Getting my thoughts together - rose choosing!

16 years ago

Hi all.

Thanks again SO MUCH for all the help, especially with the wasps!

I've finally cleared the second area for roses and now that I"m continuing to read and look at pictures and get HOOKED (!) am trying to finalise what I'm going to start with.

To recap: I'm in Baltimore County MD, thus blackspot problems are likely inevitable. I will spray if necessary, but my garden once established will probably only get basic maintenance rather than TLC, simply because I don't have huge amounts of time especially when my professional life gets busy.

For a more mannerly climber along ~30ft of side boundary fence, ca 6.5ft high. Goal to COVER the ugliness of the fence and retaining wall itself (which is chain link on my side, then there's a concrete retaining wall, then there's picket above it on the neighbour's side up the hill). This area gets about 5hrs of full sun at FENCE level (now, in August so presumably a little more in midsummer); at ground level, not so much.

Brite Eyes (if I can FIND any)

Cl Cecile Brunner (is this one still going to get unmanageable huge?)

Any others? A 5-8ft climber is probably about right. I was going to put New Dawn here, but then I started doing the math.... (thanks to the many of you who pointed this out!). Also, how many plants for that length of fence - 2? 3?

Back fence area: fence 3ft high x ~15ft long, open land on the far side, 3-1/2ft bed to the inside (in which will go some other things, eg a limelight hydrangea, some peonies, daylilies etc).

Considering:

Clair Matin

New Dawn

Veilchenblau

There is definitely room for the plants to spread OVER the fence, to which I can also add some rebar and wire or whatever if the plants need to climb UP as well.

Also - I have a tree right on the edge of this area as well - it's kind of part built into the boundary fence on the other side, thus the trunk isn't really climbable, but the branches start about 10ft above the ground - would New Dawn or Cecile Brunner climb into that? Just a thought. It's a fairly "thin" tree - strong and tall, but not ultra bushy; seems it would allow enough light through to maybe make that possible. It would look glorious, too :)

I am completely and totally HOOKED on the roses; the more I look, the more I want to try. I have no idea if I'll be able to grow them successfully, but I'm in love with them! I can see that my "prudent research" is likely to turn into "lifelong love affair". Here's hoping!

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Comments (5)

sam0738
16 years ago
Yes, Roses are a lifelong love affair . Complete with thorns in every finger and lots of basic maintenance and TLC and huge amounts of time . Tree trimming for more sunlight, Shoveling, Watering, hose end sprayers, bug sprays , fungicides, Composting , lots of 50 lb bags to carry, buckets of manure , Saving coffee grounds egg shells, Winter protection, Pruning, Dead heading, Different fertilizers every few weeks, bone meal , blood meal, bio tone, lime, iron , magnesium, Puke smelling alfalfa tea, seaweed foliage spray , chopped up fish guts, Picking off leaves with blackspot and powdery mildew, Green squishy bugs, sticky sap, spider-mites and worms.
Samuel
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divamum
Original Author
16 years ago
Uhoh... now you're scaring me! But I feel confident there MUST be some out there that will like my particular microclimate enough simply to ... grow. Sure, the occasional bedtime story and nutritional boost, but...?!?!

Actually, I'm at the point where I'm fascinated enough even thinking of the work doesn't deter me. I WILL have climbing roses come next spring!!
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Dealing in any other way than credit card, paypal and the like is prohibitively expensive unless we are talking about very large orders. To give an example, my bank is asking for a euro 50 fee for the transfer of amounts up to 500 euros or so...Three roses which is a reasonable amount will thus cost at the minimum 45+15+50 euros... I have had experience exchanging emails in english with Le Roseraie du Desert and they have been very helpful and easy to talk to (they are Americans if I understand correctly). They accept paypal I gather. I was about to order from them when I needed to be hospitalized last year. Last time I checked Bierkreek the only payment method available was bank transfer or cash which prohibited me from dealing with them. I don't know if this has changed but I doubt it. Additionally you had to email them your request, and they would come back with availability and the shipping costs quote. Not very efficient I think. I've had very bad experience with a couple of german nurseries which never responded to my emails. For one of them I left a bad review in HMF and discovered I was not the only one with such a bad experience. What I like to do is go online to an english language site, put a few roses in my shopping basket, check out, pay with my credit card both the rose price and the shipping cost, receive a confirmation email and be done with it. Anything more complicated than this is a hassle. Contact with the nursery should only be needed if one needs to clarify something or resolve a problem, not for a business as usual order. If contact is needed I expect this to be conducted promptly by email and in english, not because I happen to speak the language but because it is the de facto lingua franca for international commerce. I don't expect to have to use a translator nor jump through the machine translation hoops. So if anybody has any recommendations for such nurseries not in the UK with a good selection of OGR's and the like and which will ship across the EU, they are welcome. PS. Bierkreek seem to be preparing a proper e-commerce site. When they have it ready I will be pleased to try it. PS2. The Lens nursery was mentioned. Below the link to their terms and conditions. Please note, on top of the payment method problem and uknown (and possibly very steep shipping costs judging from their costs for shipping to nearby places like the UK and Germany), their disclaimers about shipping and state of plants on arrival. This is what I call bad business practices and I would never buy from them. Lens nursery (Belgium) terms & conditions
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brandyray
16 years ago
Good luck, divamum. I can't help you w/ selection. But I am fixing a rose bed and I'm putting trellises in back w/ Cramoisi Superieur (China- red), Reve d'Or (Noisette- yellowy/apricot) and Fields of the Wood (HT- dark red), all are said to be very disease resistant. I do not expect to put in hours of work over my roses- any that require that will be sp'd. I do expect that it will take me a few years to work out an acceptable regimen (acceptable to the roses and to me), especially since I prefer organic fertilizers as much as possible- which means applying more often than the synthetic. I think they will take a bit more work than my veggie garden- deadheading, for instance. It is an experiment. I will be planting some peonies w/ my roses and I really love peonies- gorgeous large blooms, wonderful fragrance, and NO thorns! I am also planning to put in a few evergreens so there is always something green there. So, don't get discouraged. I am sure you will get some excellent feedback from more experienced gardeners. Brandy
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Noni Morrison
16 years ago
My Clair Matin is such a beautiful rose but it does get over 8 feet tall even with trimming...it makes a large full bush where I have it in my garden....right now it is trussed up with ropes to get it back on center after our bad windstorm blew it all to the north last winter. I Can not even reach the roses on top to pick them! I can simply not imagine it trained to be mostly two dimensional, but I also can not imagine a more beautiful, lasting, bloom-all- summer-rose! has anyone else trained their's as Divamom is planning to do? Mine is about 8 years old now but it did not take more then 2 or 3 years to become this big...and I started with a little Heirloom band!
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sam0738
16 years ago
Didn't mean to scare you. Just wanted to see if you have what it takes. You passed with flying colors. There are many more good moments to come. Enjoy.
Rose choosing is fun. :)
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Getting my thoughts together - rose choosing!

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sam0738

divamum
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Getting my thoughts together - rose choosing!

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sam0738

divamumOriginal Author

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sam0738

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divamum
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