Visiting a friend who has a house right on the beach in Maine, I was astonished to see how the rugosas were thriving. Huge hedges, full of bloom. They seem to LOVE the salt air and the freezing winters! Looked very healthy - covered in foliage from top to bottom. I know these are not the type of roses you mentioned, but if they can survive and thrive in your conditions, you might think about them. I believe there are many new rugosa hybrids also - you might do some research and see what you can find that you like the look of.

I had immediate climate envy when I saw the glorious rugosas in her garden - not something I expected to feel in Maine! I can't grow rugosas here - I have tried, and I guess it is too hot for them, and our winters are too mild - they ended up with one cane each, with maybe 2-3 blooms per year. Anyway, sounds like you could grow them, and where you live they should be really easy. They hate spraying, by the way.

Jackie

Chantel-I live on the Cape too. As far as easy care, I would recommend any of the Easy Elegance series. They're much prettier than KO's. Macy's Pride is one of my favorites as well as Super Hero. If you live near Sandwich, next June stop in at Heritage Museums. My husband & I put in a small rose garden there specifically with easy care & disease resistant roses. We put in a number of Easy Elegance roses as well as Hot Cocoa, Julia Child, Carefree Celebration & a few others.

Jackie, in coastal New England (which has a climate very, very similar to northeastern Asia where they're natives) rugosa roses grow so easily they almost (but not quite) qualify as an invasive weed.

Yes, any rugosa can be planted on Cape Cod and the owner can be certain it will grow well and need very little or no care at all (as long as it was planted where it got a decent amount of sunlight).

An excellent, and famous, rugosa is Fru Dagmar Hastrup. Its hips are more crimson than the usual tomato or scarlet red of a typical rugosa, and so the bush's pink flowers that bloom late in the season don't clash with the color of the ripening hips.

Another beautiful one is the white form of the species, Rosa rugosa alba. Its single flowers are pure bright white, with no hint of any other color whatsoever.

In my mind the only real drawback to the rugosa roses is that the flowers can't really be picked for use indoors. They usually shatter in a hurry when you try that.

Oh, when on their own roots they also sucker a bit, but in my limited experience with them they aren't especially aggressive about that.

Moving on to other possibilities, I suspect Stanwell Perpetual also would be a good choice for you, Chantel, and if you're open to bigger once-bloomers with a reputation for good performance, may I suggest the "antique" alba Great Maiden's Blush?

Chantel, you also live in a climate where you can consider using Hybrid Musk roses. They're often shade tolerant, and the Pemberton Musk roses in particular are famous for fragrance.

Many (most?) of the Hybrid Musks rebloom dependably. We're near the northern edge for them, but nonetheless! You live on the Cape, and that means your climate is more mild than most zone 6 gardens. Hybrid Musks will probably be more like "shrubs" than hybrid teas or floribundas, but they may be exactly what you need to provide the visual "framework" (ie., background upon which you build the remainder) of your meditation area.

Oh, one other thing about Hybrid Musks. As a class they have a reputation for blooming relatively well in shadier areas than one normally thinks of for roses (ie., dappled shade, etc.)

My very favorite rose is the floribunda Day Breaker. It is the only rose I have more than two of, and I have five of them. I grow 300+ roses here in northwest Missouri.
It is super showy with beautiful apricot blend blooms that continually change throughout the year with various shades of pink, cream, yellow, orange,salmon, etc...the color of daybreak of course. My Day Breaker bushes bloom heavily and are continuous blooming throughout the year. The flowers are lightly scented and about 3 1/2" across. It blooms in singles and a few 3 and 4 banger sprays very occasionally mixed in. I don't usually see any thrips on my DB blooms here.
The Day Breaker bush is vigorous growing to 5 1/2' tall, winter hardy (for me with no protection), disease resistant, and well shaped without having to prune it that way. The foliage is medium sized, dark green, and very shiny.
I love this rose and if it can handle your winters would highly recommend it to you. It was an ARS winner a few years ago which generally means that it can be grown in many different zones across the US dependably. I don't use any winter protection at all on my roses and it survives easily and is one of the first to break dormancy and begin blooming in Spring and lasts until December most years before going dormant for the winter. It may survive your winters with good added protection but I couldn't guarantee it since I don't live there of course.
Some other very winter hardy roses for me are Pop Warner, Savoy Hotel, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Vavoom. These could possibly grow for you also with good added winter protection. These roses are such that I don't have to prune off winter kill from them because they handle winter so well here with no protection.

Good luck,
John

John, you don't protect your roses over winter, so have you planted them deeply? Mine are not planted as deeply as perhaps they should be, mostly about 2 inches. I would like to get out of mounding some of the HT's up in late fall, if they are reputed to be 'hardy'. I do have reliable snow cover throughout the winter.

Thanks,

Judith

Thank you Everyone! I appreciate you all taking the time to respond to me. I am sooooo anxious to get started! Going to draw out my garden plans.

Jackie - yes I did have some rugas before - no care but they became very invasive because I didn't keep in eye on them. Same happened to a friend of mine - she had a terrible time removing them. However this is a good idea for an area of my yard on the lot line (neighbors don't use their side of the property) where they would grow pretty and I would not have to worry about the. :-)

DollsandRoses - I forgot about Hot Cocoa and JC - I had them both - love them. Yes I will check out the garden at the HM. Have you been down to the Harwich Community Center? Very pretty!

YorkRose - all great suggestions and yes I do love antique roses and those would be very pretty. okay the hybrid musk would be a good border around the mediation garden? Fragrance would be a plus.

John I forgot about Day Breaker too - one I had wanted in the past -good idea. Our Lady of Guadalupe I didn't realize was hardy - thanks

Many Thanks all! Happy Gardening!

do you think I should plant white simplicity roses and white popcorn roses for the boarder of the mediation garden - then add color in the background? Maybe I should go check the gallery - hmm but that could be dangerous! lol

Chantel-I belong to the Lower Cape Rose Society which planted & maintains the garden at the Harwich CC. It's a good group. You should consider coming to a meeting. I would stay away from the White Simplicity, they blackspot like crazy. Gourmet Popcorn would be a good choice for a border-we planted that at Heritage also. Snow cone is a very sweet little white shrub that would work well as a border.

Chantel, your meditation garden would probably be different from mine. What prompts you to meditate/become peaceful & thoughtful? That would be what I would use to guide my plant choices for such a garden.

Hi There DollsandRoses - yes I should join - my neighbor is a member. I know I would learn alot. I do have white simplicity - I made a hedge with them for my Mom garden in our yard. But I had to clear that area out as work is being done on our home. I liked the blooms very pretty - I will however check out snow cone. The popcorn has lasted with no care in our yard - thought about using this rose as a boarder too. Did you try Ice Cream? I saw it on the Rose Gallery.

On another note - I did find some of my old publications and books I had put away. So many roses I had researched before so now I can make a list and also check them out on HMF.

So true York Rose :-)

Chantel- my hubby is giving the program for the January meeting, so try to make it. They're usually held on the 3rd Saturday of the month, but there is talk about having a Tuesday evening meeting this month. I'll let you know. I haven't heard of Ice Cream, but I looked it up on HMF & its really nice looking.