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bethsmom_gw

Looking for heat-tolerant roses--

bethsmom
16 years ago

I'm looking for help from folks in hot dry climates (AZ etc) In this high desert some of my roses wilt, even with daily (sometimes 2x daily) watering. Most have very small blossoms, and even those open and droop within hours. Can you suggest roses that will tolerate our 100 degree days?

Thanks.

Comments (29)

  • dublinbay z6 (KS)
    16 years ago

    I don't know about your 100 degree heat, but in my KS 100+ degree heat, Crimson Bouquet is blooming like crazy--most blooms it has had all year. It seems to love that hot, hot sun. Perhaps the blooms are a bit smaller than usual, but they are still a nice size, and those red blooms really vibrate in the all-day sun.

    {{gwi:286237}}

    Hope that helps. My other roses are burning badly around the edges in this heat.

    Kate

  • jerijen
    16 years ago

    In hot weather, almost every rose will produce much smaller blooms. Some will quit altogether.
    In AZ and NV gardens I have visited, rosarians place shadecloth where it can protect roses from afternoon sun.

    Jeri

  • mohavemaria
    16 years ago

    Hello Beth's mom,

    I live in Las Vegas which is very hot and dry. So much so that we've lost quite a few "heat loving" roses. Ones we have had good success with might not be the bloom form you are looking for but a noisette that has not stopped blooming with great foliage even through our week of 115 degrees is Belle Vichysoise (sp?). It blooms in clusters of about twenty small pink roses and multiple clusters going on the bush. Also angels camp tea which is in brutal sun until 5:00 or so has not stopped blooming yet but it's flowers have definately gotten smaller. Luther Burbank's china Santa Rosa has been quite good but the flowers again are smaller. I've heard from several sources that Saint Patricks is a very good desert rose with more hybrid tea form but I haven't found it yet.

    I figure roses are not desert plants and to expect them to perform 100 percent in June, July, and August just isn't reasonable unless they are under some kind of shade structure like a filmy tree or shade cloth that tempers our brutal sun. That's what we have Cordias, salvias, Agastaches, lantanas and other true desert lovers for. Also unless your roses are in pots watering twice a day or even daily sounds like too much to me because they need to be able to "breathe" at the roots.

    Maria

  • lesdvs9
    16 years ago

    I'm not high desert but we have months of hot dry heat. I have one rose to offer up unless you want to talk minis:)
    I have this rose in full non stop sun, Angel Face. With all the negative talk about it I thought I would try it in the high heat of the valley to see how it would do. The edges don't turn, it might have a little fewer petals but the size of the rose is basically the same. I don't even have flushes any more, it's been non stop blooming since the 90's and the 100's hit. Temps been fluctuating from 100's down to low 90's and I didn't adjust the watering and the edges of the foliage crisped a little but the roses keep on blooming.
    This is from this evening:
    {{gwi:317386}}
    Don't judge my bush too harshly it's too hot to get out there and work on it, it's young and I just try to keep up with deadheading at this point.
    {{gwi:317387}}
    Leslie

  • jean_ar
    16 years ago

    The best roses I have that can handle this 100+ heat out in the boiling hot sun without burning up or wilting is St Patrick, mariyln Monroe,Glowing Peace,Dolly Parton,Lady Di and Belinda's Dream.All the rest of my roses burns to a crisp within a couple hrs after opening and blooms are real small.

    Jean

  • bethsmom
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks to all for your info and advice. I will certainly be looking for Crimson Bouquet and Angel Face next bare root season(thanks too for the pictures) Will also check out St
    Patrick and others that you mentioned. I understand that roses really aren't desert flowers, but gotta have 'em! Some that I have now doing fine are Topsy Turvy, Elle, Julia Childs, Hot Cocoa, all in pots. Also Gemini, Electric Blanket, Amber and Eden in the ground. It's a challenge in this hot area, but the rewards are worth it!

  • teka2rjleffel
    16 years ago

    Not dry by any means, but it has been extraordinarily hot this summer. My top pics:
    I agree with Leslie, Angel Face has been good
    Julia Child
    Our Lady of Guadalupe
    Mary Magdeline (nothing slows her down, no thrip problems either)
    Disneyland, a bs mess, but continues to bloom like crazy
    Fabulous
    Day Breaker, breaking records, can't count all of the blooms

    Nancy

  • Jeannie Cochell
    16 years ago

    I've been thinking this one over and the answer is 'none', if you're trying to find a rose that will tolerate the equivalent of a Phoenix summer (110 day of 100+ temps) and still put out quality blooms.

    The roses that I particularly appreciate are Austins. The ones I have are blooming, have a scent and still look attractive. The same can't be said for the hybrid tea's and the OGR's went dormant two months ago. The Austins I have are Christopher Marlowe, Molineux, Golden Celebration and Fair Bianca in all-day (frying pan) sun. Tamora and Prospero are in semi-shade but they haven't attempted to bloom since June.

    Minis are still going gang-busters. I've got some 70 of them and give a big thumbs up to Norwich Sweetheart and Autumn's Splendor for their endurance under heat. Both are still throwing exhibition quality blooms, which actually last through most of one full day.

    My Angel Face only lasted six years and what few blooms it put out in summer were tiny, pink and 4-petaled... typical of roses in our heat-index.

    For best results, erecting a shade structure to protect the roses from the afternoon sun helps considerably with bloom and leaf beauty. Keeps the petals from frying plus cuts down drastically on temperature and transpiration. A good organic mulch, deep watering 3-4 times a week and withholding any fast-acting nitrogen will keep the bushes healthy through the summer. By the end of August, Phoenix rosarians will start adding a little organic rose food and some iron to the soil. We do a light pruning in September and then it's the fall rose shows in November.

  • tenor_peggy
    16 years ago

    Old teas and chinas are blooming in my garden in this Florida heat, but the flowers are small. I do not spray them with fungicides and so far no spots! :-)

  • diane_nj 6b/7a
    16 years ago

    I've got to second Nancy on Our Lady of Guadaloupe, it is one of two roses (the other is Pope John Paul II) that has not stopped blooming all season, including the past 4 weeks. It just finished another flush (#3). PJPII has been plagued with thrips, but OLoG has just kept going, and I have to look, I think it has more buds. And has stayed pretty clean disease wise, even though I've been slacking off on spraying this year.

  • Maryl (Okla. Zone 7a)
    16 years ago

    Oklahoma is not known for mild summers (anyone see the last PGA tourny?), but ours is not a dry heat. Still I don't know if that makes a difference when it's over 100 for days on end. Anyway, these two spring to mind as doing particularly well in the heat: Honey Bouquet (Floribunda) and Tinke (HT).
    Honey Bouquet:
    {{gwi:317388}}
    Tineke
    {{gwi:317389}}

  • bethsmom
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks again for the advice and pictures of heat tolerant roses----also the info from moroseaz in Phoenix, and Maria in Las Vegas. If you can grow roses in those hot places, I'm impressed! This is my first summer growing roses in the high desert and although I formerly did well in the hot Sacramento area, it's even more difficult here. You have opened my eyes about watering ---I have wondered why my roses in pots ALL did better than any of the roses in the ground ---better drainage of course! All of my roses have at lease 3-4 " of gravel/rock in the bottom of the holes, but the pots drain better. Our soil here is DG on top of granite, so it is almost as if they are all in pots. But I guess the ones in the ground drain more slowly. Anyway, thanks for the help and I'll be using the AZ schedule for light pruning and fertilizing in Sept.(Will be checking out minis too!)
    Beth's mom

  • rainbow_2007
    16 years ago

    Colette....newly planted from RU in May left alone without water from sprinkler for 5 weeks is healthy bush with once/week watering in 100+ I am very impressed with it. Mrs. B.R. Cant has healthy foliage and is blooming.

  • ceterum
    16 years ago

    This area is usually not dry (coastal southeast) but we have drought in the last two years and this second year is very bad indeed.
    Hybrid Musk Felicia blooms continuously in full sun and may loose leaves but not flowers.
    Elina keeps blooming though the flowers are smaller than they should be. WS2000 is blooming but it is positively pink not even close to red. In the same bed in full sun Lavaglut has a lot of very dark flowers.

    Paradise is one that loves heat and blooms better in hot weather though it is always a good bloomer.

    OLOG and Summer Snow are always in bloom. Belinda's dream has very good foliage but blooms rot in high humidity - doubt that it is an issue you would be troubled with. Bewitched does extremely well in an area where we do not even have soakers and usually is forgotten when we water.

  • rainbow_2007
    16 years ago

    Don Juan keeps reblooming...they are the usual size too...the color is slightly lighter but still dark red.

  • ocdgardener
    16 years ago

    DAME DE COUER blooms well here in Texas in the heat. The deep red blooms last quite long even when it hits 100. Two others that do well for me are the pink roses 'BELINDA'S DREAM,' and 'MARIE DALY.'

  • austennut
    16 years ago

    Though New Orleans doesn't qualify as dry, we haven't had rain in weeks. I haven't watered in months(forget 2/day), I've never sprayed, and my Ruby Vigorosa keeps throwing out blooms. They're the same size, but they do bleach in the sun. It does provide a nice effect because the newer roses are very dark pink, and then as they age (and experience the 100 degree heat) they bleach to paler forms of pink so each cluster of roses has blooms a variety of shades. And the bushes are covered in blooms.

    My Duchers were doing real well, but this last week they haven't had any blooms, but maybe that's because it took me awhile to deadhead about 30+ blooms off each one they had produced in the previous week. But the blooms have also been smaller.

  • richard_hansen77
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    I'm in Phoenix. I've tried many hybrid teas, but most get very unattractive by July and some die. I've heard several sources suggest tea (not hybrid tea) roses. I'll try one this year.

    ARS recommends rose varieties by region. I recall they recommended Hot Cocoa for the SW. Mine was unbelievably attractive in spring, but I lost it in the summer :(

    Re: Our Lady of Guadalupe. There was one growing in a public rose garden in Sacramento, in the heat of summer. It looked the happiest one of all.

  • Natasha (Chandler AZ 9b) W
    7 years ago

    Recently visited Mesa Rose Garden... I was impressed how good Bolero was doing there. The rose bed is under full sun, no any shade during the day. Green foliage, flowering, flowers are big and full, fragrant! And it is mid of September when others just gave up drastically since August. Even my beloved Julia Child. Bolero definitely is a keeper in low desert!

  • richsd
    7 years ago

    Natasha, I really appreciate the info on Bolero. I'll have to look it up.

  • noseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque)
    7 years ago

    In my high desert climate, Bolero's flowers don't tolerate the hot dry winds that we get during the spring flush, but get brown crispy edges, as do most roses. Also, flowers in the heat, like most roses, are small and deformed. Better for me is Pure Perfume. My best roses are Bishop's Castle and Munstead Wood.

  • HU-69136945
    3 years ago

    I've had really great luck with Oklahoma rose it turns a beautiful medium pink and bright summer Sun and still really fragrant I take it out my David Austin Tranquility Rose and I'm putting Bolero roses in hopefully they'll do well I also love Belinda's dream but sometimes it does burn. In partial sun I've had great success with scepter Island David Austin princess Alexandra David Austin Ambridge Austin in part sun I've also had great luck with a rose called wintersun that is mostly in direct sun beautiful rose in Sunset zone 18 near Julian California Summer's here are in the high-90s sometimes hitting over a hundred also David Austin Boscobel in part shade as well I've heard dark lady looks great but I've had a hard time finding her best of luck

  • strawchicago z5
    2 years ago

    bump this up.

  • noseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque)
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Looking at my comment from four years ago, my opinion has changed. Munstead Wood is not very good in the dry heat here, even well irrigated the flowers fry within an hour or two after the sun touches them. Bishop’s Castle does moderately okay if well irrigated. This year, the ones that have been doing best with dry heat are Desdemona, Scentuous, and The Ancient Mariner, Radio Times, Marie Pavie. These do better than Evelyn, Sonia Rykiel, Winchester Cathedral, Dee-lish, WS2K, Princess Alexandra of Kent, which I have seen described as doing well in the heat, but not so well in my garden. Interestingly, I notice that the flowers fry the most on the sunny day after it rains, more so than during continuous sunny days.

  • strawchicago z5
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Agree on Radio Times and Marie Pavie for heat & drought tolerant. Rain here leaches out calcium, and I always get wilting shoot on roses after heavy rain. I lime the ones that got wilted shoot, and they become perky in the heat at 90 F afterwards. The dolomitic lime dust (22% calcium and 12% magnesium) is fast-acting and works immediately when dissolved in water.

    Back in 2012 with very alkaline soil pH of 8 and high-calcium tap water at pH 9, my roses didn't wilt when it was over 100 F one summer with drought.

    Nitrogen fertilizer makes soil more acidic, and roses in pots always wilt after high-nitrogen fertilizer if it's above 90F. So I use alfalfa meal plus lime as my source of no-salt nitrogen for pots.

    My myrrh scents: Carding Mill, Mary Magdalene, St. Cecilia don't wilt in high heat above 90F. St. Cecilia lasts long in the vase with thick petals that can withstand hot sun better than Carding Mill and Mary Mag. Below is St. Cecilia (own-root) gets my vote as the best myrrh scent, always fragrant no matter how hot it gets. Like it so much that I want a second one.


    It's a compact & small bush and can take acidic rain plus full hot sun well:


  • strawchicago z5
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Floribunda are tough in the heat, such as above-mentioned Honey Bouquet, its best blooming was at 100 F one summer, plus color doesn't fade like Julia Child.


    Below About Face also blooms best during hottest summer in my garden.



    Other floribundas like Angel Face and Hot Cocoa also do well in the heat. Angel Face died twice on me, it survived 2 winters the most. I tried both as own-root and grafted. Floribundas perform well in extreme heat, but die fast through cold zone 5a winter.

    Here in Chicagoland, it will be 97 F tomorrow 6/13/22 & over 90's for the next 2 weeks.

  • jacqueline9CA
    6 months ago

    My china roses are the best at ignoring heat. The best ones are 'Cramoisi Superior, and 'Le Vesuve'.


    Jackie

  • jacqueline9CA
    6 months ago

    Trying again - I posted pics of Le Vesuve and Cramoisi Superior, but they have disappeared - here they are:


    LV



    CS




    Jackie