It rained yesterday and today, just as the spring flush was getting underway.

Not only a very beautiful rose, but what outstanding photography! More, please.

Ingrid

Great shots, Zjw. I love the fragrance of the rugosas I have also.

What other rugosas do you have? I am so looking forward to mine blooming; they only have a small amount of color showing in the buds, no blooms yet.

Gean

Beautiful rose----great pictures-----I love the fragrance of this rose-----
Florence

Y'all in the PNW seem to live in a paradise for rugosas. They seem to be perfect there. I thought they were particularly beautiful in the great garden at Oregon's Shore Acres State Park.

Jeri

The sepals are so beautiful...

I'd like to add more Rugosas to my garden. They're so tough here, and the taller varieties, like Hansa, make such attractive medium-height hedges. Last year was so grey and wet during spring, and BDdC bloomed away without a care.
Gean: which Rugosas do you have? Do you find that they ball in wet weather?

Jeri: How do they perform in warmer climates, like yours? Do they need a winter chill? The ones at Shore Acres ARE beautiful! I live about 100 miles north of there.

Sepals are always beautiful. Are they fragrant, that is, do you get a scent when you rub your fingers across them? They look glandular.
Rugosas are among the few roses I just can't grow, but I have so many other possibilities I can accept that with philosophy. I agree, your photos are very good! That looks like a splendid garden in the background.

After the rain:

Melissa, why can't you grow Rugosas?

Zack, I have Wasagaming, Ritausma/Polareis, Therese Bugnet and Topaz Jewel.

I read that Wasagaming is supposed to ball in wet weather, but it has been fine during this last stretch of drippy weather. It just began blooming the last few days. I don't remember problems last year, but that was its first year to bloom, and there were not many blooms, as I recall. I like its fragrance - here's a pic from today of it.

{{gwi:258961}}

Polareis has a beautiful bloom, but not much scent. I am glad to have it, though. Therese Bugnet is in its third spring but own root, it is very slow; it has only a couple of buds this year. Maybe next year it will bloom more.

One I would like to have is Marie Bugnet. Maybe another year I'll order it. Gean

Gean,

Wasagaming is gorgeous! I'd never head of it until right now! Do you get good re-bloom from it? Speaking of balling, my Blanc Double de Coubert also came through this wet weather looking almost unscathed, and I was afraid it would be a disaster. Last year, it took so long to begin blooming, that it missed most of the spring torrents, so it's very interesting to see it pass the test, with such delicate petals. I also have Topaz Jewel, but it's very new to me, and I have never seen a plant of it in person. How do you like it?

Zach, I am not sure about the rebloom on Wasagaming. It is a young plant and rebloomed little, if any, last year. There is an old thread discussing Will Alderman and Wasagaming; although I read that Wasagaming reblooms, this person was adamant that it doesn't, but that Will Alderman, very similar does. Maybe I'll know next year and can let you know.

Topaz Jewel definitely needs a heavy pruning. The canes are ferocious looking, but it takes the pruning well and has so far stayed under control. I don't have an opinion of TJ yet. Is yours own root? Mine came from Pickering, so on multiflora.

Polareis - while the blooms aren't very fragrant to me, the buds have a most interesting fragrance - some kind of fruity smell. Very unusual. The blooms are gorgeous and the bush very healthy so far. Ownroot, it's already suckered which I dug up and passed on to someone else. I am a fan of this rose.

I had poor luck with BDdC whenever it was wet - ugly soiled tissue look, and with those thorns, hard work deadheading.
But great luck with Hansa, Polareis, and Therese Bugnet. I lost Topaz Jewel because it was in a bad spot by top of hilly driveway, too vulnerable to winter salt.
TB was the very first rose I ever bought, from Wayside Gardens back in late 80's. It survived rose cane borers, being shunted to a neglected garden, and generally being ignored until a few years ago. I found that it had rooted itself AND sent out a daughter (it had been a graft, but being so ignored, the natural accretion of dead weeds etc must have given it the opportunity). Anyway, I gave away the daughter about 15 years ago to a friend who has to prune it to keep it from eating her whole garden. The original was joined by a second daughter a few years later. Four years ago I moved them both, pruned hard, to the center piece of the new rose garden I put in on south side of house. It is impossible to tell which was which at this point, and I regularly pot up new ones that shoot up every year, for the church and library plant sales on Mother's Day weekend.
TB is absolutely clean, all the time. Usually the first to bloom, long huge first flush can go on for over three weeks. Another flush, smaller, mid summer, but never without a few blossoms here and there. And fragrant.
Can you tell I love TB?

Sunny, I think it might have been your pics that introduced me to Polareis some time ago. I think I read too it had problems with cane borers and you had to cut it back? I am glad to hear you love TB; I am looking forward to mine blooming well. Gean

How lovely, zjw727! I live farther inland but really look forward to visiting and inhaling the aroma of all the Oregon coast gardeners' rugosas. Ahhhh! There's a good chance that I've strolled by your place in past years, peeking surreptitiously across the fence at your rose garden. Ingrid is spot on. Your photography is as delightful as your Blanc Double de Coubert. Thank you for sharing!