Anyone out there in San Francisco itself,

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

growing roses in one of the foggier/windier parts of town?

Hello, rose people, this is my first post on your forum, but I have been reading recent and many past threads for quite a while now and spending far too many late nights here and on Help Me Find. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and beautiful photos of your roses!

I am in the very chilly gray windy Richmond District, with a very tiny garden space, which is also, unfortunately, challenged even further because our space, being so close to the building, gets interference from the shadows of our building and the others next door.

I have searched and read a great deal on the forum, and have found many conversations and recommendations from folks living in the overall SF Bay Area -- which includes climates much, much warmer and sunnier than SF proper -- and from people like Jeri living on the coast, who are dealing with chill and fog, but still with much warmer temps than we have here.

For instance: for the past several weeks, the weather has been lows of 52, highs of 63, winds of 12-19 mph afternoons, nearly always 100% cloud cover, with the exception of perhaps 4 days when the skies cleared and we perhaps hit 70 degrees. (Again, other parts of town have had many more sunny afternoons.)

Still, I have a lovely little Sophie's Perpetual that is now covered in buds and just started blooming beautifully, and a couple of other roses that are making a wonderful comeback after several years of neglect. All were totally defoliated as recently as March (black spot); have been re-potted and cared for and all now are leafing out beautifully, growing, and with buds. All the foliage is now clean and healthy.

I would love recommendations from people dealing with very similar growing conditions. My space is small, and most are in containers (a Buff Beauty in the ground). Fragrance is a major criterion, and I would appreciate repeat blooming.

Thank you for any suggestions you can make.

Sheba

Featured Answer

romogen

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

I wouldn't be much help. I'm in the Inner Mission's sunbelt. It's warm enough to grow bananas. However, you have a great resource near you. City College of San Francisco has a great Horticulture department, they are located in the Sunset with a microclimate similar to yours. If you contact them for help I'm sure they can provide you with more information. Another option is contacting Strybing Arboretum, just tell both entities you want more up to date and neighborhood specific information than the rose society pamphlet. When you have the time, a visit to the municipal rose garden in Golden Gate Park will give you more ideas of which rose varieties perform well in the fog.

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Comments (7)

Ann9BNCalif
7 years ago
You might try contacting the SF Rose Society which has a booklet on growing roses in a maritime climate. I think they are headquartered in GG Park so they would be especially familiar with your neighborhood..
shebabee thanked Ann9BNCalif
jacqueline9CA
7 years ago
Yes, I have the SF Rose Society's book, and I think it will answer most of your questions, and of course you can go to their meetings and ask questions directly. Here is a link:

http://www.sfrosesociety.org/
shebabee thanked jacqueline9CA
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shebabee
Original Author
7 years ago
Ann and Jaqueline, thanks for your responses. I do have the Rose Society book and have been studying the recommended roses mentioned. The book hasn't been updated since 2002. Since I'm interested in OGR, I suppose that doesn't much matter, but still, "new" old roses have been found and could be a good fit, or possibly other old roses might now be available that weren't then. I have been trying to get to the Rose Society's monthly meetings as well, but have had scheduling conflicts. I'm sure I'll be able to get a lot of information and advice there.

Still, I'd love to find others on this forum who might be growing roses in my area--hope foggy San Francisco forum people will chime in!

Sheba
jacqueline9CA
7 years ago
Of course, the weather you are describing is totally 100% normal for SF in the Summer. Spring and Fall can be warmer, but not Summer. Hopefully someone who grows roses in SF will respond, but if not you might try and contact the SF Rose Society through their web site - I agree that the only people who can help you are those who actually grow roses in SF. For instance, the Marin Rose Society has a list on their web site of roses they think do well in Marin, listed by category, including OGRs. I don't know if the SF RS does that - might be worth looking.

Jackie
shebabee
Original Author
7 years ago
Jackie, yes, I have lived in SF for decades and in this particular neighborhood for a very long time. The SF Rose Society book does list roses they recommend for S.F., by category, and I've been referring to them, but as I said, they haven't updated since 2002 and I would really like the kind of information from people growing in my neighborhood or in the similar SF neighborhoods to get the kind of direct and detailed information and experiences that people share here on this forum. I am paying attention to the posts of others here who live in the East Bay and on the Peninsula and on the Central Coast, as I can be pretty sure that if a rose is giving them BS or mildew problems or is balling, it surely won't work here, where we have much less heat and more cold/wet. But really need to hear from people growing in areas more like mine--they must be out there--??!

Sheba
shebabee
Original Author
7 years ago
Romogen--

Envying your Mission District sunshine and banana-bility! I lived near Dolores Park long ago and had wonderful tomatoes, etc. Sigh.

Thanks for your suggestions--City College hort dept is a great idea. I will check with Strybing, but I think I should probably just get to a Rose Soc meeting and talk with those folks there.

I often go to the GGP rose garden. I was there a couple of weeks back, for exactly the reason you suggest, even though they have much better sun exposure than I have. The older roses that interest me are around the periphery of the garden, and unfortunately, quite a few seemed to be lacking markers/labels, and many of the others were unreadable, so it wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped.

Still, I'm sure I'll get help eventually from the Rose Society, and maybe still from others on this forum. I am going to post my question from a different angle, which might get more specific replies. Thanks again,

Sheba

Anyone out there in San Francisco itself,

romogen

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