I have had this one for several years now. Don't let the "miniature" classification fool you. Mine stretches out 20+ feet in every direction. And if you leave the canes on the ground (I found it impossible to keep it on a trellis) they will root all over the place. At one time I took five rooted cuttings from my plant.
During one of the hurricanes the support it was attached to blew over and I had to cut it off to ground level to clean up the mess. In a few months it was already spread out over 10'.
It is very disease resistant and the small blooms are a very cheerful red. If I had unlimited space, it would be a keeper, but I don't intend to bring it to the new house because of its size. I always laugh when I read that it would work well in a hanging basket (although that might limit its size).

At the ARS gardens in Shreveport it was used to 'cover' a slope. It was at least five feet tall and seven feet wide when we saw it (and could find the label)( and the hedge went at least 25 feet) and you couldn't see the ground or how many plants they had started with.
Wonderfully healthy and they couldn't possibly spray all of it.

I saw that hedge Ann -- maybe 10 years ago. I couldn't imagine what it was, it was so covered with bloom.

Jeri

O.K. You've convinced me. One will be coming home soon.

Sandy

I've had my red cascade for several years and I love it. It is thorny and vigorous, but is a non-stop bloomer. The blooms hold together very well and I find them useful for cake decorations (dip in egg white and dust with fine sugar). Drying the little bouquets of flowers makes for excellent Christmas decorations on the tree, mantle, etc. The blooms and leaves are minis, but the canes are not.
molly

If Red Cascade is allowed to grow on the ground, how tall does it get? Could you keep it, say, 1 foot or 2 feet tall with hedge clippers? Are the flowers miniature size - like tiny?
Thanks.
Sherry

jardineratx, you've given me some wonderful ideas. Too bad this rose is so thorny! I still want one though. I'm going to grow it as a climber.

I am also curious as to whether it can be grown as a big mound of bush, or if it would get disease inside as a result. The thorns might also be a factor in caring for it that way. If I still had teenage girls, it would be a consideration for planting under a bedroom window. One of my girls used to sneak out at night. Actually Mermaid might better be suited for that one.

Sandy

Sandy; I have Red Cascade, just got it last month. Lisa at Countryside recommended it highly as a very hardy rose. It is a baby but arrived w/ a 3 ft long cane. The blooms are tiny- about an inch across, and well formed. It appeared to be a dark red- (no doubts about what color this one is!) I am planning to put it between Reve d'Or and Fields of the Wood. Brandy

I am also curious as to whether it can be grown as a big mound of bush,

*** At the ARS garden, I THINK there is a wooden fence inside a mounding hedge of rose.
I have a soft spot in my heart for this rose. It's the first one I killed.
No one told me I couldn't keep it in a little wooden planter about 5 ins deep . . .

Jeri

I grew this one in Texas awhile ago; I loved the perfect tiny blossoms and tried to stay out of the clutches of the thorny canes. I tried growing it up a trellis, but I think it would have been happier to be left alone to mound and spread.

Very healthy, always in bloom.

I planted a couple of Red Cascades on a slope earlier in the summer. I got them as slips and they haven't grown much bigger yet - however they have produced masses of tiny blooms.

When the Red Cascades do get established, they should be striking with the Sea Foam I planted lower on the slope. Sea Foam has spread quite well already and it was planted at the same time (and was the same size).

I am thinking that in my harsher climate that Red Cascade won't get to the monster size that some have suggested it can get to.

This is my husband's favorite rose. I know, I know. He insisted on planting one on either side of the front porch/door - a very small front porch. I pointed out that they are WAY too vigorous for such a constricted location, but let him plant them anyway and he promised to keep them properly within bounds.

That's a laugh. He mentioned yesterday that we are going to have to move them. He grew them as a ground cover in TN and they spread (in two seasons) to cover an area of 20'x20' to a height of about 18" to 24". They are very hardy, no dieback in the mountains zone 6 in TN. They are nearly disease free--I've seen a tiny bit of BS on a couple of occasions, but they recover on their own. And they bloom and bloom and bloom. The tiny blooms are very dark red and very long lasting and they self clean. They are great for decoration and drying.

My red cascade is growing against a wrought iron fence section 4 ft tall x 8 foot long. I keep the long canes tied to the iron piece horizontally and allow it to grow a little beyond the 4x8 section. I have seen it grown (at a small nursery) freely to cascade on the ground and thought to myself "what a mess". It was a tangle of thorny canes.

I planted mine in early Spring. I got it from Uncommon Rose. It is now about 2 feet tall climbing up our bird feeder. DH made a rustic bird feeder that is made from a fallen tree trunk. The trunk is about 6 feet tall. It fast growing and constantly in bloom. I really like it! Healthy too.

Prettiest thing I ever saw was a round paved area at the back entrance of a restaurant in central Pennsylvania, entirely encircled by a wall of Red Cascade. Planted in front of it were pink astilbes. Somehow they complemented each other perfectly. The little red roses were so pure and sparkling, and the astilbes ferny and muted. When I went back a year or so later the planting was gone. I never found out why.

Years ago I had one and it grew in a mound - about 2 ft high. I finally got tired of trying to remove the grass growing inside it - that was before I knew of Grass Be Gone. The ex bush hogged it several times and I finally had to use round up on it to get rid of it. It is very hard to kill. I have a retaining wall made of concrete blocks here in Denver and next spring I plan to plant it in the holes of the bricks - whoever laid the bricks didn't know what they were doing obviously because there is a hole from top of the wall down at each brick. People used to stop and ask me where I got the red verbena - it was Red Cascade -

I can't wait to get one! Red cascade has quite a following. It must be a super rose.

Jeri, it sounds like you need to get another Red Cascade!

Sandy

I thought this thread needed some balance. I know someone who has RC and I think it's disgusting. The individual flowers are fussy little scentless things, and the color is too dark. It's almost more of a maroon than red, no glow to it. I guess if you think of it as a ground cover or for covering a wall like thrift or something but more drought resistant, it makes sense. But I can hardly think of it as a rose.

Maybe they aren't taking care of it well, or don't have it trained in an attractive manner.

The pictures I have seen of this rose, when properly trained and controlled, are stunning. I would think planting it on a trellis against a white house, or with white flowers would make the color "pop" and not look dull. Colors definitely play off of each other.

I also like to vary the form of the bush, as well as colors, of my roses in plantings for interest. I think singles planted with big cabbage type roses, and miniture size blooms planted with a something that contrasts in form can make a huge difference in the overall effect.

Conversely, a rose that may have some warm undertones in it, such as Blumenschmidt, can look "dirty" and unattractive if planted too close to a cool toned rose. In the right setting, it is very pretty.

Sandy

I have it. In fact, I spent the better part of an hour hacking at--ah...pruning my three plants this morning. Mine is planted on a white vinyl fence. RC will not climb on its own, just like other roses, but RC seems to want to be a low spreading ground cover. You have to make it climb. I don't know that it would shrub up or be a bush at all if left alone.

We have trained canes to the fences by tying them. In late winter, I prune hard to keep it in bounds. By fall, the rose is taking over all the bed and I prune again.

RC doesn't mind pruning. In fact, when first planted in our new yard, my boys kept mowing over it. LOL Yet, it survived. Someone here on GW said they think RC LIKES to be mowed. LOL

The blooms are dime sized and many, but there is only the slightest fragrance. Extremely hardy, drought tolerant, and disease resistant. It may get a few yellowed leaves from BS, but never slows down.

It is not my favorite because we have to prune and tie more than I'd like. On the other hand, we sure don't have to baby it any either.

Here is a view of my three in full bloom. You can see the fence I want it to grow on and you can see where lots of the blooms are...

In the spring I always remember why I grow this rose.

{{gwi:317926}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Creative Soul

I tried one here in a large hanging basket, but that rose just got too darn big! It was fairly disease free but the chili thrips love it. :-( I think I'm gonna get Sweet Chariot for that basket next month instead.

This rose is extremely common in Texas, I think nearly everyone must have bought one back in the 70's when it was popularly sold as a basket plant. Now they are everywhere!

The single flaw of this rose is lack of fragrance. But it has everything else: clear, lovely red color, vigor, health, disease resistence, rapidly repeating bloom cycles, and it roots very, very easily. In fact, if you have not already purchased this rose, send me your address, and I'll send you a bag of cuttings to get you started. It's so easy to grow!

Allison