CENTIFOLIA ROSES

CENTIFOLIAS
(Le Rire Niaise shown)

Perhaps the first class of roses to be developed as a group of hybrid cultivars as far back as the late 17th century. They continued their popularity through the heyday of rose breeding in the early 19th century, possibly because of their splendid fragrance and charming floral form. These "hundred petaled" roses with their globular flowers of fine petal texture gained the nickname early on of "Cabbage Roses", a name later loosely applied to many other very double roses, particularly the Hybrid Perpetuals.

Habit
Arching growers to 6' or more with a mix of fine and coarse prickles, large rounded foliage, usually neatly serrate at the edges, Centifolias have an informal draping habit of growth. We distinguish two general types:
1. (E.g, CENTIFOLIA VARIEGATA) The common Centifolias
2. (E.g, SPONG) The dwarf Centifolia which is denser, more upright, more compact.