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newbie needs help with rose sizes

13 years ago

Hello all, I have a few roses mixed in my perennial garden, but am redoing all my beds and decided to add a few more, ok, nine more:-) but do have a question about size. When they give the size of a rose, like Carefree Spirit, or Bonica, at 5 feet, is that the same all over the country? Are they shorter up here in CT with the colder winters? Just trying to fit them in and would prefer not to have to move them in a couple of years. I have been reading on here for months now and have learned so much from you all. Have a few Knock Outs but decided to branch out after reading....Any help appreciated.

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Comments (6)

dublinbay z6 (KS)
13 years ago
5 feet can, indeed, mean different things in different regions. In California and some warm/humid places in the south, their 5 ft roses can easily grow 6-10 ft tall, for instance. I usually take the size listed to be a kind of "average," but I don't know if that means they might be a bit shorter in your area.

The thing to do is after you have made some tentative selections, post here and ask for CT gardeners in particular to comment on the sizes for those particular roses. You will get the best info. from gardeners in your own area.

Have fun planning.

Kate
jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
13 years ago
If you choose roses that are cane hardy and do not have a lot of winter dieback on the canes, they may stay a decent size for you.
If you choose roses that the canes die nearly to the ground over winter, the bushes will be somewhat smaller.
And what dublinbay said.
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anniebean
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Kate, I did already buy the nine roses - couldn't help myself lol. It was hard to find roses besides the knock outs, so I when I came upon some other easy ones, I jumped at it. Bonica and Carefree Spirit were the ones I was really wondering about the size. The smaller ones I think I can fit in easily. I'll take the five feet as average, as you suggested, and give them plenty of room. It is fun to plan and redo the garden!Lynn
athenainwi
13 years ago
Most roses will be smaller than the tag says, some will be smaller in the spring but be as large as they are supposed to be by fall, and some will be the size on the tag or sometimes larger. The Carefree series of roses are supposed to be fairly hardy will probably be close to what the tag says.
particentral
13 years ago
And don't forget that you can control how big a rose gets to a certain degree by pruning when needed and I usually do that when I remove the dead flowers. I simply keep my roses in check by pruning back the flowers to where I want the plant to be heightwise. My Bonicas are going to try to stay at 3 feet (roughly) and my HTs that can get super tall are doing quite weel at 4-5 feet tall instead of 8. Mr Lincoln is actually putting on many new canes since I wont let him grow as high as he wants, which makes a fuller bush rather than a tall one.
anniebean
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks all. I tend to pack my beds with plants and then spend years editing out, so I am really trying to space more wisely this time around.

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