Four Rose Questions, To Ponder

16 years ago

FOUR ROSE QUESTIONS, TO PONDER.

1) As gardeners, we seek to improve things in the garden, all

the time. Sometimes, as the season progresses, we notice that

there is a change that needs to be made. So what absolutely

MUST change in your garden next spring?

2) Singles, semi-double and double roses can enhance each

other. The variation can be pleasing, although, having mostly

one kind, can be good too. Are you blending all three kinds

of roses, or mostly one kind? Explain your choice of roses.

3) A gardener who loves roses, can get overwhelmed by

the amount of choices, but since most of us are very busy,

there is only time to care for so many roses. What is your

set limit, for number of roses, you will enjoy in your garden?

Explain if you make room for new ones, by removing ones

that are a dud or a bore.

4) Do you visit local public rose gardens and have they

been a source of inspiration for you, or do they need to

make improvements, to attract more of the rose growing

public? Explain how they can be better, if you are not

impressed by them.

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Comments (14)

mgleason56
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Always interesting questions coming from you!

1. I MUST get rid of the roses that have not performed over the last 2 years. This means some Bucks are going bye-bye. I must also get rid of some of my common, generic roses like Chrysler Imperial and Perfume Delight. See #3.

2. No blending here at all. My choice in roses depends on how hard it is to acquire, not in their petals. I have a few I just acquired from the rare rose auction in CA, and I'll be getting cuttings from UCD in May. And as it applied to #4, I always snag some cuttings of unusual/rare roses from public gardens while on vacation. I'll need room for all of these.

3. 450 is my limit, meaning I need to get rid of some next spring. They will be donated to local rose society members, or a local church that is putting in a garden. I gave them (the church) 50 last year, and they asked for more a few eeks ago. I'll dig them up in the early spring and pot-up for whomever.

4. I like to visit public gardens while on vacation, but I've always been underwhelmed by the roses. That could be because I am going at the wrong time, not sure.
len511
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1) i improve by planting more.
2) whatever i find attractive or vigorous or whatever. occasionally plant themes, such as dainty bess, golden wings, sparrieshoop singles alternating, or striped or two tone red/white alternating. species in barn yard
3)no limits, i will not shovel prune,have plenty of space for the ones i have to have. not into molleycoddeling if i don't have time, just plant with different selection if will not live until one does.
4)never been to gardens yet but am not into fads or style gardening,but if i did have style i would call it simple country, maybe hillbilly country, that's pretty hard to screw up and not pretentious.
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rosysunnygirl
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
This is fun!

1. Color -- I started with antiques and still love them, so most of what I have is pink. Yellow is my favorite (and DH likes it, too), so I'm getting heavy on that, also. DH requests that we make the place a little less girly with some red and orange. Also, some roses that are good for cutting. Ironic that you're getting rid of Chrysler Imperial, mgleason56 -- it's at the top of my must-have list!

2. I buy/plant what I like; that tends to be doubles, but I have a couple of singles, too. They don't really blend, but that's not intentional, just color and space.

3. My urban yard is very small -- I garden in both the front and back. I don't have a limit as in a number, just what I can fit in beds and still have perennials or have in pots somewhere. The most I had at once was 30... I'm a little under that now. I have shovel pruned for displeasure only twice. I find it really hard to get rid of a rose, even if I don't like it anymore for some reason (at least 6 should be gone this spring, under that criteria). I feel like I'm being wasteful -- the rosarians I know grow mostly just Hybrid Teas that win at rose shows.

4. Yes, I visit gardens, anytime I can, at different times of the year. Nice little chunks of European vacations have been spent in rose and other gardens, too. They inspire me -- it's helpful to get out of my own head and see someone else's vision for a while or to really see a whole different style and kind of study it. I do sometimes lift ideas, but more often than not, the idea will be a jumping-off point for something else. One thing I've seen in my area is that rose gardens that I remember as being grand are being "revamped" as mostly annual with some perennial or Knock-out rose gardens. There's one in Windsor, Ontario, like this that I don't even bother to visit anymore. I understand maintenance issues, but what's the use if there's not much variety there? I can go to any Lowe's and see a Knock-out rose en mass. Another thing that bugs me is consistently, year after year, not having tags on things in display gardens -- how can you educate about/enable on roses if it's not clear what people are looking at? Seems like a wasted opportunity.
Noni Morrison
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
FOUR ROSE QUESTIONS, TO PONDER.

1) So what absolutely
MUST change in your garden next spring?

I absolutely must get the gardens weeded and fertilized! Went off to Europe in October (It rained all the time I was gone anyhow, but what was just a bit weedy when left is overwhelming now! This past year has been a very busy one with many family committments and pleasures, but the gardens missed out on about 2 months of the work I usually do on them. I also must move 3 of the Austin roses from my English rose garden, because they all insist on being bigger then I planned for even after pruning. Besides, an Austin octopus is a beautiful thing if it has it's on bit o' the sea to swim in! I was into denial when I planted the English rose garden, LOL.

2 Are you blending all three kinds
of roses, or mostly one kind? Explain your choice of roses.

Well, I essentially have a garden of cutting teas and floribundas with perennials, that is also my "front yard" and was my origonal rose garden here. It is in a chronic state of rearrangement. Then there is the aforementioned "English Rose Garden" of Austins that I cut for my flower business. It will be a few years before I have it edited to only the roses that I cut for business, but it is always a pleasure to walk and sniff in. Then I have my first Austins that were too big to move when I started the English Rose Garden...That would be Abraham Darby, Graham Thomas, Windrush, Othello, Pat Austin, and Teasing Georgia who climb through the arbors and along the fence in my first garden...and turn the whole place into a fantasy garden in June!

I have another area of my white roses that I dug up and put into big styrofoam pots when I decided to redesign my Moon Garden and they are doing so much better in the pots, that they will stay in them.

3) What is your
set limit, for number of roses, you will enjoy in your garden? I have already reached my set limit but had to have all the new Freelander roses for my cut flower business...so there goes another peice of the annual flower beds! I do have some one cane wonders that I just can not give up on...French Lace is one.. I would love new bushes of French Lace, but when she manages to produce one beautiful branch I fall in love all over again! And there is Bella'Roma who rots in any rain but about once evey 3 years manages to produce the most amazing fragrant roses! And the plant is so tall and healthy!

4) Do you visit local public rose gardens and have they
been a source of inspiration for you,

When I travel I do, but my favorite easy to get to one is at Pt Defiance Park.(RIght by the ferry dock to the island where we live) I always stop and check for the new AARS roses each summer, or when I can convince my hubby to go restin the shade while I check out the roses. Much more fun to take on of my (Adult) kids with me...they all inherited the rose appreciation gene from me, hee hee (Even the adopted kids did!)

Sometimes my roses beat their roses, but for sheer number and color, and as a way to look at ones I do not have yet, it works for me. I am sure they use chemicals I would not use in my no spray garden, but I can see how they look there and know how I am doing with mine. Many of my roses were chosen because they were so pretty at the park.
canadian_rose
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1) So what absolutely MUST change in your garden next spring?

I simply must (actually DH must! - tee hee) get more space. We have room for about 100 more roses (I have 44 bushes now), and DH will be making new beds/retaining walls on our berm. Can't wait!

2) Are you blending all three kinds of roses, or mostly one kind? Explain your choice of roses.

I like them as full as possible, so that's what I choose. However I do have one single (DayDream) which I hate when it's on its own. But I placed it near a foot tall sculpture of lady's torso (pink hat, flower basket on arm). It looks like she is strolling through a garden with an apple tree in full bloom. The perspective is charming!

3) What is your set limit, for number of roses, you will enjoy in your garden?

About 200 would be wonderful, but I think we can only fit about 150. Husband wants trees in the back yard too - oh the sacrilige!!!!

4) Do you visit local public rose gardens and have they
been a source of inspiration for you, or do they need to
make improvements, to attract more of the rose growing
public? Explain how they can be better, if you are not
impressed by them.

We don't have rose gardens here. :(
kristin_flower
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1) I have big plans for Spring! I've prepared and amended a large bed around the perimeter of my yard, and now it's just waiting to be filled in with roses. I'll be doing all pink roses with blue and white companions and Sweet Alyssum as a ground cover.
{{gwi:226794}}

2)I'm most attracted to double blooms, but I have all three. The roses I'll be adding to the garden above will be double and semi-double: Carefree Beauty, Morden Blush, Sharifa Asme, KVD, John Davis, The Fairy, Carefree Wonder, Prairie Joy.

3)I have 14 roses right now. I believe 20 more will be my limit.

4) We have the MN Landscape Arboretum Rose Garden and the Lyndale Park Rose Garden near by. The Arboretum has a nice selection of roses for this zone. I really need to visit when everything's in full bloom. The Lyndale garden has mostly hybrid teas laid out in rows. I wasn't overly impressed when I visited this year, but again, I think I picked the wrong time to visit.
julie22
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1. I really need to space out my roses, not that they've grown together. This is my main goal next year.

2. My garden is a hodgepoge of plants, more along the line of American/East Coast/English type. No style in particular, but not formal or informal either. In the neighborhood my garden is known as "Julie's Garden"

3. At 200 roses, I'm at about my limit, physically, to take care of. There are three I really will order, maybe two more. I'm thinking of shoveling a couple of old minis that don't seem to be producing all that well anymore.

4. I love to go to the Hershey Botanical Gardens (Hershey's Chocolate) in June. I make it a point to go. All 2000 roses there are out of this world gorgeous. They are also a test garden for the ARS. I will also make a couple of trips a year to Longwood Gardens, though their roses aren't quite as impressive. Both have wonderful gardens even other than roses.
melissa_thefarm
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1) Spring is maintenance time: weed and mulch and do the last pruning that I didn't get around to during the winter. I try not to plant in the spring: plants don't have the time to establish roots before the summer drought arrives. I do make impulse buys, some of them going into pots until fall. I make changes in the fall and winter after having observed the garden all through the growing season. This fall we're planting a lot of new roses and perennials in a garden expansion, though the planning is still sketchy.
2)I like all three kinds of flower form and like to blend them. Too much of the same thing is boring.
3)I haven't set a limit. I hate to kill roses and have trouble finding recipients for give-aways, so they tend to get tucked away in a corner somewhere to live or die as they please. Real weaklings solve the problem by dying.
4)I see rose gardens when I can, which isn't too often. I've seen few that I really liked. Roses by themselves are boring. Rose gardens that are mostly Hybrid Teas and Floribundas are boring. The beautiful rose garden is one that is a beautiful garden with a great number and variety of roses from many classes, and many complementary plants.

Melissa
karenforroses
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great thread, as usual, Devon.
1. Several changes I must make - our mature trees are spreading more and more shade so I need to have a tree service come in and limb up some of the trees. I also need to separate some of the perennials that are spreading and hogging up some of the roses' real estate (mostly day lilies, pinks and hardy geraniums.
2. I love all 3 kinds of rose forms and intermix them throughout the garden.
3. My limit is 180 (which I'm now at), so I make myself dig up and give away (or throw away) the poor performers.
4. Visiting rose gardens can be so inspiring. Our rose society spends June through September visiting each others' gardens. We don't have a large public garden in our region (I'm on a board that is working very hard to establish one however), so for now my husband and I travel to see gardens, especially those with roses. We just got back from South Carolina where we visited a number of gardens, including the amazing Edisto Memorial Rose Garden, with 5,000 blooming rose bushes. Wow!
seil zone 6b MI
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1. Shovel prune some real klinkers that refuse to perform here.

2. All types of roses live in my garden. I've just recently really gotten into singles. They have a delicate beauty all their own.

3. Ha ha ha, I wish I had limited myself. Now I'm going to have to find a way to cut down. They're all so lovely, how do I do that?

4. There's only one that's really close by that I know of and it was a major disappointment when I went. Weedy, uncared for sad looking roses. There are some further out state but I haven't gotten to any of them yet. Maybe a rose garden tour of Michigan next year instead of the usual fall color tour?
mendocino_rose
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1. What must happen? We really need to make some improvements to the drip system if possible. I spend a ridiculous amount of time hand watering.
2. I'm always blending.
3. I have a limit but it was exceeded a long time ago. There are something over 1000 roses here. We won't be planting much more.
4. I love to visit rose gardens. Most public rose gardens in the US are not impressive to me. I saw some fabulous things in England. I do really love the Sacramento Cemetery garden.
donnaz5
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1. i have to redo the first bed i ever planted..i planted them much too close together!
2. i have a passion for the full,cabbage type bloom, fragrance, unusual colors, and anything that is perpetual!!
3. limits?? no..i justify my rose beds by telling myself that each bed is that much less lawn to mow!
4. i've only been to a few public gardens, and they only had 30 or 40 roses..but i enjoyed it, and would love a trip someday to one of the larger rose gardens.
rosyone
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1) I need to enlarge one of my beds by 18" or so across the front. A couple of sprawling roses in the bed have encroached on the lawn and interfere with mowing, and I don't want to move them, so I'll move the lawn instead. I also need to get a better handle on companion plant selection and placement. And I need a few strategically placed stepping stones in the deeper beds to make it easier to avoid treading on said companion plants. Certain areas of this year's garden have looked as though a moose was coming out of the woods every night to stomp on them. Or maybe wild pigs.

2) I have a blend of different bloom sizes, shapes, and petal counts. I don't care much for "lazy" blooms that look like they could be more full or more shapely, if only they were willing to put out the effort. But when a rose says "this is what I am and I'm proud of it," then I don't care whether it has 5 petals or hundreds of them.

3) I've reached my limit, space wise, with 142 individual cultivars, plus duplicates of several roses I wanted to audition in more than one area of the garden. Any duplicate that is truly redundant is living on borrowed time and will go away when I need the space for something else. I also have a few plants at risk of eventual displacement because of health or performance issues. Or simply because of their failure to please.

4) I try to visit the Gardens of the American Rose Center over in Shreveport every year or two. They haven't been a source of much inspiration in the area of garden design, but I do see roses that make it onto my wish list. At least they do when I can find a label. That's what I'd change if I could: a garden that exists to promote roses should do a much better job of identifying them. It makes it all the more frustrating that I'm in a nearly identical climate zone, and thus have an interest in knowing what doesn't thrive there, as well as what does.
austennut
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1)So what absolutely MUST change in your garden next spring?

I need to plant my new rose bed (which was the strip between my sidewalk and street) and figure out what kind of companion plants I want for it.

2) Are you blending all three kinds of roses, or mostly one kind?

I usually prefer at least a double, though my foundation plantings are semi-doubles. My reasoning is that so many perennials and annuals can provide the look of singles, but very few flowers can produce the exquisite, full blooms that double roses can. Companion plantings can provide the the complementary aspect of singles.

3) What is your set limit, for number of roses, you will enjoy in your garden?

My main constraint is the size of my garden. My backyard is 20x30 (including patio, walkway, etc) and my front yard consists of a sidewalk strip, and two tiny foundation beds. So, by the very nature of my space I am limited in the number of roses I can get. But as you may be able to surmise I've taken out the grass and trees from my sidewalk strip that I planted around 2 years ago because I had to find more room for roses. And if the form of the bush of my foundation roses doesn't improve, those could be SPed one day if I find a rose I think will do significantly better there. So right now I have 8 roses, and will be putting in 9 more in the coming week for a total of 17.

4) Do you visit local public rose gardens and have they
been a source of inspiration?

The times when the thought has crossed my mind to visit the local rose gardens, have not been the appropriate time season-wise to see them in full bloom. In addition, nearly every single rose was destroyed in Katrina so the gardens also are in the rebuilding phase.

Four Rose Questions, To Ponder

Comments (14)

mgleason56

len511

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