She is an avid gardener and an author of many fine articles on old garden roses. The Tea rose class was so named because of its dry, spicy, tea-like scent. They are easy to grow, very good as cut flowers and useful in the garden. Another plus is that many Teas have climbing sports of equal or greater merit.
Tea roses do have one drawback their lack of hardiness.
They are usually hardy only down to Zone 7, with exceptions noted below. The result is that Tea roses are long-lived, healthy plants that are larger, fuller and more robust than their China rose parents. The exact identity of the prodigy who came up with the idea to combine these two roses is unknown. Although English growers introduced the Teas to the market, Tea rose hybridizing quickly moved to the French Riviera in the mid 1800s. Tea roses weren't happy with the rainy, damp, cool English climate.