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mountainrose_gw

tea roses in North Georgia?

mountainrose
11 years ago

I am in LOVE with all the beautiful tea roses I see growing in your California gardens. We moved to a new house in the same general area of Georgia about a year and a half ago. I have purchased 11 roses for my new gardens. Mostly they are David Austins, but I did get a few teas. Is anyone successfully growing teas in North Georgia?

I have accepted blackspot as a fact of life, so that is not my main concern.

I also purchased 'Guy Savoy' which I am super-excited about - anyone grow him anywhere?

Michele

Comments (24)

  • jacqueline9CA
    11 years ago

    Michele - I hope you get a response from someone who lives near you. I would think that the main problem might be winter hardiness - if I were you, I would try and plant the teas where they will get the most shelter from the winter, and the most sun (they LOVE sun & heat!) - perhaps on a South facing wall?

    Jackie

  • anntn6b
    11 years ago

    I am north of you and at an elevation of 1100'. Unless you are in a frost hollow in north Georgia, my gardens are probably at least half a zone colder than yours.

    I've grown tea roses for over a decade. With success.

    Forget what you learned about hybrid teas; they really aren't all that closely related. Treat teas as woody shrubs that you allow to build on growth year after year. Fertilize spring and early summer; don't fertilize fall because many winters you'll loose that growth in January or early February. That growth will come (anyway) but you don't want to diret it.

    Water the tea roses; they like that.

    You don't have to grow them up against a warm wall; they are happy here as long as they aren't in shade.

    (Then look to chinas for hotter spots with major drainage and to noisettes for cluster blooming masses.)

  • michaelg
    11 years ago

    There is not a lot of experience growing tea and china roses in Appalachia because local tradition (here in NC anyway) said they don't do well. With climate change, that's probably not the case, except at higher elevations, say >2500 feet. Ann in East Tennessee has good success. A grower here (where it's a bit higher and cooler), had success with some but not all the teas he tried. A mass planting of the china rose Mutabilis at Biltmore House in Asheville failed owing to canker disease. Teas and chinas here clearly are more susceptible to blackspot than they are in the deep South; for example, 'Old Blush' will stay nearly defoliated through the summer and fall.

    So, experiment as you wish, and good luck. It'll probably work out.

  • notrafficinga
    11 years ago

    I have Dr. Grill and General Gallieni and they do well. GG does not defoliate in the winter, but Dr. Grill does. GG gives good rebloom when most of my roses are on vacation in the summer. He also never gets blackspot and is never sprayed. Crepuscule, which is a Tea-Noisette, is quite happy here and only a few leaves will spot without spray. She does get a tiny bit of mildew, which I just snip off. She is a monster here and had to be reduced by half this winter.

    It gets down into the 20's regularly during the winter in North Atlanta. On occasion it will dip into the teens and single digits, but not for long. I don't think I have ever lost a rose to winter temps.

  • anntn6b
    11 years ago

    " Mutabilis at Biltmore House in Asheville failed owing to canker disease"

    This is almost predictable in hindsight. The yellow old garden roses (decended from Parks Tea Scented China) don't want to go dormant; nor do they want to slow down. So they keep growing, and growing, and growing. Then that un-hardened off growth gets killed by winter...generally when temps are below 10F (in my garden). And those dead leaflets become sites for canker.

    I've found that most of my pink teas can handle canker on scattered sites on woody canes; it (canker) doesn't gird the canes the way it does on fast growing Hybrid Teas. Early yellows are a different challenge. It took me five years to get mature enough canes on Peter Beales version of Parks Yellow Tea Scented china- and then the blooms were magnificent for two years and in the second year it got RRD. Then there was my Graham Stuart Thomas border. One year old cane actually had thirteen individual cankers because roses in that border all were GST and all wanted to start to grow way too early in spring.

  • mountainrose
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Very interesting! Thank you for the replies!

  • buford
    11 years ago

    YES YES YES. I live in Buford, and I have many teas. They do quite well here, heat and drought tolerant and almost ever green in winter. They do take a few years to get to a good size, but after they do they are spectacular. They are also disease resistant. They will blackspot but not that badly.

    How far north are you?

    Michael, I'm not sure if it's the same bed of Mutibalis, but we went up to Biltmore in late May of 2007 (after that disastrous Easter Freeze) and I saw the completely dead bed of them. I think that's why I decided never to grow that rose

  • gardennatlanta
    11 years ago

    Absolutely! I live in the Atlanta area and I grow many teas. I was just at Barnsley Gardens up I-75 near Adairsville. They also had several old teas.

    Try growing some. I love them. Like Buford said, they take a while to get going but when they do, they are wonderful, large shrubs that will provide you with beautiful blooms and less blackspot that the David Austins you already grow. Enjoy!

  • ken-n.ga.mts
    11 years ago

    Give them a little winter protection for the first 3 yrs and they should be fine (most of them). If they can be planted on a south facing wall, That would be almost perfect. I live in Cornelia and grow a few China's that are suppossed to be tender on my south facing wall and they are doing great.

  • meredith_e Z7b, Piedmont of NC, 1000' elevation
    11 years ago

    Do protect them if you get little, teeny plants (while they are teeny). That's where I tend to lose my teas! That and probably not enough water in winter, I think.

    My Cl Maman Cochet is spectacular right now. Boy, when they take off, they really take off! That one was bought as a teeny thing and it's funny to remember that seeing her right now :)

  • buford
    11 years ago

    Meredith, the only protection I gave mine when they were little was physical, I lost one tea to a lawn guy dragging a hose across the yard :( So I had one of those little metal fences you stick into the ground. In fact, I just took it off. I never do any winter protecting, but they do tend to collect a lot of leaves around them in the winter and that helps.

    I grew most of mine from bands. I did keep them in pots for awhile so they were about the size of one gallon plant when I put them in the ground.

  • meredith_e Z7b, Piedmont of NC, 1000' elevation
    11 years ago

    I think baby teas might just hate me for unknown reasons, yeah :D I've heard so many people have success without protection in zones like mine. I honestly don't know. Protecting did help so much, so I guess I'll just say that I do suggest protecting to be extra-careful, or if you are me! :D

  • mountainrose
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I'm happy to see all of you Appalachian Tea Growers in one thread! :)

  • erasmus_gw
    11 years ago

    Most teas and Chinas I've tried have done well here but I agree that they're more vulnerable when small. I have regularly lost baby plants of Lady Hillingdon, Mutabilis, and Clementina Carbonnieri. My bigger plants of those don't seem especially tender.

  • mountainrose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Checking in with you all. I would love to see some pictures of East Coast Teas this year.

    I was wondering how the size of our teas compares with the lush growth of the California Teas.

  • anntn6b
    10 years ago

    From seeing my teas and some southern CA teas, I see differences.

    In parts of Southern CA where there is no Black Spot (because of both their temperatures and timing of humid days), their teas leaf out more lushly. And densely. And they don't seem to have gone into winter, so in spring (out there spring, which happens before our spring) they are already growing full strength,

    For our teas, they are weather induced hesitant to grow in late winter and early spring. Also, I realize I'll never get the dense foliage. But I get enough foliage to support good to great bloom.

    Total size wise: my top soil is thin and the bed's good soil goes down maybe eight to ten inches. Under that is a dense clay that is slowly coming into the bed. That clay is a superb source of water, but probably is the reason that my teas won't reach ten feet.

  • buford
    10 years ago

    I'm having trouble posting pictures for some reason, I will try later.

    I don't think teas will get as monster big here as they do in California. They will get large and leggy. I've had to cut some back when they were growing over driveways or paths.

    As Ann said, we do get colder winters that CA does. My teas usually keep their leaves until Jan/Feb. This year they lost almost all their leaves and I removed the rest because they were diseased and ugly.

    We've had a lot of rain this year (as you probably know) so mine are looking very good so far this year. Hopefully they will bloom soon, if the sun ever comes out :)

  • stealthecrumbs
    10 years ago

    I have Old Blush in Asheville (so in Appalachia). I bought her on a whim. This is her third year. She is not my favorite rose but for me anyway, she has thus far been vigorous and healthy. She is a big, shrubby, twiggy thing and last summer she almost always had blooms. And when not in bloom, she assumed the role of a background shrub which was what I needed her to do. To add insult to injury, because she was purchased on a whim I put her in a difficult spot- she is south facing (not bad) but in the root zone of a recently removed black walnut. Nothing much had survived there but she seems quite happy. I do spray. She has not lost any leaves- in fact, she was green all winter- but with climate change, our winters are not like they used to be.

  • ogroser
    10 years ago

    I live just north of Washington DC and grow a dozen teas. They vary a bit but haven't lost any that have sufficient sun. The roses in my tea bed are 5' to 7' tall right now with tons of buds. I rarely spray them and they don't get much black spot. I do not winter protect them. I also grow several chinas and this spring Mutabilis is thick and about 4' X 5'. I don't even feed them - just a couple of inches of mulch once a year. They really perform like great Earth Kind roses. We had a couple of teen nights last winter, but mostly 20's - 30s overnight. Grow them. They are great additions to the garden.

  • buford
    10 years ago

    Here is a tea bed I did recently. It took a couple of years, but the teas are doing really well...

    {{gwi:246144}}

    This is from last spring, Mrs. BR Cant is right in front:

    {{gwi:246146}}

    This post was edited by buford on Fri, May 3, 13 at 19:15

  • luxrosa
    10 years ago

    I'd start by buying the biggest plants available, A.R.E. has gallon sized plants sometimes, roguevalleyroses.com does as well.
    Hortico.com in May 2013 is still shipping and they sell 2 year old plants on R. multiflora, and 'Alistair Stella Gray' a yellow Tea-Noisette is still in stock.
    They may have 'Adam' as well which is a Bourbon -Tea cross..
    The Tea roses that are slightly more hardy to cold may be a good choice for a borderline area these include:
    General Gallieni' mentioned in an English gardening book as doing well there..
    Lady Hillingdon' a apricot triploid Tea that was bred in England and very popular there for decades.
    'Celine Forestier' which is grown in Southern,Canada is a beautiful pale yellow and white Tea-Noisette that is also very fragrant, pickeringnurseries.com sells 2 year old plants on rootstock most years and by September they may be shipping to the u.s. again.. They also sell Mme. Alfred Carriere'
    A benefit of roses on rootstock is that they put on growth more rapidly in the first 3 years. The downside is that if temperatures go too low and the canopy dies, the rosebush cannot grow back from the roots, as own-root plants can.

    Good Luck,
    Teas are my favorite class of rose, and I wish you great success.
    Luxrosa

    I'd lay down at least a four inch depth of mulch around the Tea rosebushes in the Autumn.

  • harborrose_pnw
    10 years ago

    buford, where are your pictures??? I'd love to see them! Gean

  • buford
    10 years ago

    I keep trying, but for some reason my pics don't show...I've contacted GW and they said they have fixed the problem, but it's still happening...

    {{gwi:246146}}

    This post was edited by buford on Tue, May 7, 13 at 6:33

  • buford
    10 years ago

    ooh, it looks like it worked! I don't know if GW changed or Facebook. I use FB to store most of my pictures and link to them there! I have to do it a different way now. That is Mrs. BR Cant last year. This year she is flopping all over the place because of all the rain. I will have to limb her up a bit after the blooms finish.