Easy Elegance roses-they seem to be pushing them hard here

I have Funny Face and I absolutely love it. I have grown it in my garden for 2 years now and it is indeed pretty much a no-care rose. It gets very tall and wide here in Zone 5 and I do not winter-protect. It experiences a lot of cane die-back but grows so fast and is now about 6' tall and about 3' wide.

Eric grows Tahitian Moon and maybe will jump in here and comment on it.
-terry

After it survived the greenhouse of horrors where the blackspot spores are pumped in My Hero was test grown in both the southeast and Michigan without spray or winter protection. I was starting to wonder if my potted My Hero had survived winter because it was not leafing out with the other roses. It turns out that it delays the springtime growth much like my gallicas and albas so as not to get frost damage.

Lance

They are real hard to find here. They were priced at $35 when I did find them, gulp! Have to wait on that. I'm amazed at how the independent nurseries keep stocking up on Knockouts instead of jumping on the Easy Elegance bandwagon. Every hardware and grocery store now has knockouts for $8 or less, even if they have never carried a plant before. Why aren't the nurseries trying to move ahead of the masses? Or maybe that's it...they realize at $35, the price point is beyond most rose buyers since we're now spoiled by $8 knockouts? But I wish nurseries that carry 20-year-old, $20 Austins would upgrade a bit with hardier roses, and price them reasonably. If they wait much longer, the box stores will have Easy Elegance, and then people won't have any reason to shop indies.

I love my EE sunrise/sunset. It blooms from June to October, and is very disease resistent. The blooms are just lovely. This is perhaps the shortest bush I have (2 feet), but it's known as a lower grower. She got pretty fat this year and is competing w/another rose for space.

The reason I picked that rose was that a few summers ago, we had a very wet spring followed by a very humid summer. By August, all the roses at my favorite garden center were so covered in blackspot that all were marked down to 50% off. EE sunrise/sunset had nary a spot on her. She's been a great rose for me.

My knockouts OTOH, get attacked by rose slugs, some get canker, some get powery mildew and all get white spots. EE has never had a problem.

I've had several EE roses since they were first introduced and have been adding a few more each year. The ones I have so far are Grandma's Blessing, Macy's Pride, My Hero, Fiesta, Funny Face, All the Rage, Tahitian Moon, and Kashmir which is a 2009 intro. Their hardiness has been comparable to many of the Buck roses I grow and disease resistance is very good. As far as roses go they are very carefree, especially when compared to hybrid teas. I think the best thing about this line of roses is they are all hardy down to zone 4/5 which for some of us is really important. I can see myself adding more of these in the future. Possibly even shoveling out existing roses to make room if needed.

I grow Tahitian Moon, Yellow Submarine, and Funny Face. They've all been hardy and vigorous for me. I don't think any rose is truly "plant and forget"...not sure why you would plant something to forget it :)

Here's Tahitian Moon

I'm waiting for some repeat, maybe it will come later. This spring it did put up 2 big new canes.

Eric

Does anyone have a link to the Easy Elegance Roses? Can't seem to find one.
Thanks, Blue

AH I looove easy elegance roses!!! I planted High Voltage and Kashmir and so far I love them. They are extremely healthy, and the foliage is beautiful. If I had to pick a favorite I'd probably say Kashmir - the blooms are a nice dark red. No pink in them which is what I was looking for. Both of them were just planted this summer and they have not stopped blooming. I fertilize them every 2 weeks w/ liquid fertilizer and they are mulched so I wouldn't say they are ignored but I am a newbie gardener and just thrilled with them!

I just purchased Champagne Wishes as well yesterday, which isn't listed on their site but the tag said it was EE and it was bred by Ping Liam. It's got 11 buds about to open and it looks equally as healthy.

The local nursery in my town carries them for $23.50 and they are in 1 gallon pots. I'd buy more but I think I got 1 of everything they sold this year. Hoping next year they'll have more of them since they are such wonderful roses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Easy Elegance

I too love the Lim shrubs, though it's sometimes a little hard to tell which ones are officially considered part of the Easy Elegance line. HMF says there are 25 of Lim's 60 shrubs that are in the EE line, but he has other Garden Art or Garden Path series, and most of the HMF listings don't specify yet. I was surprised to note on the great website above (thanks for posting this) that I had all but 5 of the ones on this site, and I think they're missing some that I have like Fiesta, or Music Box or My Hero or Calypso that might be EE.

Regardless, these really do live up to the hype as reported, though I agree that no rose is "no care" - at the very least when they're happy, they at least need deadheading! Until the last winter the LIm roses were the only breeder's roses that I've never lost from winter kill (20 out of 20 plants lived), but I did lose some roses that were new late summer plants and my well-established Yellow Submarine (for some reason) last polar vortex winter. Regardless, these roses are among my most reliable rebloomers and tend to be fairly tidy and almost blackspot free. They're more often semi-doubles than very full blooms, like Mystic Fairy - which reminds me of Eutin that's individually unexciting as a bloom but impressive en masse. OTOH, Sweet Fragrance is a double rich peach color that is one of my top 10 roses ever (out of more than 700).

I'll let mine speak for themselves in a few photos:

At the far left here is Mystic Fairy bleeding into the very similar Eutin (both low and dark crimson-pink).To the right of that, with the yellow buds is Yellow Submarine:

Here's Fiesta - a very hardy striped pink/white:

Here's a first year Sunrise/Sunset that's the low pink plant. It has gotten so wide (but no taller) that I've had to tuck the canes into the arch with Illusion behind it to keep them off the sidewalk:

Sweet Fragrance is the lovely fluffy apricot blooms toward the top of this shot, to show you how big she grows. Normally she's blooming from head to foot, but this shot has Carefree Celebration at the base instead:

Aww, come on, Sweet Fragrance deserves a shot all by herself!

Tempted yet?

Cynthia

Lovely pictures! I would love to try some of Lim's roses, but don't believe any of the local nurseries carry them. Neither do my preferred online vendors carry them, except for the few offered by Rose Unlimited. It is a shame that they are not more widely available. Think a bit more: I think most of my roses are bred in Europe, and I would love to add more "locally" bred morderns.

Lovely pictures! I would love to try some of Lim's roses, but don't believe any of the local nurseries carry them. Neither do my preferred online vendors carry them, except for the few offered by Rose Unlimited. It is a shame that they are not more widely available. Think a bit more: I think most of my roses are bred in Europe, and I would love to add more "locally" bred morderns.

Cynthia -

Wow Sweet Fragrance is absolutely gorgeous. Your gardens are beautiful! I really hope our local nursery carries that one next year. Or at least some other EEs so I can get some different ones than what I purchased this year. I'm only in my second year of gardening and I'm already going to run out of places to grow roses... going to have to get creative. :P Doesn't help that I love Carefree Beauty I bought two of them at once.

Thank you for sharing your photos!

Farmerduck - I'm sorry you aren't able to find any locally. Maybe as they continue grow in popularity you will. :o)

Chamblees told me recently they were going to drop these roses as they were not selling...

Our local greenhouses (etc) quit selling them awhile back for the same reason.

Why they do not sell I do not know???

I was going to try one but the online vendors that do have them want a mint!

I'll have to check Roses Unlimited as I just now notice your post farmerduck...

This post was edited by jim1961 on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 20:40

jim1961 is correct.

I checked Chamblee's online offerings, and I couldn't find one EE rose listed.
They offered some in previous years; I bought some from them. Maybe northerners just don't know what a good source they are for own root roses? Or maybe folks just catch on too late about what's good? I don't know the reason.

However, from a business perspective "not selling" is a good reason; it's a sound good business model practice.

I've noticed that roses Chamblee drops (not the ones listed as currently unavailable, but completely removed listings) are usually gone for good from their mail order listings.

So the lesson I've learned is that if Chamblee's is offering an excellent rose that just doesn't happen to be "in fashion," I'd better order it when I see it offered if I want it from Chamblee.

Kind of interesting to read through this whole thread. I had commented on it in 2008, and I think I was right. Our local big boxes are still selling Easy Elegance roses for under $15, and they are just flying out the door! I think THAT is why many nurseries don't have them. We do have two local family owned nurseries that stock several different Easy Elegance roses along with Drift, Knock Out and Earthkind designated roses. (and somehow, they are selling them for $25-$35!) Those local nurseries actually solicit suggestions from Rose Society members when they place their rose orders.
Every EE that I have is growing beautifully. I have great faith in Ping Lim; every rose with his name behind it is a super performer here no matter the weather.

I adore Sweet Fragrance - was at Chamblees today - they are out of them. What a shame these nice roses are not more widely grown. I looked for sources but no luck. Anyone know a mail order source? They were sold in many places a few years ago. Thanks......
Judith

According to Ping Lim's web site you can order them directly from him but I haven't heard anything about quality of what he sends or how he ships them. Maybe someone else here has ordered from him & can share their insights.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ping Lim link

The only online source I could ever find for EE that was reasonably priced (the only other source offered them for $50-$100 each) was this website:
http://www.rosefire.com/alphabet_main.htm

I ordered four roses from them and in my limited experience they have excellent customer service and great roses. The roses arrived in one gallon pots and one even had a bloom on it. Of my four roses (Kashmir, My Girl, Yellow Brick Road, and Little Mischief) Kashmir has the best rounded shape, while Little Mischief is kind of everywhere and My Girl and Yellow Brick Road put out a couple canes that are taller than the rest of the bush. Kashmir is by far the largest and between blooming times it always puts out a lot of new growth. All four roses have been disease free so far in our hot and humid weather while most of my other roses are mostly or completely defoliated (Midas Touch and Hot Cocoa are the only others that are full of leaves).

Cynthia, did you get your Fiesta from Hortico?

Can anyone who has grown Champagne Wishes comment on the overall growth/shape of the bush after a few years? My 1st yr CW seems to have an identity crisis, it's sort of a HT-Flori-Shrub. I get meager clusters (2-3) of medium blooms, only on the end of long sturdy canes that all want to grow sideways. Very pretty flowers though, so I'm hoping she'll outgrow this awkward stage.

Kashmir, 1st year, is fabulous. One of the best roses I have ever grown.

Hi Ratdogheads

I've never ordered anything from Hortico yet in 10 years of rose growing, having heard cautionary tales from many folks never getting roses that were supposedly in stock. Other folks have been happy with them, but I suspect they're most reliable with rose varieties that are relatively common. I got my Fiesta from a local nursery many years ago, before EE roses were common.

I also grow Champagne Wishes, and I can totally relate to the growth pattern you mention. I'd put her at the front of a large bed because somewhere I'd read that she was around 3' high like the Flower Circus roses. Ha ha ha ha ha ha HA. She's lovely, fragrant-ish, frequent and profuse at reblooming, but not remotely short. She also took a good 3 years to come into her own and start blooming well - I wouldn't expect much in the first year.

My trouble was what to do with this giant octopus of a rose in the front yard, since I'm very lazy about moving roses. Initially, I had some nice luck at ruthlessly trimming back each cane after blooming to about 2' and she'd branch out from that point to 3.5-4' canes with a nicely bushed shape. This year, though, she's been working so hard to recover from being pruned to the ground after the Polar Vortex winter that I didn't have the heart to keep her pruned back as ruthlessly. Instead, I've trained her canes horizontally along a low wire fence that keeps the bunnies out of that bed, and we'll see if I get a bank of creamy blooms all along that fence. I'm doing the same with Dame de Chenonceau that's the same kind of growth in the front of the bed nearby, and we'll see if I have nonstop pink blooms intertwined with the creamy ones.

Bottom line is that it's a lovely rose and reliably hardy and a good rebloomer for me, but it may take a while to come into its own.

Rosecandy, you'll like Kashmir - already in its first year it's absolutely loaded with blooms, though mine is pinker than I'd expected for where I put it. My Yellow Brick Road gets pretty tall - around 5', and is also one of those roses I thought would be shorter and is at the front of the bed. I haven't been as successful in pruning that one back to bush out like the others I mentioned, so you might want to plant it where it has room to grow upwards.

I probably have 27-30 Easy Elegance roses and have only just this winter lost any of them to winter kill. Still, they're by far my most reliably hardy type of rose, with the widest range of flower types.

Cynthia

I got lucky and was able to get the last 6 Sweet Fragrance roses that Chamblees had! Also picked up My Girl, Super Hero, Sunrise Sunset, Centennial and Macy's Pride in the sale area. Doubt I will be able to find Sweet Fragrance anywhere else, so very thrilled! They will get prime growing area and hoping they will do as well as the one I have. Lovely rose! Hope I like the others as well.
Judith

Nippstress I do love Kashmir! Though I must admit My Girl has also really impressed me - and that's not easy considering her many thorns and deep pink flower (my least favorite flower color). I'm a little dissapointed in Yellow Brick Road's tendancy to fade quickly and it doesn't hold up well to rain. It IS desease resistant, though, and for that I'm quite impressed. Thanks for the warning about its height! I've tried to plant my roses so they have room in all directions. Of course, our move might change that, so it's really good to know she gets really tall. Do you have any experience with Yellow Submarine? I'd really like to try it, but so far I've had no luck in finding it.

It's close to impossible for me to find any EE roses, as no one near me sells any, so you can imagine how excited I was to find rosefire.com!

Hi Rosecandy

I did grow Yellow Submarine right next to Yellow Brick Road, and both of them were slim, upright, and much taller than really fit at the front of the bed. They were probably 4-5' tall and wanted to be taller, but I kept them pruned back to 4'. Both were similar coloring, lemon yellow to start out with and fading to cream pretty quickly, with those loose blooms typical of many shrubs. Of the two, Yellow Submarine was one that just up and died on me last winter with no explanation while YBR was basically cane hardy. There shouldn't have been any difference, and both were on the zone 4 pocket side of my house. Presumably YS is a little less hardy than YBR, but both should be fine in zone 7.

Below is a bush shot of Yellow Submarine from last year. To gauge its height, the green wire you see at the bottom of the picture is a 3' high garden fencing formed into a loop. Both of these roses grew fast and floppy enough last year to need this kind of support.

Cynthia

In contrast, here's a shot of some blooms from Yellow Brick Road. Very similar blooms to my eye, except perhaps that YS shows stamens a bit more. Both start out more lemon yellow but fade pretty quickly.

Cynthia

Oh dear. How did I miss these offerings in the past as I spent so much time on Chamblee's website! I was looking to try a few Lim's roses. Chamblee's probably lumped them in their general categories. They do list Kordes and Austins as a separate group. Cannot believe that I missed them while they had it

Thank you so much Nippstress! Now I won't fret about getting Yellow Submarine, what a relief! I wonder what I'd get if I crossed Yellow Submarine with Midas Touch. Hmmm, I know a project for next year!

farmerduck, Chamblees does have some EE roses in their sale bin - last week I got My Girl, Centennial, Super Hero, Sunrise Sunset and Macy's Pride. I think you have to pick these up at the nursery. The plants all look really healthy, fall growth, and have buds.
Judith

Northland Rosarium has mentioned they are going to start selling EE Roses. Hope they do their getting hard to find. I love the ones I have. Can't wait till I find Champagne Wishes.

This post was edited by pattyw5 on Tue, Nov 11, 14 at 15:28

I feel almost guilty for speaking poorly of my Champagne Wishes earlier. She must have heard me because she pumped out a mass of blooms and is STILL blooming, in November. The fall blooms have been the prettiest shade of pearly peach. In the heat of the summer they were mostly white with a hint of yellow. I do think I'll move her to the back row because of her blooming at the end of the canes tendency. Still, I am very impressed with these two (also have Kashmir); I have never seen such vigorous growth from own root roses. I'm eager to see how they make it through the winter.

I only have 3, all Sweet Fragrance, and I adore them. I've had them in for 3ish years, they are roughly 3' around now. I'd call them the closest thing to no-maintenance I have... I deadhead sometimes, that's about it.
They smell great, make great cut for bouquets, bloom really impressively, easy, beautiful color. I keep wanting to try more of Ping's roses (but keep running short on space!). I still have a few nice blooms, right now, also some hips.

This post was edited by sarabell on Sat, Nov 8, 14 at 12:13

Ping Lim no longer works with Bailey's. I had read that Bailey's was investing less in the rose business. About cried when I read this. Was afraid these gorgeous healthy roses would be become difficult to find. Mr. Lim's website indicates that his roses may purchased directly from him but I did not exactly understand the process. If anyone else does please let me know. They also appear to be selling them grafted. I like own root.

This post was edited by pattyw5 on Sun, Nov 9, 14 at 19:13

Last year we bought a Como Park rose and planted it in a border along the front of our yard . It was full of beautiful flowers all summer . This spring it's very hearty and has two runners approximately 2 to 3 feet from the original plant. Has anyone else experienced having runners ? I cannot remember which retailer we purchased it from . Does anyone know where the Easy Elegance roses are sold ?