Tradition dictates that “show-off” roses like modern hybrid teas be cordoned off from other plants so they can be easily sprayed, pruned, and fussed with. Like soldiers standing at attention in perfect rows, boring and expressionless, modern roses planted in this fashion do little to stimulate our creativity.

Unlike their modern cousins, antique roses are fat, full of foliage, and billowing with color and fragrance when in bloom. I place mine as specimens at the corners of my perennial borders where an exclamation point is needed, in my cottage garden where the walkway curves around the corner, on either side of an entryway, or even in large containers strategically placed where all passersby can see them. For instance, ‘Duchesse de Brabant’, an old tea rose that dates back to 1859, flaunts its pink flowers in our perennial border. ‘Old Blush’, with her consistent bloom, is the focal point in our cottage garden. There’s an old twig chair by her side so visitors may sit and enjoy her company and scent. ‘Hermosa’, like ‘Old Blush’ and ‘Archduke Charles’, is a China rose that makes a great display in a whiskey barrel. ‘Marie Pavié’, ‘The Fairy’, and ‘Cécile Brünner’ are more diminutive and fit into smaller containers, where they are used to accent porches and entryways.

Use midsize growers to define space

Specimen roses that are stunning by themselves become even more spectacular planted together. I mass a single variety to impart a uniform color and form and to give continuity to a planting. These masses can take the form of hedges like the ones that separate my garden areas, or foundation plantings like those in my display gardens. I’ve also planted rows of roses in front of the fences that ring the nursery. Although these roses—which replaced traditional hedges of boxwood and photinia—may be bare in winter, they are certainly more showy come spring and summer.

Larger roses like ‘Old Blush’, ‘Archduke Charles’, ‘Mrs. B.R. Cant’, and ‘Sir Thomas Lipton’, which reach 6 feet in height and spread, are best used along fences and taller structures where their scale will not dwarf nearby structures. Polyanthas like ‘Cécile Brünner’, ‘Marie Pavié’, and ‘The Fairy’, which grow to only 3 feet tall and wide, are excellent choices for borders and walkways along garden paths.

Some of these roses make excellent informal borders. ‘Climbing Pinkie’ and the hybrid musks ‘Cornelia’, ‘Prosperity’, and ‘Penelope’ are large cascading shrubs, 6 to 8 feet tall and wide. When planted together, they form tall informal hedges that ably delineate property lines or even hide unsightly parking lots. When planted alone, they create a fountain in a border where they will bloom in the spring and again in the fall.

Train climbers on fences

Whether used as a single specimen plant in a border or a container, tightly trained as a climber, or massed into a hedge, antique roses belong in the garden, where their history, fragrance and versatility can be appreciated. I am often struck by the intense beauty antique roses bring to my display gardens, and moved by the joy of neighbors and visitors as they stroll through the grounds, reveling in the fragrance.

Antique roses belong with the perennials, annuals, and woody shrubs that fill the gardens. Since they don’t need to be sprayed and fussed over, roses become just another player in the overall palette of garden plants. When the roses are in bloom, the garden is beautiful. When the roses are not in bloom, the garden is still beautiful because its diversity creates interest year round.