22,795 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

Kaymarie - to answer your zone question, Belinda's Dream is robustly hardy for me, even on the cool side of my house that is effectively zone 4. I heartily recommend it another time. The Perfume Delight does indeed smell gorgeous, but it's not hardy for me in zone 5. Hopefully it'll do better for you in zone 6. Just remember that if it's a grafted plant, you'll need to bury the graft in the soil (about 2 inches deep). The graft is the knobby bit at the base of the plant where all the canes grow, btw. That way if all the canes die to the ground, the rose you want still has a chance of growing back in the spring.

Have fun

Cynthia

I just ordered a Belinda's Dream for $10 plus shipping from ARE.

Thank you. I think I have decided on a place for Cornelia based on its size and that is really needs a trellis. So I'll take that out of the running for the pots.

There is a miniature called "Cupcake" that I have seen that looks like it might be good in 2 of my pots but I would really like something bigger for the other 2.

Hi Jenny
I have two Cupcakes, and yes, they'd be good in pots. I am obviously in a cooler zone but virtually all of the ones you list get pretty big even for me. The smallest would be Thomas Affleck (maybe 3-4'), Xiang Fen Lian (new for me, but supposed to be 3.5'), and Paul Neyron (3-4'). La Reine is supposed to be one of the shorter Hybrid Perpetuals, maybe 4', but it may be bigger in your zone. I wouldn't try Cornelia or any of the teas, and Heritage is definitely 5-6' even for me.

Cynthia

Take a look at this YouTube video & see if this helps her out....TRAINING A CLIMBER

It's been several years, probably the second year she had it. she is going to remove the jasmine, but it is planted on the other side of the arbor. Yes, Paul's way is the way she did it the first year, but she didn't when she moved it.

Looks like a balcony or roof garden to me. It is beautiful! Well my garden is a bit different than yours but I usually use peony rings and recently started bamboo canes for staking. If this was my garden, I would let it spill over the railings as it would look heavenly cascading down. Then again I don't know how windy your garden is so that may not be an option.

Good idea jjpeace. It does get really windy and I think some support would be good. I like the fountain shape of the Lady, just didn't know it would be that way in three months. It has blooms now. I think I am going to like this rose.

Maybe it's the humidity .. coldest might be mid 60's here. And it rains off and on all-year long.

What about what you do with pots?

I have very few roses in pots. I only put a few small growing roses in pots so that I can raise the flowers to nose level, such as Marie Pavie and Ebb Tide. I just use a normal potting mix, nothing special.

I picked another few blooms yesterday afternoon and turned the triple decker to a quadruple decker arrangement:

I did a talk yesterday in Asheville and Thrips came up. The consensus was that they are worse this year in our part of the world.
Lots of us live near hay fields and untended lots.
What may be a hint is that the first cutting of hay was especially productive this year because of the heavy rain we (almost) all had in April followed by a dry May that really got the grass growing and that's where most of the Thrips originate.

The predaceous thrips are coming, they are just having problems keeping up.

The dates that thrips first appear need to go on your rose calender along with first Japanese Beetle date.

I did see a JB the other day. Just the one. They usually coincide with my Magnolias blooming. And they love to hang out in the magnolia flowers, but don't eat them.

It does seem that the thrips get worse each year. As I said, we were fine this year and roses that usually get their first flush ruined by thrips were ok, but they arrived in the 2nd week of May, so the first blooms were ok. I'm hoping by getting rid of most of my blooms/buds that were damaged that I can get rid of some of the thrips.

The timing of the April rains and dry May make sense.

Wow! So many good ideas. I was thinking about posts or some way to get climbers going, but I definitely like the wire idea best. Thanks toolbelt. I'm having a hard time planning this and I've decided that's ok I have my HT right now and I've got 11 plants (including a climber) coming from Brecks (thanks to the deal hunters here). I'm just going to start with those around the fence on the right of the house by the trees. It gets afternoon and evening sun, though, so now I'm questioning my choice. Ugh! I don't have the perfect spot for them. The front of the house gets morning sun, but not enough. The HT has looked sad today. I'm hoping it's just because I moved it. I move it Friday night. Saturday it had two of the most impressive blooms I have seen. Today all the blooms are droopy. Aren't they supposed to last more than a day?

There was yesterday

This year, my only losses were among the HTs I kept in pots, unprotected outside all year. I don't think it was the cold so much as it was all the snow that piled on them. I left it, thinking it would provide some protection, but I didn't think about the melting. We had a couple of warm days right after the last snow, and that was enough to melt all the snow -- except what was at the base. This meant that most of the pots were flooded for a few days before I realized what was going on, and managed to shift them enough for the water to drain. Three came back to life -- 'Velvet Fragrance', 'Mirandy', and 'Big Ben'. The rest -- 'Chateau de Clos Vougeot', 'Chrysler Imperial', 'Crimson Glory', 'Heart's Desire', 'Mister Lincoln', 'Night', 'Nigrette', 'Nocturne', 'Oklahoma', 'Red Masterpiece', and 'Rose of Freedom' -- have yet to show any growth. I have other roses coming which I'll keep in their potting-up pots and tuck them in the garage or my enclosed back porch for Winter, and will pop them in the bigger pots and barrels whose roses don't wake up.

Well, I definitely learned a lesson about what I do with my pots from now on. But at the same time, I also learned last year that the roses I picked can't handle full-sun -- or, at least, their blooms can't. And I really didn't have enough places to put them that would offer midday shade, so I have other things to try this year. I already have replacements for 'Chateau de Clos Vougeot' and 'Nigrette' coming, and will likely re-order 'Crimson Glory' 'Heart's Desire' and 'Night' again, but as I refine the "look" of this garden, I think the others were just a bit too modern to blend in well.

Last year, I had only two losses -- 'Jaune Desprez' and "Secret Garden Musk Climber". The former was replaced with 'Baltimore Belle' as I was leery of trying another Tea-Noisette in such an exposed position. The latter was replaced with a more mature specimen of the same, which seemed to whine and complain about this Winter, but made it through and is pumping out new growth.

:-)

~Christopher

So sorry to hear about all of your losses. Seems I was lucky but we had a mild winter. All my pots survived but I had them in the shed. Only lost three in the ground, 2 Amber Queen and a Cherry Brandy.

My wabbits love phlox when planted by roses they eat the phlox instead. Once the veggie gardens get started in the neighborhood they leave not to return till late fall.

Wirosarian, What do you use for baits? I have a live trap. I tried with an apple, I got a ground hog....hate that rabbit around my heart twice!

Thanks everyone. Diane, love your picture of Love Song, it's gorgeous! Love Song is a remarkable rose, IMHO. When I look at Melpdee Parfumme, it seems to look more purple as it ages, but then when I photograph it, it still looks magenta! I still think it is a lovely rose and has a nice fragrance, just want the purple to be more prominent.

The purple shows in Fragrant Plum. I've noticed that Beth who has so many varieties of roses and posts all the beautiful pictures has some of the most beautiful roses in this color class, including this variety. Some of hers are breathtaking!

Hmmm, bethnorcal9, I guess you needed another rose, huh? ;-)

Lmao, because we are addicts here!

I saw those and was really tempted. I didn't notice color tags on the ones I saw so I wasn't sure what I'd be buying. I'm looking for a dark/bright pink climber.

Got in from picking all the rust leaves I could find & cutting just a few branches off. Looked pretty good, better than I thought. Plus the other bushes look really nice today. I then gently raked all the maple seeds that fell onto the rosebeds & put cedar mulch down. Hopefully they will continue to get happier since the weather is supposed to warm up & stay nicer.

Hopefully they will leaf out soon :)

Thanks for the suggestions and for sharing the beautiful picture! Actually I'm looking at Austins now and I have my eye on Colette and also Graham Thomas but he looks like he can get big. But now that I see your picture of Colette, wow and also she seems to be a tough cookie based on your description! I will look into Above and Beyond as well :)

I love DA roses too. This year I ordered their 2 ramblers: Malvern Hills and The Albrighton Rambler, I hope they're cane hardy and can climb.

I would say that container is way too narrow. Get yourself a REALLY big container -- Biggest one you can find. Think about the size of the TOP of the plant, and consider that it needs nearly that much root, to support it. Roses don't grow a long, narrow "taproot." They grow a network of spreading roots, so a pot shaped like that is not ideal.

Also, one of those molded plastic pots is better than ceramic. (Yeah, I like ceramic pots too. But roses don't much like them.)

Also, I recommend that you get a pot with many drainage holes. Then, set it up on three bricks (or fancy "pot feet") so that water can drain freely out of it. (Do NOT set it in a saucer.) If that is open dirt with mulch, next to the pot, you'd be better to set it there, than on concrete.

I agree with all of the above. I've found that shorter and wider at the bottom is always better than taller and narrow. If you have any winds to contend with that tall narrow pot is doomed to tip over!