I’ve been growing roses for almost three years now, and I’ll be the first to admit I’m no expert—I’ve lost my fair share of roses along the way. At one point, I had about a hundred roses in my garden because, honestly, I’m a bit like a dragon hoarding treasure—except my treasure is roses. If anything catches my eye, I can’t help but buy it right away. Occasional die-offs have since whittled my collection down to a more manageable size.
When deciding which roses to grow, I usually think about a few factors:
- Appeal: Whether it catches my fancy—maybe it’s the name, color, or bloom shape.
- Garden Size: The size of the plant and how many more pots I can fit in my garden.
- Garden Layout: Where I’d put it and how it fits into the available space.
- Maintenance: How easy it is to care for.
- Cohesion: How it blends with the rest of my plants.
Most of the time, it’s the first factor that influences my choices the most. That’s why, despite my limited space, I’ve managed to collect so many roses—if one catches my eye, I can’t resist.
In this series of posts, I’ll share all the roses I’ve grown since moving to this apartment. All my roses are imported from Vietnam and Thailand. I started keeping track of the varieties once it became clear I’d be focusing mostly on roses. I’ve categorized them into three main groups, with a few that don’t quite fit any category. So, let’s dive into the first category!
Literary Inspired Roses
I’m pretty sure most of the roses I have caught my attention because they were named after or connected to a literary figure. Since I love reading, there’s no way I could ignore such roses. In my garden, I have roses named after characters from The Secret Garden (how could I resist that?), English classics, Greek mythology, or even famous authors. Here are some of the roses that belong to this group.
The Secret Garden by Rosa Orientis
When I discovered that the Japanese brand Rosa Orientis had a collection inspired by one of my favorite childhood classics, I knew I had to collect them all. I now have Mary Lennox, Martha, Robin, Ben Weatherstaff, and Colin Craven, and I finally completed the collection this year when Dickon became available. I even have Frances Burnett, named after the author of The Secret Garden.
Here are some roses from this collection (L-R): Ben Weatherstaff, Frances Burnett, Robin.
Authors
Can you imagine my excitement when I found out that some of my favorite authors have roses named after them? I managed to collect Lewis Carroll, William Shakespeare, Gerbruder Grimm, Jules Verne, and Pride of Jane (Jane Austen). I found Lewis Carroll and Jules Verne through a Vietnamese seller, while the others came from someone who sources their roses from Thailand. As much as I love that these unique varieties are available, the roses from Thailand turned out to be less hardy compared to those from Vietnam. I lost William Shakespeare and Pride of Jane earlier this year—they just couldn’t handle the rain.
Here are some roses from this collection (L-R): Pride of Jane, Gerbruder Grimm, and Lewis Carroll.
Greek Mythology
One of the largest collections I’ve had in my garden was my collection of roses named after characters from Greek mythology. The first roses I had in this group were Helen and Hector, though it didn’t initially click that they were named after mythological figures—I guess I forgot the story of Troy! But when I later found Achilles and Paris, I finally connected the dots. I completed my Trojan War collection with Odysseia and Argonaut.
Over the following months, my seller posted more roses from Rosa Orientis, and I couldn’t resist adding Calypso, Daphne, Endymion, Fire of Prometheus, Psyche, Penelopeia, and Eurydice to my collection. Out of all these, my favorites are Argonaut and Odysseia because of their vibrant flowers.
Here are some roses from this collection (L-R): Paris, Endymion, and Argonaut. Odysseia is the featured image of this post.
The Classics
Ah, the classics! Or more specifically, the English classics. One of my earlier pot arrangements was Shakespeare-themed—I had Desdemona, Othello, Midsummer, and William Shakespeare all together. Sadly, I lost all of those roses, so I can’t recreate that arrangement anymore. Currently, I’m left with Heathcliff and Lady of Shallot, both of which are growing healthily. The Lady of Shallot is even overhanging from the trellis in the back garden. I also had Sheherazade, Eustacia Vye, Emma Woodhouse, Scarborough Fair, and Emily Bronte.
I also have a couple of roses named after characters from children’s stories: Tinkerbell and Red Riding Hood.
Here are some roses from this collection (L-R): Heathcliff, Lady of Shallot, and Scheherazade.
This is just part one—I’ll be sharing more about my other rose collections soon!