So wrote Lord Penzance four years into his hybridizing program as he contemplated in 1889 which roses could be crossed to make interesting new classes harkening to the Bourbons and Noisettes.
The proceedings of the National Rose Conference of that year are at the link below; Lord Penzance’s thoughts are on (real page numbered pages ) 209-216.
At the same meeting a thirty-seven year old Rev. Pemberton showed plants of R. arvensis, R. rubignosa and R. canina, almost two decades before he introduced his first hybrid musks. Is it a coincidence that at this meeting there was discussion of the potential of R. polyantha (that we now call Rosa multiflora)?
One Hundred thirty-five years later, and in much the same position. Again! Thankfully, this time, we have more citizens around the world working separately & in communication with each other.
I feel like declining economic conditions are a far bigger culprit than fashion, especially here in America and Canada with our rapidly declining rates of homeownership. There’s a reason houseplants specifically have become so popular with younger demographics. You’re a lot less willing or able to put plants into the ground if you live in an apartment or a rent house.
I’ve seen lots of talk about the high-maintenance reputation of roses affecting demand, but less often is that discussion pushed to the conclusion that people simply don’t have the time that they used to to maintain a garden of any kind, much less a rose garden.
Bearing that in mind, it might explain the trend of a few robust but less “fashionable” roses dominating the market, perhaps uncoincidentally since around 2009. An unfortunate feedback loop, and I say that as someone who genuinely enjoys Knock Out roses.
As with myself and I’m sure many others, I bought a single rose on a whim at the hardware store and became obsessed soon after. But I was only at the hardware store because I had lucked into de facto homeownership a few months prior to that. And I only bought the rose because I have an abnormal amount of free time to spend in the garden compared to most people my age. Less and less adults are given the opportunity to own their own homes, and those who do have less and less time and disposable income to invest into the hobby and craft of growing roses.
Younger people are less and less likely to buy that first rose.
Today, yes, historically, not as much. “Fashion” has “killed” pretty much everything produced in the past century-plus. “Fashion” killed the earlier classes as people rushed to buy what was “new” and “Improved”. Think automobiles, “longer, lower wider! More powerful! Tail fins! CHROME! More horse power…” It’s the same with every product class. Today’s issues are partly that but mainly too many resources hoarded in too few hands. Today’s “youth” can’t afford the half acre lot with a sprawling ranch house, where a single income would support and pay for that, two cars, college educations, good job with benefits… Today’s “youth” have watched that “American dream” leave them behind and too many find they can’t afford it and never will be able to so they opt for experiences instead of “stuff”. They don’t want the “antiques”, they want Ikea so when something happens, they can toss it out or abandon it without regrets. If you can afford a yard, it isn’t that half acre but something significantly smaller so there isn’t room to plant masses of anything other than bedding plants. Add, working multiple jobs leaves little time or energy (not to mention interest) to do “yard work”. Not “everyone” but a larger percentage than not.
I’ll add to that list of reasons the hoards of Japanese & American rose chafer beetles that plague eastern and central Ontario in Canada including some regions of Quebec. People just don’t have the time it takes to run after and control them all the time with either this or that method - especially when they have to be at work and their roses are decimated to smithereens by the time they come home. So they give up on them regardless of the new releases.
I am continually happy we don’t have the rose-beetles here on Vancouver Island! Maybe even the entirety of BC. I’m not sure. Thrips do the most damage to flowers here, around midsummer. I must find a predator-species to encourage taking up residence in my garden…