Alba Roses

As a brimming bowl, with crystal fill'd,
Came borne by the landlord's daughter,
Who wore in her bosom the fair white rose,
That grew best over the water.

George Walter Thornbury, (1828-1876)
 

Identified in Renaissance and Medival art, Albas are the white roses often seen as a symbol of purity and innocence. As such they have been symbolic of the Goddess Venus and later the Virgin Mary. In Botticelli’s masterpiece, The Birth of Venus, the Goddess arrives on a breeze strewn with Alba Roses, while in Schoengauer’s, Madonna of the Rose Bush, the Virgin’s head inclines towards a single white Alba growing among the Red Gallica Roses.

 
The Birth of Venus (detail), c. 1483, Sandro Botticelli, Uffizi, Florence

Madonna of the Rose Bush (detail), 1473, Martin Schongauer, St. Martin, Colmar 

This enduring theme of purity is embodied within the beauty of the Alba Rose itself.  Known in times past as the White Rose – ‘alba’ meaning white in Latin – all varieties have flowers with translucent white or delicately pink-tinted petals and an especially pure scent – sweet, fresh and, some say, with a hint of lemon. These qualities have swayed many rose lovers to consider the Albas the most refined and beautiful of the Old Roses.

But refinement aside, these roses are no weaklings. They are cold-hardy, disease-resistant and long-lived. Their resilient spirits have allowed them to survive in conditions that would see the demise of others, such as shade, poor soil or lack of maintenance.

Growth-wise, their canes arch outwards, fountain-style, forming a large head-high shrub. Normally relegated to the back of the border to contain their size, if space permits they can steal the show in more creative places in the garden. When planted near a pond for example, their graceful cascading habit, silver-green foliage and luminous flowers look especially beautiful reflected in the water below.

Alba Roses flower once every spring or summer – some plants taking a couple of growing seasons before they put on their best show of blooms.

Grown since Greek and Roman times, they are thought to be a natural hybrid, but between which roses remains a mystery. Likely candidates include unions between the Damask Rose (R.damascena) and a pure white form of the wild Dog Rose (R.canina) or between a relative of the Dog Rose (R.corymbifera) and R.gallica.

About twenty varieties of Alba survive today – Redouté pictured five in Les Roses, at least four of which are still in cultivation.