Growing Enchantingly Beautiful Roses in HOT Southern California
For many years I grew roses that did nothing for me. They were perfect colors for a garden I created, but had ugly growth forms, boring blooms, didn't flower much, or all the above. After 10 years I shovel pruned them to adoptive homes, and have been trying out new roses since. Here are some that have done well in my hot, dry, inland southern California climate:
Carding Mill. Many people report that Carding Mill does well in the heat, and I find that to be true. The blooms are heartbreakingly beautiful, large, loose cups, and it blooms in flushes throughout the year. Beware the color; it can be a gorgeous glowing apricot, or a medium/light pink, or both at the same time. Pleasant but light scent.
Claire Austin. This was our best bloomer at Humpty Dumpty House last year. We have it wrapped around a simple 4x4 pillar, and it bloomed within months after planting it from a bare root until autumn. Blooms got smaller and diminished more and more through early December when it went into hibernation. Claire revved up with full size blooms again in February, and has been cranking them out since. Elegant shallow cups that seem to glow from within. Lovely fragrance to my nose.
Alnwick. My favorite rose at Humpty Dumpty House for 2014. A shape shifter, with its enchanting blooms morphing from deep, gorgeous, tight cups to frilly ballerina tutus. Blooms in flushes, with a few weeks between. Delicious raspberry fragrance.
Souvenir de la Malmaison. I planted three of these: a bare root climber, a climbing band, and a bare root shrub. The bare root climber grew like a weed but never bloomed, the band just sat there and did nothing, and the shrub grew well and bloomed a few times. This year, different story. All three were the first roses to be blooming, and they've been going strong since. SdlM starts out with an enchanting, perfectly quartered rosette that transforms into a frilly ball of petals. The scent -- like beer!
Please let me know which roses have done well for you in our hot, dry climate. We have lots of photos of roses on Humpty Dumpty House Facebook. Buds, blooms, spent blooms, whole shrub, etc. Also detailed evaluations in our "Rose Report Card" posts. If you visit please give us a page "like". This simple act can help us get our gardens back open to the public after my lengthy hospitalization due to an injury. Here's the link:
https://www.facebook.com/HumptyDumptyHouse
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Comments (8)
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
8 years ago
melle_sacto is hot and dry in CA Zone 9/
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoAdmittedly, I am not really "into" roses, but I had a spot where I thought a special rose would be nice. I like apricot/yellow/pale pink old-fashioned looking roses, and I wanted one with a wonderful fragrance. After a lot of online research, I picked Jude the Obscure. Mine is an own-root shrub, and everyone loves it!
Jude the Obscure
Edit -- I am not in hot, dry SoCal...I'm in the hot, dry capital ;-) But my rose is planted a few feet away from the backyard lawn, so it does receive a moderate amount of water.
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Comments (6)Wellllll . . . I think you'll find that most "big" roses will run out of space in a 24" container. At least, in Southern California this would be true. When that happens, they're not as strong, as they'd be with real roots. And you very likely WILL get mildew. For a while, we had 5 Tea Roses on our patio in 36-inch terra pots. BIG thangs! We grew them that way for 5-6 years, and they did "fairly" well. But when we decided to do something different with the patio, we hauled those behemoths down the hill and put them in the ground. The result was astonishing. The plants doubled in size in fairly short order, and so did the blooms. The one which had been a bit mildewy cleared right up. It was a real object lesson. To be truthful . . . First, clay pots aren't the best for roses. You really need something smoothly-glazed INSIDE, or a plastic pot. You can always sink a plastic pot inside a clay pot. And for a 24-inch pot, I'd recommend something along the lines of Sweet Chariot or maybe Gourmet Popcorn. Arching, cluster-flowering MINIATURES. Jeri...See MoreRethinking Feeding Alfalfa to Roses in Southern California
Comments (13)Hi Jeri, Well there are many variables that could influence our results. Such as what is your soil ph in comparison to mine and is your water more or less acid than mine. I know even in my city the soil varies quite a lot (as the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens even mentions their differing soils on their website, and the RSABG is fairly close to me). The combination of soil and water differences may produce varying results with plants fed alfalfa. Also the origin of the alfalfa in your tea (where was *it* grown) as well as how strong the tea is. Are there components to your soil that would mitigate the ph raising effects of alfalfa? Just things to ponder. Also the individual roses that we each grow and their tolerances to ph ranges. I'd be curious how Reine des Violettes in particular did for you. Here is my Reine des Violettes (photo taken July 19, 2011), purchased from Greenmantle in February 2011 and planted in the ground right away (note alfalfa pellets on ground in background under other plants): From Reine des Violettes In fact I bought 3 plants at the same time from Greenmantle--Reine des Violettes (not fed alfalfa), Tipsy Imperial Concubine (given a very small amount of alfalfa), Duchesse de Rohan (given a moderate amount of alfalfa). All planted on the same day, adjacent each other, mulched with shredded redwood bark, watered on the same days by hand, same hose. All were growing nicely looked about equally green. Then I fed the alfalfa. One shut down growing and turned the same sickly color as Jenny Duval. That was Duchesse de Rohan. I haven't removed the alfalfa and her color has not improved. Then I have a species rose of which I have three, R. alabukensis. You might know this rose, Kim. I put one (15 gallon size) in the ground using Edna's Best and mulched with the redwood bark. Foliage a lovely dark green. I put one in a 15 gallon pot with only Edna's Best and mulched with the redwood bark. Number 3 I put in a 15 gallon pot in plain garden soil, and mulched with the redwood bark. Then I fed the plant in the ground with alfalfa pellets, the others I fed nothing. Continued watering all 3 plants on the same day, by hand with a hose. Plant in ground quickly became chlorotic. The other 2 not a trace, both still dark green leaves. I removed the alfalfa from around the plant in the ground. It's leaves are back to being dark green. Another experiment was an accidental one with an old butterfly bush. It was way too big, and I needed the space for all the incoming roses this year. So I chopped it way, way back, hacked out some roots. Added roses + bark mulch. No problem. Butterfly bush starts leafing out in multiple locations (hey, it had spread it was so happy!). Added the alfalfa. All new growth DIED. I am not saying alfalfa should never be fed to roses, but for my growing conditions, it is not advisable. It depends on the conditions in your gardens as to how well it may do for your plants. It is also worth considering the why behind the effects. Perhaps some are seeing reduced performance in roses due to this being fed. On the other hand in the right conditions of soil ph and/or water ph, feeding alfalfa may produce spectacular results. For me that would have been great as I have such easy access to it. Melissa...See MoreKordes Roses for Southern California
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rosydreams SoCal (10a Sunset 19 HeatZone 8)
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoThank you so much for starting this post ! :) I'm always keyword searching the rose forums for roses that grow best in hot and dry socal, Arizona, Nevada... :) I'm in the west San Fernando Valley, zone 19, my front garden is all day sun with patches of shade but my back yard is something beyond "full sun". It laughs at full sun. It's slightly elevated, open around a pool, full southern sun all day beating down morning til night with red brick patio/walkways that heat up like an oven, and white stucco walls, it's blindingly bright and hot as hades most of the year. It's 94 out back right now. We've slowly covered the walls in creeping fig and jasmine which has helped cut down the heat a bit.
For me, my most blooming roses are Belinda's Dream, Iceberg, Vavoom, Julio Iglesias, Pope John Paul II and Julia Child. In terms of sheer beauty, Belinda's Dream, Pope John Paul, Mutabilis and Grand Dame.
The best in both categories: Belinda's Dream, Pope John Paul II and Mutabilis. They seem to love baking in the heat.
Belinda's Dream is an amazing rose. It grows and blooms like crazy with little care and handles heat, sun and reduced water, like Iceberg. But it's blooms are more special. The blooms start like a hybrid tea, and end looking like an antique rose (resembling Souvenir de Malmaison). It's a light pink that blends well with both modern and antique roses. It's lovely in every phase. I have 3 bushes, and one tree rose of her. Alas, little to no fragrance.
My Pope John Paul II blooms in quick flushes, perfect white blooms, very fragrant.
And Mutabilis, blooms like a champ without any supplemental water beyond getting over spray from a sprinkler sometimes and her single petals are everchanging, silky, colorful and beautiful. I even love the stems, thin flexible and reddish burgundy, they really set the blooms off.
Regarding your Austins, do you have them in full sun or part sun? I have an big open spot in one of my front garden bed, full sun, that I would love to put a fragrant full bush type in but I'm not sure if an Austin's color would hold up well or fade. Any thoughts? Also if it might need more shade and possibly more water to grow well. Cardin Mill is really lovely and I like the varying color.
Have you tried Boscobel or Bishop's Castle? Curious about those too.
I've been wanting Jude the Obscure for a long time, but I'm assuming it would look better with a little shade. I really do need an Austin soon. :D
Sow_what? Southern California Inland
8 years agoSow_what? Southern California Inland
8 years agomelle_sacto is hot and dry in CA Zone 9/
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agosautesmom Sacramento
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoMy high heat champion is Strike it Rich. It just keeps blooming even at 105, and the edges of the blossoms barely even frizzle.
Strike It Rich
Carla in Sac
Sow_what? Southern California InlandOriginal Author