My Drought Short Rose List

9 years ago

When it's too hot to go outside (which is at the very least for the next ten days but more probably into October) I like to occupy myself with making lists, my favorite thing of course being lists of roses. It occurred to me that if the water situation became much worse I'd be forced to eliminate more than 40 roses. That would leave me with about 20 or so, which is the lowest number I could imagine that would enable me to think of this as still primarily a rose garden, and that's only if they were large enough and scattered around enough so that each area would still contain roses. With one exception I already have these roses, except for Reve d'Or which I had and loved, but which was unfortunately in the wrong location.

I wondered whether those of you in similar predicaments, or even those in areas with increasingly harsh and long winters, had any thoughts about which roses you absolutely still had to have, and which stood a good chance of surviving, if temperatures become more extreme, as is predicted.

My list:

Souvenir de la Malmaison (two)
Mrs. B.R. Cant (two)
La France (two)
Le Vesuve (two)
Bishop's Castle (two)
Mutabilis
Annie Laurie Mc Dowell
Rosette Delizy
Mlle. de Sombreuil
Reve d'Or
Aunt Margy's Rose
Young Lycidas
Potter and Moore
Belinda's Dream
I'm not decided on the last rose since several young roses look promising. If No. 92 Nanjing survives and thrives it should be that one, although I could say the same about Emily, Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux, Dr. O'Donel Brown, Duchess of Albany, Wild Edric, Reine des Violettes, Hoag House Cream, Cl. Lady Hillingdon, White Pet , Duchesse de Brabant or Heirloom. I might have to have 25!

Ingrid

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

true_blue
9 years ago
Ingrid, in our cold region if there is no snow cover, the roses will be automatically eliminated, whether we want it or not :-)

I'm done with mollycoddling roses. They either make it or not.

In 8 years of growing roses, I've been often surprised by their resilience. I've lost more perennials than roses.

I thought this year, I'll lose some of my most tender rose, Sweet Chariot, and all three of them survived and bloomed their head off in June.

But in wake of extreme temperature swings, if I were to redo the garden, I would focus on European OGRs, Spinosissimas, Canadian Explorers and species...

- Bob
roseseek
9 years ago
We're thinking along very similar lines, Ingrid. I'm honestly primarily keeping my own seedlings at the expense of many of the "commercial introductions". Kim
Related Discussions
Thorny question-short list of David Austen Roses
Q
Comments (12)
I'm really beginning to think that what DAR sent me was mislabelled and isn't Tea Clipper at all. I know you'd previously mentioned others having issues with rebloom and this one is constantly covered in warm pink blooms with a strong myrrh scent, has a tall arching growth habit (large shrub,short climber) and definitely thorns--spacing between them but fairly long hooklike things individually. I was comparing it with Strawberry Hill this morning and the two seem virtually identical to me, so I wonder if DAR sent me a mislabelled SH instead. That said, it is a good performer in the garden, so I'd keep it regardless, but maybe I'll put an asterisk next to the ID as Tea Clipper from now on.
...See More
short list for cut flowers
Q
Comments (24)
My flowers are just kicking into high gear now that we actually have had a few heat units! It was too hot to even sell this weekend...I sell at outdoor locations and the flowers were frizzled in a few hours. Ended up with 8 buckets of fresh flowers I picked last night so will try selling all week this week at our 2 stands. Not today though...heavy thundershowers and storms. Here in this very weird Northwest summer I now have glads, snapdragons, dahlias, roses, calendulas, clarkia, cleome, amaranths (copper and burgundy), larkspur, crocosmia, rudbeckia, lime green nicotiana and blue batchelors buttons. Phlox are kicking in, and lilies are ending. Yesterday it was 83 degrees, today it is 60 at 1:30 in the afternoon! Nature did the watering this morning! I would have had more flowers but I had both knees replaced this year and am just back to full time garden work...and catch up!
...See More
Companion plants for roses in drought-stricken California
Q
Comments (42)
I'm gardening in Santa Monica and going for a more drought tolerant garden while keeping roses in the mix. I haven't been checking the forums for a bit and I'm sure I'll echo many recommendations already made, but I like the following so far: Lavenders of all sort, but especially Fern-leafed in tighter spots. Eschscholzia in a myriad of colors. Platystemon californicus. Annie's carries this absolutely charming California native. It has lovely light yellow flowers that close up at night. It looks great right now for me. I really love this annual/companion. It's definitely for the front of the border. Penstemons in darker purples, blues -Marguerite BOP amongst others- and red. They can fill out nicely. Salvia of all sorts. I like gregii hybrids for sunnier spots, but check out the selection at Annie's. It is terrific! Cerinthe. I love the blue-grey-green foliage and purple flowers. It's very easy from seed. Centranthus or Jupiter's Beard in pink/red and white is all over my garden. It spreads almost to the point of invasiveness, but it looks good with little water and the volunteers are easy to rip out. I like the way certain ornamental grasses blend with roses. Smaller Pennisetum, Calmagrostis, Bouteloua, and Deschampsia varieties can be blended with roses and other drought tolerant plants fairly easily. Nicotiana mutabilis is very low maintenance and low-water for me. It looks great Spring-Fall with tall stalks of multi-colored flowers. Limonium -statice or sea-lavender- comes in all sorts of colors besides purple and is very easy to maintain with little water. I like the apricot and white varieties a lot. I really enjoy variegated Euphorbias like 'Blue Glacier' and 'Tasmanian Tiger.' They can lend much needed foliage interest and form very shapely mounds. Columbines fare a bit better in light shade for me, but I love to grow them. I have a Rosa rugosa alba in light shade under planted with black/dark purple columbines that looks wonderful right now. Eriogonum or buckwheat can be mixed at the front of drought tolerant borders with great success. I like E. latifolium and E. grande v. rubescens a lot. The former has terrific light pink flowers if I recall correctly and the latter red. Some dwarf Correa varieties look great with roses. The common name is Australian Fuschia. They bloom in winter/spring and require little water. Consider South African bulbs that go dormant in the summer when there's little or no rain here anyways. Ixia, Aristea, Ferraria, species Gladiolus, and others can be unbelievably beautiful and very drought tolerant. Lewisia looks terrific in Spring in containers or in areas where it won't be covered up since it is quite short. Check out Annie's Annuals in Richmond for plenty of ideas if you haven't. I can't tell you how many wonderful plants I've seen on their site that I wish I could have ordered without thinking about it. Being able to go in person removes the need to save on shipping and you can see their demo gardens with mature examples of most of their offerings. Jay
...See More
PLEASE share any input on my rose list!
Q
Comments (18)
Michael - I don't grow any of the roses on your list, but even in zone 6b I'd be cautious about a climbing tea. I've successfully overwintered 5 or 6 tea roses here in zone 5 which I realize is a zone colder than yours technically, but these are all in my virtual zone 6 on the sunny side of the house. They need very careful protection with standing leaf bags around them all winter and even so they lose most if not all of their canes over the winter, even as mild a one as we just had. Teas don't really like that kind of pruning, but some of them will survive it (Maman Cochet is probably the most robust survivor). Some teas won't survive even with this maximum protection, and if so I can't fathom any of them climbing even under ideal conditions. In my yard, I break out the champagne if they reach knee height and also bloom, which is laughable in regions where teas really belong. You might get Lorenzo to survive in your zone but I'd lay considerable odds that it wouldn't climb for you. None of this says not to try these roses, however, just that you can't take anything published from warmer zones to help you decide whether to try Lorenzo Pahissa or other teas. As MadGallica says, you have to experiment to know what will work for you, and don't let us dissuade you from something you really want to try. In general, most hybrid perpetuals are reasonably hardy for me and would be a good bet in zone 6. From what I hear in eastern climates, if a rose will blackspot it's liable to be problematic for you, so my input isn't all that valuable for you. I don't have Reine Victoria, but Mme. Isaac Periere is pretty disease free for me in my dry zone, though she's a once bloomer only for me and that only if she has surviving cane from the winter. You might get a more reliable range of options if you asked about OGR roses and very double blooms in a separate thread, and broadened out beyond Angel Gardens. Pam is a sweetheart and has healthy strong plants, but I get discouraged looking at her listings and the ones from A Reverence for Roses since so many of them are just not sustainable in my cold climate, even for a zone pusher like me. We'll be happy if you hear of the feasibility of any of these roses however so that we can follow in your footsteps! Cynthia
...See More
jerijen
9 years ago
I think in part to favor roses that have survived decades without irrigation, to be rediscovered. Thus, Mme Lombard is high on the list, among others.

Grandmothers Hat, The Portland From Glendora, and a whole raft of Noisettes and Chinas -- all right in there.
jerijen
9 years ago
I think in part to favor roses that have survived decades without irrigation, to be rediscovered. Thus, Mme Lombard is high on the list, among others.

Grandmothers Hat, The Portland From Glendora, and a whole raft of Noisettes and Chinas -- all right in there.
jerijen
9 years ago
I think in part to favor roses that have survived decades without irrigation, to be rediscovered. Thus, Mme Lombard is high on the list, among others.

Grandmothers Hat, The Portland From Glendora, and a whole raft of Noisettes and Chinas -- all right in there.
jerijen
9 years ago
I think in part to favor roses that have survived decades without irrigation, to be rediscovered. Thus, Mme Lombard is high on the list, among others.

Grandmothers Hat, The Portland From Glendora, and a whole raft of Noisettes and Chinas -- all right in there.
jerijen
9 years ago
I think in part to favor roses that have survived decades without irrigation, to be rediscovered. Thus, Mme Lombard is high on the list, among others.

Grandmothers Hat, The Portland From Glendora, and a whole raft of Noisettes and Chinas -- all right in there.
sammy zone 7 Tulsa
9 years ago
Jeri, your computer went crazy. All 5 of your posts are the same. (More than likely you know)

We are not as threatened by a drought as we are with seasonal surprise activities. We have extreme heat, drought in the cold months, strong winds, and worst of all we have sudden temperature changes. We may have a freeze in April or May or we may have 90 degree temps in January following by a freeze.

My answer has been to reduce by rose count from a high of 276 to a present of 104. I have removed arbors and anything that would hold up climbers, and have scattered smaller beds.

Since none of my beds have natural Oklahoma soil, they can receive water more quickly than something that would be in the clay.

I am trying to use heavier mulch each year, and learn about how much water a rose needs.

I know that I can let the hose pour for 60 seconds, 20 seconds, whatever, but I do not know what is an adequate number to use. I wonder if there are water meters that could give a continuous moisture reading, and let us know what the rose needs.

Sammy

My Drought Short Rose List

Comments (8)

true_blue

roseseek

Related Discussions

jerijen

jerijen

jerijen

jerijen

jerijen

sammy zone 7 Tulsa

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US