Rosa gallica Officinalis

This organic Rosa (x) gallica Officinalis is a rose bush commonly used for the production of essential oils in perfumery. It is also known as the Apothecary's Rose, as it has been cultivated since the 13th century for its medicinal properties. Its ornamental qualities and the uncommon vigour of this almost wild rose quickly seduced the very first rose breeders who used it to create other forms and varieties, most of which have now disappeared. Rescued from the past, this historic rose still charms today's enthusiasts of robust and reliable plants with its abundant summer flowering in a bright carmine pink. Charming, hardy, and truly undemanding, it will adapt to all gardens.

Rosa (x) gallica Officinalis, also known as the Provins Rose, rosa gallica 'Plena', Rosa galliva, or Rosa 'Semi-duplex', is considered a subspecies of the botanical rose Rosa gallica, native to an area ranging from Central and Southern Europe to Asia Minor. Already mentioned in the West in 1583 by Charles de Lécluse, the officinal rose was celebrated in its time by the Greek poet Anacreon in the 6th century BC. All the so-called Gallic roses are resistant and undemanding bushes that tend to sucker when grown on their own roots.

The Apothecary's Rose was distinguished with an Award of Garden Merit in England for its ornamental qualities, as well as its performance in the garden. This low-growing shrub, with a bushy habit, reaches approximately 90 cm in height and 1 m in spread, with moderately fast growth. Its foliage is adorned with a rather dark green colour, it is matte and remarkably healthy. It blooms in June-July, for a long time and abundantly, with semi-double to double flowers of medium size reaching 8 to 9 cm in diameter, grouped in small clusters. The 8 to 15 petals that make up the flower are arranged in a flat cup. They are a bright carmine pink, centred on a very bright yellow stamen heart. The flowering is followed by the formation of numerous fruits called hips, ovoid in shape and red-orange in colour when ripe. The fragrance of these roses is very pleasant, typical of old roses, more or less light or intense depending on the time of day and the climate. The Gallic rose, Rosa gallica, very fertile, is a botanical species that played a major role in the creation of the first European varieties.

Later abandoned for perpetual hybrid varieties, Gallic roses are nevertheless robust roses full of history. They include bushes like 'Officinalis', 'Versicolor', 'Cardinal de Richelieu' or 'Charles de Mills' that thrive in old abandoned gardens, while many others will have given up. Full of charm, brilliant and carefree, the Provins rose contributes to the exuberance of summer-flowering shrub borders, landscape hedges, mixed with buddleias, abelias, or deutzias. Its modest growth allows it to fit into perennial borders, where it wonderfully accompanies perennial geraniums, paniculate phlox, dame's rocket, or purple toadflax. Rare qualities that make us forget that it only blooms once, a flaw that is not reproached in other flowering shrubs! It definitely deserves to be planted in all rose lovers' gardens.

If you have enough space, English, Old, or Shrub Roses are magnificent when planted in groups of three. They will grow together to form 'one' opulent bush that will bloom even more generously.