Congratulations on your first Z4b order! May they grow vigorously for many years.
Oh my! You didn't just buy one or two, but a bunch!
You must be an experienced rose grower.
I'm a newbie at gardening, and, thereby have sworn myself off from roses because I refuse to be weeping profusely in my garden.
I'm not brave enough yet to go there.

How nice! Good luck, roses are so beautiful. When they bloom, please post photos, I'd love to see them.

lblack, roses are NOT rocket science.

I tell you what. Buy a William Baffin, keep it away from people it can eat, and see what happens. There are some - like most on my first list, except the boubons - that require almost NO care. Honest. No disease, no pruning, no nuthin'.

I promise pics, Giniene. But the first year I don't expect much bloom - they'll be busy settling in and putting down roots.

Now, deer-repellent companion plantings, anyone?

William Baffin eats people!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?! Hey thanks for the tip, I gota couple of neighbors who might.... hmmm, nevermind. Hee hee - Ellen

Hey, Ellen, they'll naver be able to trace it back to you. ;)

Actually, the big one reputed to be a people eater is Mermaid, but she's far too tender for our area.

Baffin is a very thorny upright Canadian Explorer rose.

Hi Sue, You live in Ticonderoga? If you do I'm a neighbor. I live in Crown Point It would be great to know someone who gets the same weather and has luck with roses. So far my luck with roses has been about 50%. I'm at the point where I stick them in the ground and if they grow I'm happy. Maybe some of my luck has to do with where I purchase them. When I purchased from a company like Wayside Gardens they all survived. But those I purchased from Walmart all died. They must get inferior plants. Also, I found that many are not accurately labeled.
Roses that have been sucessful or marginally so for me are:
Rosa Glauca
Sir Thomas Lipton
Alchemist (Red Rose of Lancaster-Apothecary's Rose)
Harrison's Yellow
Elisio
Henry Kelsy
Blanc de Corbert
Kordez Perfecta
Garden party
Felicia
Climbing Iceburg
Topaz Jewel
Teresa Brugnet (one of my favorites)
Hansa (Thinking of ditching this one - Lousy form)
Nymphenburgh
Mediland Cherry Rose
The Fairy
Pauls Himalayan Musk
Comte de Chambord
Carefree Beauty
and of course one of those white rambling roses that grow
wild up here.
This fall I made a hugh horseshoe bed and planted 16 peonies, sirbirian irises, pink poppies, white jacobs ladders, gladiator alliums, rose pink double dianthus, balloon flowers, russian sage, verbascums, tulips, and lilies. I left room for 5 roses, two of which will be 'the Fairly' which I started from cuttings, and the others, which I need in an upright shape about 3' tall in pink and mauve tones. I haven't figured out what variety yet but they have to be fragrant. Right in the middle of the horseshoe (unplanted area - grass) I plan on putting 2 adirondack lounges with a table in the middle so that after a hard day I can lay out and smell the flowers. That's why I want the roses to be fragrant. Seems like you know alot about roses. Do you have any suggestions?
Anyway, if you are a neighbor, that would be great because I'm always looking for someone to give my divisions to - I hate to throw them away!

Sue, it's me again. I looked up the rose you were looking for and found it at two spots -
antiqueroses.com
uncommonrose.com
I guess this is one of the roses you plan to winter over because according to uncommon rose, this plant is hardy only in zones 7-10. Good luck!

i have a question. if you are ordering your roses now, what do you do with them? i _meant_ to start my rose garden last year --- but i couldn't set aside the time to get it together :-( ... so i figured i'd have to wait until next spring. are you ordering the roses now? do they wait until spring to ship them? or is there something you can do with them until you can put them in the ground?

i just don't seem to have any luck with roses. I had to dig up an old rose this past summer that has been here probably for years because i just couldn't put up with the black spot and lack of blooms one more year. I applaud all of you who are successful growing roses. i have to enjoy them from afar in other gardens or at the nurseries.

penny

LOVETOGARDEN, I would love to meet you! I have no idea of my luck with roses here - I'm just trying out those I know are hardy in the ground, and potting up the ones I had in the ground in z7a that I can't live without but that will never, ever make a z4 winter in the cruel tundra. ;)

And I would be most grateful for your divisions! I have a third of an acre, which is nothing to a lot of people, but after my 20' x 100' NYC that included a house and parking pad, this is paradise!

Your rose list is fabulous! There are some I'm very interested in:

Harrison's Yellow
Teresa Brugnet
The Fairy
Pauls Himalayan Musk
Comte de Chambord

Do you need to do anything for these for winter?

And Etoile de Lyon will, indeed, go into a barrel.

Your experience with Wally World roses is typical - there's always a lot of debate in the Roses forum about whether the 50/50 shot at getting what it's labeled is worth it. I've gotten some pretty ones that bore no relation to the tags! But generally, the inferior health of these plants doesn't, to me, make buying them worth the effort required to get them going strong. Although that isn't to say I don't go weak and succumb on occasion.

ROBBIE,
Rose nurseries will ship to you at a time appropriate for planting in your area, and some will ask when you want them. I'm asking for May 1st. So we don't have the question of what to do with them now - they won't come until spring.

I've had good luck with Wayside, which others on the Roses Forum will either support or (vociferously) dispute. Pickering in Ontario and Ashdown in I think NC are very, very reliable. Ashdown is pricey, but Paul Zimmerman's stock is of unparalleled quality. Did I spell unparalleled right?

Pickering is very inexpensive, and the plants are all grade 1 1/2, which is the highest grade.

Ashdown will actually earmark a nice plant for you on a first come, first served ordering basis, so you don't get lousy plants because you ship after every place but Fairbanks.

PENNY,
There are roses that really don't get blackspot, even here. You have to learn to decipher rose catalog-speak, though - they almost all lie about hardiness and disease-resistance. If they say "tendency towards blackspot," you can bet that you'll have defoliated sticks by August.

Hey, all - deer! What works to keep them from eating my treasures? I read a funny upstate gardening book, and the guy said, "In the morning, they'd come from the east and eat every tender new bit that sprouted through the night; and in the evening, come back from the west and graze everything I planted that day." Broke me up laughing.

Deer are indeed a problem here, as are rabbits. Last year I kept finding little balls of manure all over the garden and I assummed they were from the rabbits. Found out from my neighbor they were actually from deer. The deer did a number on my garden though they didn't touch a rose. I guess the thorns kept them away. Their favorite plants were a burning bush and forget-me-nots. I had a hugh shrub and all they left was a stick. Last year was such a horrible winter I don't really blame them as they had nothing to eat. They also ate all the leaves of the hostas and I have a bed just for starting flowerseeds and they ate every last seedling.

As for the roses you are interested in, all, with the exception of Harrison's Yellow and Paul's Himalayan Musk, are doing very well here. The Harrison's is still in the process of getting established and the Musk is simply planted in the wrong spot and has to be transplanted. As I said in my initial posting, I don't do anything except fertilize twice throughout the season. I just don't have the time or inclination to pamper roses.

Speaking of transplanted, I am also a NYC transplant. I moved up here in '94.
In the spring I plan on dividing some plants in the garden so I'll email you to let you know when and you can either come here to pick them up or I can drop them off to you.
Good luck with your rose shopping, Mandy

thanks for the tip on ordering roses, and when they are delivered. i'll keep that in mind when i (finally) decide what i'm going to order. i'll look at the places you suggested, sue_in_nyc. thanks so much!

Robbie, don't hesitate to e-mail me if you have any questions or just want to chat. Sue@Bartmon.com .

I experiment with disease resistant roses all the time. It''s most important to remember that many roses are attractive to mice (or other chewing animals) that can remove all the bark killing them to the ground. So plant your roses with the crown (in either own root or grafted the crown is where the branches start) between 2 and 6 inches underground. Here in zone 5 we plant 2 inches underground in zone 3 Lake Placid they plant 6 inches under ground. We always plant in spring in colder climates. Plants that are small are less hardy though there are many with slender stems that are exceptionally hardy. Mature plants that have been properly planted, though they may die to the ground should regenerate from the underground part. If the whole thing died something else was wrong (drainage, lack of food, etc). My favorite cold hardiest roses include; Stanwell Perpetual (a scottish hybrid rose with pink flowers and hardy to zone 2), William Baffin (a kordesii rose with magenta pink flowers hardy to zone 3), Delicata (a rugosa rose with lavender flowers hardy to zone 3), and others I wont mention here. You can email me for a larger list if you want.

Probably half the roses I've planted in zone 4 have died or failed to thrive. I have a Chicago Peace Rose that has done well. I have also discovered that baby groundhogs can climb up a rose to eat the leaves. I've never seen an adult groundhog climb.