose-themed conceptual gardens:
- ’Greetings from the King’s garden’, a composition of different kinds of simple roses in warm colours and ornamental grasses, by the Danish landscape architect Jane Schul.
- ’The sunken garden’, with exuberant blooms in pale pastels contrasted with sharp-edged architecture, by the designer Nina Thalinson and the architect Gert Wingårdh.
- ’The Dutch rose garden’, simple and robust roses in a sea of perennials attracting insects and creating a wilderness feel, by the Dutch landscape architect and nursery gardener Piet Oudolf.
They are three completely different expressions, but with the shared idea of presenting roses in a context far beyond systematics and linear flowerbeds.
Climbing roses
There are climbing roses in several places besides the Rose Park and the Rose Oval: around the Storehouse (Lagerhuset), along the back of the Greenhouse and around the Gazebo. Behind the fountain in the Rose Oval is the Rose Arch, where the biggest climbing roses, also known as ramblers, grow.
Species
The species, or wild roses, with their hybrids grow behind the Rose Arch and between the café (Rosenkaféet) and the Director’s House (Direktörsvillan). This is the best collection of species roses in the Nordic countries, and it is maintained and renewed by the Gothenburg branch of the Swedish Rose Society on a pro bono basis. You can read more about the Swedish Rose Society on svenskros.se if you are interested in joining the society and participating in taking care of the species collection.