Gallicas are the jewels of Old garden Roses. They bloom in the most amazing colours from pale translucent pink to magenta, crimson, burgundy, grape, mauve through to violet and in some cases all these colours are blended together with grey tones appearing as the blooms age.

BELLE DE CRECY

These colours are very intense in the darker coloured flowers as the petals are thick and matt, therefore reflect very little light. Many also have a blackish bloom that adds a velvety texture to the petals. Gallicas are the ancestors of many of the garden roses we grow today. Typically they are suckering shrubs (if grown on their own roots) and around one metre high. With upright canes and foliage to the ground make them a neat compact shrub. There are no disease problems with Gallicas-so they are a low maintenance garden choice. Almost all the Gallicas have a heady and intense perfume usually rich and sweet but Belle Isis has the ‘myhrr’ perfume thats been passed on to Constance Spry and many other of the David Austin roses. Their flowers are from single through to fully double. Petal formation varies from informal, imbricated (overlapping), quartered and button eyed. Mostly they have medium sized blooms of around 7 to 10 cms and last well when cut for vases. R.gallica=R.rubra is generally accepted as the original species type. A variation is R.pumila -a very small trailing bush with single red blooms. It grows wild in various places in Europe. R.gallica grandiflora ‘Alika’ has large single crimson flowers and grows to around 2 metres. It was brought from Germany in the early 1900’s and has been used by various breeders to create other varieties. ‘Scharlachglut’ a tall shrub to 2.5 metres was bred from it by Kordes in 1952. In turn ‘Scharlachglut’ and ‘Tuscany Superb’ were used by Peter Beales to create ‘James Mason’ in 1982. R.gallica 'Officinalis’ is also known as ‘The Apothecary’s Rose’ , ‘Rose of Provins’ and ‘The Red Rose of Lancaster’ and has been cultivated for many centuries as an herbal remedy and for making rosewater. The flower is a light crimson semi-double and unlike most other roses, the petals from Officinalis intensify in perfume when dried. R.gallica ‘Versicolour’ also known as ‘Rosamundi’ is a variegated sport of ‘Officinalis’ From around the same era are Tuscany and Tuscany Superb. Known in ancient times as ‘Old Velvet’. They are very similar to each other-Tuscany Superb having a larger slightly more double flower than Tuscany. Flowers are deep crimson to maroon when first open and take on black and purple tones as they age The Gallicas also bred freely with other species roses leading to such roses as R.macrantha, R.polliniana and R.x richardii = R.sancta (The Holy Rose). Also from the Gallicas came the Damasks, Albas and Centifolias. Many hundreds of Gallicas were bred throughout the 1700’s and 1800’s. There are still some very beautiful cultivars available today. Most of the fully double ones have a button eye. Here is a small selection. Anais Segales - bred in 1834 with large fully double flowers of deep lilac/crimson. Belle de Crecy - bred in 1829 with medium sized fully double flowers of an amazing blend of rich colours. Belle Isis – from 1845 has fully double cream flowers overlaid with pale pink. Camaieux-1930 double flowers of pale pink striped with dark pink. Cardinal de Richelieu-1840-opening dark crimson and taking on deep purple tones with aging.