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Planting Roses??

Bonnie

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I've been completely redoing my small backyard. The previous owner had a wild yard designed to attract wildlife. It's been interesting but I've decided I want a outdoor space for me. I planted pittosporum and purple hopseed bushes around the perimeter for privacy, have a cleared area ready for either a low deck or brick floor, and am ready to put in planters next to the house. I want a cottage garden with roses and other flowers. I would like some suggestions of roses that have worked for you. So far, all the flowers I've planted are white, yellow, blue, or purple. I'd like to stick with this color scheme and add of bit of red. Do you have any favorites to suggest?

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Runcarla

Veteran

Here are the roses I have in my garden, (pictures from last year.) The DS’s ‘sponsor’ a rose bush every Mother’s Day. The rabbits got the ‘Graham Thomas’ (yellow) from 2015 - so I have caged all my roses with chicken wire. Bonnie, you can’t go wrong with old classics like ‘Golden Celebration’, ‘Iceberg’, or ‘Paul Scarlet’, and David Austen roses are beautiful and fragrant. I’m a fan of the Morden developed Explorer roses for their cold hardiness and disease resistance. They were developed in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

#1+2 - ‘At Last’ shrub rose, fragrant

#3,4+5 - ‘Oscar Peterson’ bloomed from the day I planted it until the first snow. Very vigorous shrub. No fragrance of any significance.

#6+7 ‘New Dawn’ an old classic, climbing rose. Delicate fragrance.

#8 - ‘John Cabot’ - climber, new last year and already 6 ft tall.

#9 - a mystery climbing rose that came with the house. I didn’t know I had it until DH took out an overgrown shrub, and SURPLISE! It took off after being liberated and is a vigorous climber and lightly fragrant.

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Helena

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I knew Carla would have a good answer! No help here as I am a terrible gardener ... But hope you'll post photos of what you go with as I'm an expert appreciator

Anonymous

What zone are you in Bonnie ?

rachylou

Veteran

I’m glad Carla has answers! I have never planted a rose bush... only tended existing ones! I have fond memories of my head mistress explaining how to prune a rose that’s been left to go wild tho, lol. Just whack it back! Well, that’s what it looked like she did anyways. Hehe.

Bonnie

Veteran

Runcarla: What beautiful roses. We will have to do some kind of fencing because the deer who visit our yard love to eat roses. Locally developed roses sound perfect, I wonder if we have any.

torontogirl: I will share the photos but it may take awhile. DH is a terrible gardener, too, but I have him maintaining our already established front yard!

lisap: That's a good question. I googled it and found that I live in USDA zone 10a. It's cool and foggy here much of the year but I see roses growing and the area I'm planting will get all day sun on our sunny days which seem to be happening more often with global warming.

rachylou: Planting rose bushes is easy, the work is in taking care of them. Your head mistress sounds like a character or maybe she was referring to the students

JAileen

Veteran

I’m glad you’ve gotten some expert advice. My experience is in planting wild roses (Woods’ Rose). They smell wonderful! But they want to go everywhere...

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I'm no expert, to say the very least. But I just planted a rosa rugosa. This is the rose of my childhood (beaches in Nova Scotia) and I adore its beautiful fragrance. I'll see how it does here. My next planting will be a native wild rose, like Nootka.

I love to see cultivars in experienced gardeners' plots, but I'm a beginner and need something hardy and almost foolproof. And I also love the habit of the wilder roses, loose and rangy and a little bit free.

We have deer here, also, and I know the previous owner gave up on roses (and she was a serious gardener). I am hoping I don't have to fence the one I planted -- it's in the front yard, where I have yet to see a deer, so we will see.

Cardiff girl

Veteran

sounds like a lovely project.There are literally thousands of roses to choose from and it’s always a balance of individual preference ,local site condition e.g.climate,soil type and the characteristics of the roses themselves I.e growth habit,smell,single or repeat flowering and so on. Can I suggest that you browse the David Austin rose catalogue on line if its available,Peter Beale is another big name in roses.They will give descriptions of the roses.The other good way to choose is to visit gardens and actually see the roses in bloom then you can have a sniff too and see if you like the smell!

Ihave included some photos of the roses in my garden

1-Paul’s Himalayan musk,a very vigorous rambling rose,beautiful smell.
Its in flower now growing up through an old cooking apple tree.Flowers once
2- Rosa complicata ,beautiful rose pink ,large single flowers,beloved by the bees,Lax bush like habit.
3- Rosa Ballerina,repeat flowering,flowers from now until October in my garden.A very tough,little foribunda rose that copes with drier conditions than most ,l value it’s ability to grow up close to my boundary laurel hedge that sucks out a lot if the moisture close to it making growing along side it difficult.
4-A crimson rose whose name escapes me at the moment!
5-close up of #2
6- Rosa Winchester cathedral,a David Austin shrub rose,nice lemony scent,repeat flowering,gorgeous multipetalled flowers.
7-Rosa glauca -species rose ,dainty bright pink flowers set off by dusky blue/plum foliage grows into tall,rangy Bush,great for back of border and wildlife gardens.

As you can see I tend to favour single over more complicated flowers but this suits my middle sized,cottage garden ,wildlife friendly vibe that I am looking for in my garden.
l would agree with Runcarla that the modern shrub roses are definitely worth a look.
Suz s comment about Rugosa roses is interesting.They are my husbands favourite rose.They have a beautiful smell,large open flowers and fantastic flagon or round brightly coloured hips in the autumn but they are a more rugged rose and look better in a wild life garden in my opinion
Happy rose hunting!

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Runcarla

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I’ll vouch for ‘Rosa Glauca’. I had one in my last garden. While weeding, I found a 5 inch seedling under a hosta and recognized the distinctive red tinged blue foliage that must have self seeded from the neighbour across the street! By the time we moved, the rose was taller than I am. It has the bonus of beautiful large orange ‘hips’ after the blooms are done. Also, I never saw a pest bother this rose.

@cardiffgirl - that ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’ is out of this world! I have a dream of getting one of my ramblers to grow up the side of the house - like the castle in ‘sleeping beauty’! The zone 5b I live in now is much kinder to roses than the 2a where I used to live!

Anonymous

I don’t think roses do well in our area but know they grew year round in Southern California and got very tall. Runcarla, a rose that is pest free is a big plus. Japanese beetles really go after them. We also have problems with rabbits eating them. Maybe a garden snake seen yesterday will help that. We miss the resident coyote that has not been seen in months..

Cardiff girl

Veteran

Thank you Runcarla,the Himalayan musk is gorgeous and very striking when it comes into bloom,if you have room for a rambler I would encourage you to go for it!
l ve remembered the name of the crimson rose ,it’s Tuscany superb.
Drat those senior moments!

Bonnie

Veteran

JAileen: The Woods Rose would be perfect because it likes sandy soil and is native of CA but I'm worried about the "wants to go everywhere" part, I've got a small yard.

Suz: Both the Rosa Rugosa and Nootka would work well in my zone. After doing some more reading, I've decided to wait until local nurseries
get new stock in the fall, and it will be nice to have a list of roses that have worked well for friends. I could call it my YLF Memorial Rose Garden.

Cardiff girl: What a nice lot of roses you have. The Tuscany Superb and Rosa Winchester look perfect. I like the way the Rosa Ballerina works with the hedge, that might work with the shrubs I've planted along the perimeter of the yard. I'm hoping I can find them in my local nursery next fall.

Joy: Pests (deer, rabbits, ground squirrels, gophers, etc. are abundant in this area, too) and molds are a big problem in this area as well, so I will remember to look for varieties that resist them. Do you miss your roses?

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Cardiff Girl, your roses are amazing!! I need to take lessons from you. That first one is such a beauty, and to have it growing up through an apple tree-- what bliss!

I love all the ones that have a beautiful scent. For me, that's the most important part!

Anonymous

My roses were a lot of work, especially as I do not like using chemicals. Several times a day I had to pick off Japanese beetles. In California, roses were a treat. Our biggest garden pests were giant slugs and snails which could do a lot of damage overnight. I don’t remember if they bothered roses. A lot of thorns would help deter them, also our adopted desert tortoise that roamed the fenced yard. It liked to eat the blooms.