Two words: Geranium 'Rozanne'.

Here's the base of a rose with no foliage on the bottom. But you can't see it because there's a wonderful cloud of lavender blue flowers covering it:

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Geranium 'Rozanne' does not reseed. Geranium 'Rozanne' is hardy to zone 5. Geranium 'Rozanne' does not have a root system that interferes with a rose's root system. Geranium 'Rozanne' blooms like crazy. The color of Geranium 'Rozanne' goes agreeably with every rose there is.

Convinced?

Now let me see if I understand what you're saying..,just teasing Gail:) That is a great suggestion and thank you for the photo also. I have two G.Rozanne plants new from last year and although they haven't bloomed yet this year I really like them. I had not thought of planting one at the base of ML. I think that would be nice though. I did not know they could take that much sun but it seems that's the case.

Appreciate that. Thanks again.

Kate

They can take full sun after about the first 3 months planted--the first 3 months they seem to need a lot of extra water to get established. After that they are fine. All of mine are in full sun except one; it doesn't bloom quite as much as the others.

The other thing you can try is super TLC care for Mr. Lincoln, extra water and 1 TB of fish emulsion in a gallon of water once a week will produce foliage right down to the bottom in this yard, might work for you as well.

Not only do my Mister Lincolns have bare legs, they are scrawny chickenlegs---if they were white, they'd look like an old man at the beach!
So I need some Rozanne too, I guess...but salvias and nepetas and agastaches work, as well.
Laura

Winter dieback prevents bare rose legs. The new canes are full of foliage. When I do get roses with bare legs, I prune them back to promote new canes and foliage. Unfortunately It means I have to forgo flowers for the time it takes the plant to grow new canes, but the wait is worth it.

Same deal with my Mister Lincoln. I have actually been thinking about Rozanne too because this was my first bed and it is a bit like soldiers lined up (who knew?)

He did not produce well for first flush either. Seven inch flowers, just not many of them.

I also prune back my Mr. Lincoln hard so it has more of a bush form than a tall lanky bare legged one. It will develop into that if you don't cut back low after each bloom. Mr. Lincoln is one I regularly cut for the house,so when I do that, I take a long stem with it.

I do get bs on mine, and it will lose some leaves on the bottom. But over the years, I've managed to prune it so it's not so lanky. Here is mine (in the middle) from yesterday. It's a bit puny so far this year because it lost it's first flush in a late freeze in April and we have had unusually cold, rainy and cloudy weather in May.

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Thank you everyone for the good thoughts on Mr. Lincoln and those long skinny legs.

Laura I'll think about those varieties also for coverage. I love Salvia so that's perfect.

Karl: On the winter dieback. Are you talking about when ML dies to the ground? Ours really didn't die back much at all. Some blackening of the tips was about all. So it sounds like I should cut him back a lot more either this fall or next spring.

Buford very nice picture. Appreciate that. Hmm, so maybe I don't have to wait for the end of the season to reduce ML by say half or so. It is really tall now, about up to my shoulder (and I'm rather tall myself). Your Mister Lincoln looks really good. May I ask what rose is just to the right of him?

Again thanks for all your thoughts. Hoov I will try your pick me up on this rose and maybe a couple of others of the fish emulsion and extra water. I have one or two that could use a lift.

Kate

I was just stating the reason my roses do not have bare legs. If you do not have severe dieback you can still prune severely. New growth will have foliage. There is no rule you cannot prune off more than the dead portions.If a particular bush exhibits lower leaf loss anytime during the season, I just prune it back to encourage new growth.

kate actually I was wrong, Mr. Lincoln is on the right, the one on the left is Fragrant Cloud. It's a bit more orange. And I've got passion vine coming up in the front which does cover some of the bareness on both when it gets longer. If my husband doesn't yank it out. He hates vines. LOL.

I would take it down as far as you want after it blooms. Sometimes I let mine get tall so you can see it from the street, but usually 2-3 times a year I take it down to about 18 inches.