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red cascade as a companion?

11 years ago

Hi All,
anyone ever grow Red Cascade as a companion or groundcover in a bed with other roses? I was thinking about planting a few extra Red Cascades in a bed that has some leggy HT's. Wondering if this would look good, so please post any pics if you have them!!! Would love to see!
If anyone has any other rose ground covers in with other 'taller' roses please let me know. thanks!

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Comments (7)

ilovemyroses
11 years ago
I'm trying that as well. One year in, and I'm not pleased. But you may have better luck. RC gets very long, quickly. Different habit than, say, sea foam. Hard to prune other roses, hard to mulch, constantly stepping on pieces of it. Just not working for me. And I really don't know how to use this rose, a climber I guess?
sherryocala
11 years ago
Unfortunately, I agree. Only RC's flowers are miniature. He's very content to lay on the ground and run everywhere, but he'd be a nightmare that way. Try some Integrifolia clematis (non-vining) around/under your roses. That's what I'm planting this spring. Arabella and Durandii which are blue, and Ooh-la-la which is a very short (3' - 4') vining one (not Integrifolia) that I'm going to put under 3 Hermosas that get a bit bare in the summer. I really need to get planting!

Last year I planted a couple of Drift roses at the edge of a rose's canopy. I thought they'rd spread under the bigger rose - which they did but not exactly well. I don't think it was a good thing for any of them. Too much root competition. I have moved the Drift roses out of there.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...
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My goodness, Sherry, I'm having trouble understanding your dissatisfaction with the rose for that location, especially from a blooming perspective. You've had it in the ground for three years and had it so healthy and reblooming for all that time that you've had to cut back some of its long healthy canes? Antique Rose Emporium describes the length of their canes as winding around a 14' pole they pictured, so that part probably didn't come as a surprise. The blooms look wonderful to me, and that's true also past the first ultra-full flush. No rose has two first flushes, unless maybe it's a hybrid musk with an ultra heavy fall flush. But the Red Cascade rose is almost as beautiful in July as it was in May, and few roses happen to be nearly so floriferous as this one when other roses aren't doing much in the heat. This rose looks about as good as it can get for a southern garden to me. In your April picture so full of the red rosy blooms of Red Cascade, notice that most of your other roses really aren't doing much, especially compared to Red Cascade. But in July of last year and this year too, it's holding its own in comparison with many of your other roses. Some roses likely have the beginnings of all the blooms they are going to produce eventually during the season already incipiently present at the start of blooming each year, and their reblooming merely projects those blooms that take much longer to come on than when the first flush appears. I have a feeling from looking closely at your pictures (which show many darkened earlier blooms) that this rose might be of that type, especially considering its parentage. But it hardly matters, since apparently it does contain so very many blooms waiting around to get started at some point during the season. I certainly wouldn't criticize a decision to switch to some other kind of finely feathered evergreen shrub, but all the little red dots of Red Cascade's striking color on beautiful feathery foliage look spectacular to me. I take back all the previous suggestions I posted last night, as I don't see that you could likely improve things any by doing something different. Perhaps your mistake, if you made one, was in choosing a rose you really don't like as much as you thought you would when ordering it. Maybe really tiny flowers aren't noticeable enough to count for much blooming to you? If that's it, then just ignore all the oo-la-lah's I've been thinking in looking at your beautiful rose pictures, Sherry. Just replace those little miniature rose plants if you really prefer larger blooms! Best wishes, Mary
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Hi jdbheartease! I have 3 red cascade roses that have almost formed a hedge. When I planted them in March 2011, they were about 6" tall, and now they have grown up a 3' metal support and cascade down another 6-8 feet. Other than putting in the supports, they have been completely care free! I will look for baby plants for you and let you know what I find. Email me a reminder please! Jeri
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Hi Dale, I'm not sure if you're saying that the only place you have for red cascade is the pot she's in, or that you're not sure if it's a good place for this rose and you think it should be somewhere else. My advice is leave it, and it'll be fine, even if it's not doing much now. As stated, it will cascade!! I think this is a rose that can have many uses. I have mine on the ground - not climbing -- in my rock garden, because I thought it would be nice to have it "cascade" over the rocks. It did absolutely nothing the first year, now doing great, and it's not too short for a hanging pot! I would keep yours in your hanging pot, and wait. It should be fine. Debbie
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Comments (9)
Hi Dale, I have Red Cascade also but it's a baby. HelpMeFind/roses.com is a great source of info, I use it a lot! The info below is what I put in my mini info file. (Some of it may be redundant) Red Cascade- *Tiny perfect fully double, deeply cupped miniature roses. A resilient, no-spray rose in Central Florida that is not at all picky about its soil. Though it defoliates a bit during the winter, its spring flush is remarkably lush. Blooms in flushes throughout the summer and fall. Though it's marketed as a groundcover rose, I think it's best growing up through a support of some kind so that its flower can be appreciated. I keep mine at 4 feet, but my guess is that it would grow to around 6Â. To class a 15 ft (4.5m) rose as a miniature seems ridiculous, but 'Red Cascade' is diminutive in everything but the length of its canes. The leaves are small, leathery, and dark green, and the flowers, which measure just an inch (2.5cm) across, are a dark, rich red. This rose is outstandingly vigorous: fast-growing and in bloom virtually all season, this rose thrives even in less than ideal circumstances. It's equally effective as a cascading shrub or climbing a pillar or fence. Plant Type: Miniature Climber USDA Zones: 5 to 10 Height: 12 to 18 inches Width: 6 feet Bloom Size: 1 inches Petal Count: 26-40 Red Cascade (Pat. #3962) Moore. A prostrate or cascading climber. Excellent for hanging baskets, ground cover, or on a wall. Blooms are most prolific after the plant reaches full size. A remarkably useful landscape rose. Ht. 1' x 5' wide. 1976 Award of Excellence.* Allison
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AnneCecilia z5 MI
11 years ago
I used Red Cascade in a sloped hillside covered with rocks, letting it lay on top where it willed and literally 'cascading' down the slope. It worked well there - until it was time to get in there and prune or weed. I wouldn't like to have to tend other roses within RC's growing area...and I'm not sure that it would really cover up those naked knees like you're thinking it would...
eahamel
11 years ago
I agree with the others, it's too vigorous, and wants to climb. And tending the area is definitely something to think about, it does have thorns.
floridarosez9 Morgan
11 years ago
I'm training it on three small arbors that already had Don Juans on them. The DJs aren't spectacular bloomers but were gifts from my children so they aren't going anywhere. Like everyone says, this rose is very thorny, and I'm constantly hefting up runners off the ground and onto the arbors. the canes are so lax, it just sprawls all over until tied up. Having said that, I'm not displeased with it intertwined with the DJs. It had been blooming spectacularly until our last few freezes.
jardineratx
11 years ago
I agree with others that believe RC is not suitable as a groundcover. This rose is vigorous and very thorny and would be a nightmare to try to extricate from other roses/plants.
Molly
northtexasdude
Original Author
11 years ago
thanks everyone. I've been using Rosemary, Lavender and other traditional english garden base plants, but was hoping to find a traditional rose that would cover those legs. Kind of like a great big blob of roses against one wall, but I don't want them fighting for water or snuffing each other out.

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