22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses
No, you don't need to cover them if they are in the ground. In fact sometimes it can do more harm than good by breaking canes. As Kate said, if you planted them deep to begin with they'll be fine. If not you should have mulched them some in the fall but if you want to go out and try to now I guess that would be oK. Be careful not to bang them up though. At these cold temps canes can snap easily.
Yes, you're going to have cane damage. There is nothing you can do about that and it will need to be pruned off in the spring but in the long run you're better off just letting them be. The snow on the ground will be good insulation for the roots and that's the most important thing.
Most roses aren't really lost from the cold temps but more from the freezes and thaws of early spring when they try to leaf out too soon and that new growth is repeatedly frozen off. The rose uses up all its stored energy before true spring arrives and has none left to bud out with again. That's usually when I lose roses here. So the best thing is to keep them dormant for as long as possible so that doesn't happen. That's really the purpose of the mulch. People think the mulch is to keep them warmer but it's just the opposite. It shouldn't be put on until after the ground is frozen and the roses are completely dormant. Then it can keep the cold IN and the ground frozen to keep them dormant through any early warm spells that you know aren't going to last. They save their energy for when it really does warm up for good in the spring.
I have 2 Apricot Drifts and 2 Coral Drifts. I love them, but they don't get tall enough to be seen over your wall (at least not here in my climate). Someone posted a couple of months ago about their Peach Drift getting way taller than expected...I want to say 5 ft. Not sure if that was a fluke or if Peach Drift is taller than the other Drifts. I had 3 Lady Elsie May roses in another garden when they first came out. Those were great landscape roses and would fit your height requirement. I would definitely recommend them as continually blooming, low maintenance shrub roses with very good disease resistance in my climate. Currently, I have 2 OSO Easy Paprika roses that would also work behind your wall. They bloom all the time and are at least as disease resistant as Knockouts for me. Sorry, but no experience with the Carpet Rose series other than the original pink when it first came out, and I really can't remember how big they got or how well they performed.
This post was edited by pat_bamaZ7 on Fri, Jan 3, 14 at 11:11
I have to say that my Appleblossom Flower Carpet is pretty much bullet proof. RARELY even gets any kind of diseases and blooms all summer long. It's pretty much self cleaning too as I hardly ever have to dead head it. Mine spreads out in a nice circle about 4 feet wide with an occasional cane that goes up to about 3 feet in height. But if you want to train it to go up that wall it's pretty flexible and should be easy to do.
I use Facebook as a photo depository for most of my rose pics. I post them there anyway to brag :) . When I want to post a picture here, I do the following:
Open up the picture in FB.
Right click on the picture, a menu will pop up. You want to click on 'Inspect Element'.
A screen will appear at the bottom with a portion highlighted. This is the script you must copy and paste into a GW thread body. Right click on the highlighted area and click on 'Copy Inner HTML' or 'Outer HTML', it doesn't matter.
Paste that into a GW thread:
img style="width: 520px; height: 390px;" src="https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1397747_10151768534973316_772910428_o.jpg"; aria-busy="false" aria-describedby="fbPhotosSnowliftCaption" alt="" class="spotlight">
When you post it with the 
You can then post multiple scripts in the post which will then become pictures:
Lol, you just asked the $64,000.00 question! Because they only hear the hype and are scared away. So they never try them for themselves to see that they aren't the prima donas they're touted as. In truth, they are no more or less work than any other perennial in your garden. They need sunlight, water, fertilizer now and again and a pruning about once a year. The same things most people do for their hydrangeas, lilacs, peonies, iris, azaleas and hostas, etc., etc. In fact, when you think about it, your lawn requires more care than roses do!
And people have much too high expectations when they purchase a rose. They expect to see those florist shop perfect roses in their garden. Unrealistic! Those roses are force grown in unnatural conditions that no one can duplicate in a garden setting. And they are meticulously groomed! So people are set up to fail and be disappointed. Hence the myth that roses are so hard to grow.
If you purchase the right roses for your area and don't expect them to look florist shop perfect you'll be much happier and enjoy them more for years to come.
My bloomed so much 15 buds were killed by snow. it wouldn't quit! The hardest thing I do is spray them with Milk water and kill rose slugs. That just gives me a reason to be outside! I love it that's why I love roses. (Also they took out a greenhouse full of roses for a pop eyes grrrr)
I use a mixed approach to pruning our roses --
With roses, I use a power trimmer gently, with an eye to creating a natural shape. It's a useful tool at times for cutting a shrub down to size. Afterward, you can refine the haircut. OTOH, hand pruning is just about as quick and cleanup is not as messy.
The tall Knockout tree roses are pruned with a long, gas-powered articulated hedge trimmer, followed by selective hand trimming. These bushes are not heavily pruned, but rather lightly trimmed to maintain the desired shape.
Most of the other mature Knockouts get pruned with non-power hedge clippers and hand trimmers. Occasionally, if I think I'm in a rush, I use the power trimmer.
All other roses -- HTs, shrubs, climbers, OGRs -- are pruned by hand.
no direct sunlight
thanks anyway
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg0114554324859.html
Plumerias-lover, the patent status of a rose doesn't have anything to do with how good a garden plant it will be, so don't let that influence your choices.
Here's a definition if you scroll down the page to find it.
Here is a link that might be useful: patent vs. non-patent roses
Apols for hopeless posting-computer died and am using sons tablet
Bright as a button - a great rosé but very small flowered and totally healthy.It does not look very rose-like though - the combination of tiny blooms and many glossy leaves looks much more reminiscent of some other flowering shrub
I don't see your two issues as a reason for replacing roses. Most of the roses people want have thorns. Mildew isn't a big problem compared to others.
People replace roses because they are bored with them, they aren't performing well or are diseased. If you like what you have why go to all the work of replacing them.
Are you looking for roses that don't require any spraying? Some people use cloud cover to fight mildew.
I'm sure other posters will be abe to provide recommendations for thornless or mildew resistant roses.
My recommendation is, if you have never tested your soils, you should at least once take a soil sample & send it off to a professional lab for testing. Have them test for N-P-K & pH (usually the basic test) and add on the secondary nutrients Ca-Mg-S. I think the main thing you should pay attention to is pH since pH imbalance can cause certain nutrients to be unavailable in your soil even if they are present. A too high or low pH causes some nutrients to be in insoluble in water & therefore unavailable to your roses (see chart scan below). I'm not a fan of home test kits because the reagents (test chemicals) in them are easily degraded by many environmental conditions...aging, high & low temps, sunlight, humidity. I remember a "Fine Gardening" article & "The Victory Garden" TV show both gave them a thumbs down. I'm also adding a scan of an "chlorosis" chart that will help you look at your plants to see if they are showing signs of a nutrient deficiency.
This post was edited by wirosarian on Tue, Dec 31, 13 at 22:38
redwolfdoc, I'm going to add one other thing that makes me suspicious of the results from your home test kit. You said the results showed you were "low to adequate" in phosphorous (P). Most of the info I have come across says that northern soils (since you are in z5, I would consider you on the lower end of northern) have high to excessive levels of P. My own professional soil tests in z4b show high to excessive levels of P.
Ah, Ballin' Auguste! as he was known around here long ago. I didn't think that one was available any more. Dozens upon dozens upon dozens of buds that never opened, no matter what the weather. Had a heavenly scent and a s--tload of rust. May you have much better luck than I did.
'Francois Rabelais' is a winner, though. Most excellent disease resistance and never stingy, stays a reasonable size.
Hi redwolf
Among the roses you list, Pomponella and Margot Koster have survived our winters unscathed and are healthy happy bloomers here in my zone 5. I had OLOG but it wasn't a strong cultivar and it finally gave up the ghost last year - that doesn't detract from its overall worth, though. I'll be replacing Belle Epoque and Lavender Pinocchio this year and in my experience those are marginally hardy in our zone with protection, but worth the trouble. I gave Silver Cloud every benefit and planted it in my zone 6 pocket, but it died a rapid and unavoidable death over the winters, and like most lavenders it's wimpy. If you want a robust and healthy blooming lavender, look at Poseidon - it's a real keeper!
Cynthia
Thank you!
I think I'll go for Pomponella and Lavender Pinocchio. Belle Epoque is tempting but I have an About Face coming and it seems quite similar in colouring. OLoG is gorgeous, and if it shows up at a Canadian nursery I'll jump on it.
Cynthia, thanks so much for the info on Silver Cloud. You've convinced me to give it a pass this time. Poseidon, now THAT:s a different story! :)