Old Garden Damask rose, Old Garden roses are grown for their fragrances, rather than landscape-show. The blooms are 1/2 their normal size, due to months-long-heavy rain, that leach out nutrients, esp. calcium:

Another Old garden rose, "Empress Josephine", which is the best looking among the bunch. They also have Comte de Chambord, and many others, but this is the best-looking among the OGR.

So glad they don't have Knock-outs at Chicago Botanical gardens, there are so many other landscape roses better than Knock-outs: more winter-hardy, better bush-shape and more rain-resistant. My neighbor has a bunch of Drift-roses bought from Menards for $8 per gallon, they out-perform her many Knock-outs. The Drift-roses have more petals, always in bloom, and don't get shattered by the rain, plus Drift-roses have a wonderful wafting scent, so delicious when I stand by.

More landscape roses. Tons of blooms despite heavy rain. Rain-resistant is the most important characteristic that I would look for in a landscape rose. The pinkish bushes are Flower-Carpet Coral.

Bed of hybrid tea. Tropicana is the orange one, and a bunch others. I like how they keep their hybrid teas short & lots of blooms. Tropicana can get to 7 feet tall, if not pruned.

Bed of Peace rose. When I grew Peace in my last house, of acidic clay. My Peace was beautiful: dark yellow, with pinkish tinge. Chicago Botanical has alkaline loamy soil, so their Peace is lighter yellow.

More Flower Carpet, pink-clusters, mixed with blue-salvia. The sight is breath-taking:

Here's a close-up of Flower-Carpet pink-rose. It's amazing how those tiny-leaves can withstand drought and flood at the same time. My neighbor's Drift-roses have even smaller leaves, and they handle her flooded-area really well. Drift-roses don't have the shiny-glossy foliage of Flower-Carpet, but Drift-roses make up by the drifting-wonderful scent in humid weather. Plus Drift roses have the perfect round-shape, which Knock-outs and Flower-Carpets lack.

This shot shows the irregular, angular shape of Flower-Carpet, best grown where there's vast space. For a limited space, I would choose Drift-rose, which has mini-rose parentage to stay compact & perfect round-shape.

They plant perennial flowers along the walk by the lake, it's a pleasure to stroll with a nice breeze blowing across the lake.

Thank you straw for the pictures of flower carpet ... is it always in bloom? The last pic in particular, with combination of the purples, yellows, and the water is really worthy of being a screen saver :)

YES FLOWER CARPET IS ALWAYS IN BLOOM. My coral flower carpet blooms a month-earlier than Knock-out in early spring, and ends when hard frost come, right after Thanksgiving. Drift-roses are always in bloom since it's rain-resistant like Flower-Carpet, but Knock-out pauses in between. Knock-out are NOT as hardy as Flower-carpet, thus later to bloom in summer.

The ducks are lovely. We witnessed a crane caught a fish and swallow it, too bad I could not capture with my camera, it happened so fast.

close up of ducks:

One of the many waterfalls:

A very old, more than one hundred-year bonsai:

Hot & dry with cactus greenhouse:

The most romantic place: Overhanging baskets of begonias, balcony that overlooks a lake:

Steps leading away from the English Wall Garden:

Chicago Botanical has loamy soil, so Flower Carpet Coral is perfect for them. Their polyanthas like Marie Pavie is only 1/4 the size compared to my Marie pavie in heavy-clay. Polyanthas do better in alkaline clay. I give my Marie Pavie dolimitic lime, rather than gypsum, since it likes alkaline. Flower Carpet doesn't look good stand alone, due to their irregular shape, but they are fantastic combined with other annuals. Picture taken after month-long of heavy & constant rain:

Duchess de Brahan, an Old Garden Rose, is a stand-out, Not much scent though.

Getrude Jekyll, a VERY THORNY Austin Rose, was disappointing in look and scent. Perhaps the heavy rain washed away the scent, but Betty White was STILL fabulous in scent.

Here's a Damask rose that folks praise for its beauty. But it looked like hell with heavy rain: blooms are 1/2 the size & shattered. Perhaps not enough calcium & magnesium in loamy soil:

Here's Gold Medallion, beat up by the rain. I would do landscape roses like Flower Carpet, just to have a good show despite heavy rain.

Forget the name of this one, but it's NOT Chicago peace. it's bigger & more petals than Chicago Peace. It's one of the French Meilland roses (glossy & dark foliage).

They have a floral arrangement show, too many to take pics, plus my kid & her friend start touching them and messing them up, so I had to leave:

I love flower arrangement shows, they are so interesting in the materials they used. Thank you for sharing these Straw! I'll be going to the garden next week so will share what I can on this side of the world too.

Breathtaking photo Straw! Thanks for sharing!

What vendors sell Flower Carpet roses?

Beautiful park. It looks like so much fun.

HomeDepot sells FlowerCarpet early spring, they are sold-out fast, since they are loaded with blooms in the pot. Lowe's also sells them early spring, sold-out fast. My neighbor wants FlowerCarpet after she saw mine bloomed 1 month ahead of Knock-out in early spring. She went to all the stores in early June, but they were sold out. Best time is mid-April to shop for Flower-Carpet.

Chamblee carries Drift-roses, many petals & smaller bushes, but Drift-roses are susceptible to mildew ... Drift has "matte" foliage, and isn't glossy like FlowerCarpet. What I like about FlowerCarpet is low-thorn, just tiny prickles spaced very wide-apart.

From looking online I see Drift Roses are easier to find.

If I can ever find Flower Carpet I might try a couple. Wish they were easier to find though...

Wonder why? You think Flower Carpet would be sold everywhere and be much easier to find....

Jim: Lowe's nearby your PA has FlowerCarpet on-line cheaper than my place: at $25 for 2-gallon FlowerCarpet, compared to $27 in my Chicagoland, see link below:

Flower Carpet sold at Lowe's

Our nearest Lowes is in Altoona Pa. Clearfield Pa is quite a distance from here...

Here's a link on Flowercarpet discussion. folks say insects have no interest, that includes spider mites, Jap. Beetles, and rose slugs. I agree, JB attack my red Knock-outs 1st, and not much on Flower Carpet Coral. Folks say Walmart and HomeDepot carry that. Yes, I got mine at HomeDepot, and I saw them at Walmart early May.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1669035/flower-carpet-roses

I like how Chicago Botanical Garden mingle rose-beds with evergreens, so it's not bare in the winter.

Beautiful pics

I only 'discovered' this forum now...what amazing photo's and what an amazing garden...it is spectacular...

I love 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' most... :-)

and all those fountains...what a paradise....

Bumped up this thread to see the Dark Lady as grafted on Dr. Huey early June at Chicago Botanical Garden. It's so small !! That's why I took the Dark Lady OFF MY BUY-LIST ... since as own-root, it would be like a mini-rose in my zone 5a.

Austin roses are much smaller as own-root. Here's a rating of OWN-ROOT Austin roses for warm climate Texas:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1054489/

MiniPonyFarmer Gilmer, TX(Zone 8b) Nov 12, 2009

Of the David Austins I have had, here are my favorites:
HERITAGE
TRADESCANT
GOLDEN CELEBRATION
ABRAHAM DARBY
SOPHY'S ROSE
THE DARK LADY

These are ones I would not buy again:
Glamis Castle (blackspot)
Charles Darwin (fades too much)
Molineux (puny)
Portmeirion (really puny)

Straw: you had amazing hike. I love those unnamed bright red roses. I had Tropicana, it didn't bloom much here and has no scent.

Hi Straw,

Just as a counterpoint to MiniPony from TX, Molineux own root for me in a pot in Zone 7 NY is big, bigger than DA’s indication of 3x3. I planted my defoliated gallon pot the last week of June, it is now about 4 feet tall 3 feet wide. Its home is 14” diameter and 17” tall, my best guess is it’s a bit less than 10 gallon, it will be upgraded to a 15 gallon in the spring. I am so pleasantly surprised by its performance I am itching to add more DAs!

Any recommendations for “mannerly” climbers (DA or otherwise)? I had asked Vaporvac on another thread because she trains a few DAs to climb. As you know my roses have to live in pots (I will find 30-40 gallon size), so a more vigorous climber will be very unhappy.

Thanks for bumping up this thread so I can find it! The pix are beautiful. The Chicago Botanical Garden looks wonderful and well kept. Unlike the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, I was sad when I went 2 weeks ago, the rose garden looked neglected - some bushes completely defoliated, most looked in dire need of some TLC.

Jabubaoski: Annie L. McDowell was a constant-bloomer when I grew it in a pot, except canes are stiff and spreading & need support. Renae is more flexible ... both are thornless, great scent.

For red: Falstaff is stingy on folks, but Tess is a better bloomer, but both are thorny. Nur Mahal is a thornless red climber (it's a hybrid musk so will take partial shade), see below:

http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.4507.1&tab=36

Will update this post after I search for Val's thread of THORNLESS roses in her hot & sandy soil.

Thanks Straw! I was looking at soft colors as I'm adding Nahema, the sidings of the roof are copper color, red may not work too great with the scheme and extra prickly is definitely no good.

I'm learning that flexible canes is a big deal, even for shrubs, my 2 Kordes Fijis are rigorous and healthy (same age and size but doesn't bloom 1/4 of Molineux) , yet the stiff canes get snapped by rain/wind. They are dutifully staked but the stiffness makes the cane brittle, such a trait would be horrible for a climber in training.

Thanks for posting! I was always wondering about the difference between flower carpet and Drift.

Totoro: Drift roses are bred in France by Meilland company, which PREFER ALKALINE minerals, such as rocky soil with high pH. My neighbor has hard-clay like mine, and she planted her drift roses with a BIG BAG of pea-gravel (different colors) at bottom of planting hole, then compost next. The high pH of rocks neutralize acidic rain water-accumulation at the bottom of hole, which rots roots or cause fungal diseases due to pH dropping. Her Drift roses are 100% healthy despite Drift roses are NO LONGER sold here due to fungal issues. Her Drift roses are in flooded areas. FlowerCarpets are from Germany, MUCH MORE DISEASE RESISTANT & take shade, but Drift roses can't. My FlowerCarpet are blooming in less than 2 hrs. of sun right now.

I bought Dark-Lady after being impressed by its compactness & scent at Chicago Botanical Garden. Love it !! Big bloom and nicest color, plus old rose scent. The leaves are tomato plants invading it:

Thank you for linking me to this incredible post! Learned a lot! I'll take a look at the Carpet series.

Next time when you get a chance, maybe next summer or so, do you mind taking pictures of the Distant Drums flower bed at the Chicago Botanical Garden? You mentioned that a few times in various threads and got me really intrigued.

Yogi: A friend visited Chicago Botanical garden today 8/20/20 and she reported VERY LITTLE BLOOMS in hot & dry. Only White Knockout has lots of blooms. Other stand-outs: Princess Charlene de Monaco and Charles Darwin. The rose park doesn't carry the same roses every year, and I don't see Distant Drums sold as grafted at local stores. I don't recommend buying it as own-root .. a friend in Kansas, zone 6 grew that as own-root and it's very wimpy & full of black spots. Edmunds roses in Ohio might have it as grafted-on-Dr.Huey .. grafted-on-Dr.Huey is good for display only 3 years, after that the rose-park gets rid of them altogether. Grafted-on-Dr.Huey is cheap here, like $6 at Menards. It was 3 years ago that I saw the bed full of Distant-Drums. For high-rain climate, own-root or grafted-on-multiflora is best.

@strawchicago z5 Thank you. I just looked up and our area gets 33 inches of rain, on average, per year. The US average is 38 inches of rain per year. We averages 157 inches of snow per year. We have a short grow season (end of May to late Sep). For our area would own-root better (from rose unlimited, Heirloom etc.) or grafted better (from DA website)? I think we had this discussion in a thread and I got the impression that my priority is to look for own root. What do you think? Oh, soil in my flower bed is partly amended with top soil and partly neutral ph sandy. I can keep amending it.

Since you have sandy soil, BOTH own-root and grafted-on-Dr.Huey would be fantastic, but grafted-on-Dr.Huey needs to be buried at least 4 inch. below soil-level. For CLIMBERS or LARGE-AUSTIN-SHRUB I would lean toward own-roots. For roses that are listed as small shrub in Austin Catalog, I WOULD BUY AS GRAFTED. The new Austin catalog 2020 lists which ones are large bush vs. medium vs. small size. Few wimpy ones best as GRAFTED: Boscobel, Jude the Obscure, Princess Alexandra of Kent, Eglantyne. Re-post the info. from another thread why grafted-on-Dr.Huey is not best for heavy rain.

The problem with zone 5 winter: we have 7 months of zero rain in winter, then flood in spring (3" of rain per day), then dry summer months alternate with heavy rain, esp. in fall. Roses on a DEEP & LONG Dr.Huey-rootstock can't handle being soaked in acidic rain water, pH 4.5. Dr. Huey was bred in dry & alkaline CA. Now I understand why Jim in PA, zone 6 only grow own-root roses, and he researched carefully on roses that can handle heavy rain & flood.

About Tamora: it's best in alkaline & fast-draining soil. Nearby zone 5 rose park with alkaline clay had Tamora (grafted-on-Dr.Huey) ... it black spotted badly in heavy rain. Plus the myrrh scent is gone during heavy rain (more than 1" per day). Tamora and Queen Nefertiti (its child) are both thorny, and my experience with thorny roses: they like FAST-DRAINING SOIL, tend to black spot in slow-drainage clay and heavy rain.

In contrast, LOW-THORN roses can tolerate flooding and soaking-wet & poor drainage clay better .. such as almost thornless Twilight zone, that can take tons of rain without diseases & compact & plus a wafting scent 4 feet away. Glossy foliage like Pat Austin also can take poor-drainage and flooding .. Pat is compact in my zone 5, amazing scent of mango and nectarine. Pat is a water-hog. Munstead Wood is also compact AS OWN-ROOT with wafting scent.

Dr.Huey-rootstock (A LONG & DEEP STICK) needs fast drainage and doesn't like acidic rain in slow-drainage clay. Own-roots or multiflora-rootstock are more cluster-shallow root and can take flooding & heavy rain better. Also for compactness, own-root is best. My Jude the Obscure was 2' x 1' as own-root, versus rose park's Jude-grafted-on-Dr.Huey was over 7 feet tall & same with their Abraham Darby.

Below is Tamora at rose park with alkaline clay ... I won't post the pic. of its dropping all leaves due to blackspots in our heavy rain (more than 1" per day):

Twilight zone as 4th-year-own-root in my zone 5 garden, next to a rain spout & only 4 hrs. of sun, always healthy. Like Bolero, I can smell the old-rose scent many feet away:

Below is 10-year-own-root Pat Austin, amazing mango and nectarine scent, loves tons of rain, bloom lots in only 4 hrs. of sun:

Munstead Wood is very compact, with amazing scent that floats in the air (much stronger & better scent than Bolero). With winter-kill in zone 5, the bush is more slender & compact than below pic. as 6th-year-own-root.

bump this up.