La Roseraie du Desért is a small nursery specializing mainly in roses of the 19th century, in particular Teas, Chinas and Noisettes. As well as selling the plants, we also have a garden where our collection of roses can be viewed by the public. It is often best to see established plants as their blooms vary from those growing in pots.  We are located in the south west of France, north of Tarbes and west of Toulouse. It is a somewhat oceanic climate with summer temperatures in the mid 30 C (which these roses thrive in) and winter temperatures can be as low as  -5 and –10 for short spells.

One of the qualities that many of these roses have is that they make handsome shrubs and so can hold their own in the garden bed. The Teas and Chinas can vary from being reasonably compact and low growing to some that are quite large bushes. They are not in need of heavy pruning, as are modern varieties, but if necessary they can be shaped to fit your requirements. Deadheading is done largely for aesthetics. Each year it is a good idea to cut away any dead or weak growth. Most of them are fragrant and repeat flowering. With some, the fragrance can be very intense and with others a bit more elusive, depending on temperature and growing conditions. The teas have a unique fragrance, which originally was said to be the scent of fresh tea leaves.  The colours are far more subtle than many modern types and their form is more delicate. Hopefully, you will find these roses as irresistable as we do and will want to find a place in your garden for them.

All of our roses are grown on their own roots. We believe this produces a more robust plant and one that is truer to type. We take cuttings twice a year and have a good selection of most of our roses available. If by any chance you see one and we haven’t got a plant ready we will gladly make it a priority to get one started as soon as possible. We are enthusiastic plants-people and have been growing 'old type roses' for many years, both in the United States, the United Kingdom and now here in France.

At the moment we sell from the nursery and at local plant fairs. We will also ship roses during the months of December through March. All our roses are container grown. We remove the pot and most of the soil, wrap them in wetted newspaper and place them in plastic sacs. They need to be planted upon receipt, either directly into the ground or into pots. Shipping to some countries requires root washing and phytosanitary certificates which we are able to do. For the United States it is the importer who applies for an import liscence. More information is available upon request.

-Becky and John Hook