Cemetery Roses – Life After Death

If you’re a fan of SenLinYu's Alchemised, then you’re familiar with the poetic phrase, “You're like a rose in a graveyard.” 

Rose enthusiasts will know that real cemetery roses, living on a diet of rainwater and the decomposing nutrients of Victorian-era bones, are indelibly unique, carrying the strains of Old World roses. 

The world thinks of the cemetery as a place of finality, a monument to those who are no longer with the living, where condolences are laid in the form of wilted roses. But it is there, amidst the cracked marble and silhouetted shadows, that wild roses keep on living, persisting in life after death. Those old-timey roses, including other cemetery plants once used to enliven landscapes, lie forgotten in cemeteries – their very survival a testament to their perseverance in the face of neglect. 

Where Roses Keep on Living

Not many will appreciate the intricacy and history behind cemetery roses, but they are nevertheless incredibly fascinating botanical anomalies. If you visit an old cemetery from the 1800s or early 1900s, the roses you find rambling over tombstones with wild abandon are a wholly different breed from the uniform, plastic-looking roses you buy at a modern grocery store. The pop culture equivalent is known as the “iPhone face,” a term used to describe faces that the human mind instinctively categorizes as modern and out of place in period films. 

• The Century-Old Strains: These are known as Heritage Roses or Old Garden Roses – roses that existed before the year 1867. When families buried their loved ones more than a hundred years ago, they would plant their favorite backyard rose bushes directly on the graves as a living memorial. Those that had escaped backyards grew inured to their environments, withstanding drought and hard freezes, and forming dense mazes of impenetrable hedges. Left to grow wild for decades, they sprawl into ten-foot knots of thorns, swallowing gravestones. 

• The Survivalists: Because cemeteries are often left undisturbed for decades, these plants escaped modern cultivation. While the original gardens in the towns were paved over for parking lots and Waffle Houses, the cemetery roses survived untouched. Many are so old that their original lineages have been lost, leading them to be dubbed impromptu names like "Highway 290 Pink Buttons," in reference to where they were found. 

• The "Found" Varieties: Unless you’re Wednesday Addams, few profess the desire to visit cemeteries or express a fondness for the macabre rituals of death. But unlike cemeteries stripped of virtually all living plant life, historical cemeteries are fruitful hunting grounds for specimens over a hundred years old. Botanists and "rose rustlers" will go into old graveyards to take cuttings of these plants because many of these specific genetic strains have gone extinct elsewhere on Earth. It might seem ironic that a place that has inspired a litany of ghost stories is also where the remnants of those Old World roses can be found, surviving on a dearth of water.  

Do they smell stronger than modern roses?

Cemetery roses are vastly superior to modern corporate roses in terms of fragrance. If you walk into a florist today and smell a standard red rose, you might notice a marked lack of scent. That is because modern commercial roses have been genetically cross-bred for specific industrial traits: stiff stems, uniform colors, and a long shelf-life so they can survive being shipped across the country. Unfortunately, in the genetic lottery of rose breeding, the gene for longevity actively overrides the gene for scent. When modern breeders optimized for survival in a delivery truck, they fell victim to the demand for immediate gratification and lost their scent. 

Growing a Rose Garden

To plant a modern rose garden inspired by cemetery roses is to invite a spirit of survivalism into your garden. The untamed, century-old strains found rambling over historic tombstones – having endured decades of bitter freezes, scorching droughts, and total neglect – are a poetic lesson in history. By choosing descendants of these Old Garden Roses, such as Souvenir de la Malmaison or Harison's Yellow, you bypass the finicky, chemically-dependent nature of modern grocery-store hybrids. 

For those looking for a vigorous variety, Peggy Martin, notable for its ability to withstand the devastation of hurricanes, will be at home with other classic plants of the South. Raised beds are recommended for best results. Although the original Peggy Martin rose, named after the Louisiana gardener who gave it its name, endured sweltering heat, it is also able to tolerate the inverse – winters of zone 4, with a cold tolerance down to -29°F. Roses favor trellises, which provide the natural architectural layout for them to drape gracefully. A fatal flaw of roses is that they are susceptible to many fungal and insect issues, so be sure to use an organic disease and insect control set to keep them healthy.