Seil, Just buy a shed, and insulate it, then you can keep all the roses you have.

Get a copy of Roses Without Chemicals. All of the roses listed in the book are very healthy and are growing in the Peggy Rockefeller garden in NY so they are at lest somewhat hardy. It's an excellent book with many great suggestions on wonderfully performing roses.

RUGOSA'S!!!! Rosa Rugosa and Rosa Rugosa Alba. Plant, water and enjoy. Foliage not dark green enough??? A little fish emulsion. BANG! Problem cured. Beautiful hips in the early fall and late fall foliage looks like a Maple tree. I've never grown a rose so easy to take care of. I think I've got a photo or two. Let me check.

Rosa Rugosa

Here is my list of tried and true roses that are all winter hardy for me with no protection. They are grown on own root*, in the ground, not needing pot culture, no spray roses with great fragrance:

Quietness

Marie Pavie

Marie Daly

Little Pink Pet

Little White Pet

Aunt Honey

Roseraie de L' Hay

Schneekoppe (aka. Snow Carpet)

Henry Hudson

Jacques Cartier (grafted onto *multiflora or possibly Dr. Huey; on own roots...then it limps along)

A garden built on this tried and true list will be the easiest group of roses to care for that I know of. Yet they give so much for so little effort.

Every other rose I know of has an 'Achilles Tendon,' to deal with, even the knockouts.

I think you can grow all the Palatine roses, it's in the same zone. Do you really want to start it over again? That's a lot of work and a lot of $$. It's so easy just get a garden shed.......

Seil, you know far more about roses than I do and few of the roses that I grow would do well for you there. I have no idea what would be healthy for you there, even among the cold-rated roses. I have a sister that lives in NE Ohio and a sister-in-law that lives NW of Indianapolis and in selecting roses for them, I've come across several that bear mentioning and might be what you're looking for. Although, you probably already know about them.

Tausendschon? It's nearly thornless, along with its other virtues. It ought to be hardy enough, it blooms a lot and has a pleasant fragrance.

Ferdinand Pichard? It's pretty and fragrant. If you like stripes, even better. I don't know if it would be the same for you, but in the Montreal Botanical Garden it rated 0-5% blackspot during their test. Worth a try if you haven't yet.

Astrid Lindgren? Not an old one but pretty, fragrant and hardy. It might work for you.

You know about Buck roses. BTW my sister has Quietness. Your pictures are lovely. Thank you.

I gardened on a windswept hill in 6B Ohio, with no reliable snow cover. My two best Bucks were Earth Song and Carefree Beauty. Also love the Canadian Explorer rose Champlain. I had a pair of rugosa hedges, Roserie de l'Hay and Sarah van Fleet; gorgeous and so easy! My favorite once-bloomer was Golden Wings, would love to grow it again.

I had about 50 hybrid teas in those days, put a collar of roofing paper around each and buried the bud union in soil borrowed from the vegetable garden and then mulched the bed with leaves. When we sold the house I was actually relieved to leave my garden behind.

Hi Seil, I’m trying
to get to a lower maintenance, no spray garden, too. Here are roses I’ve been able to grow no
spray that I think would be hardy for you.
I added a bunch more that are supposed to be very bs resistant last fall
and have more coming this spring, so hopefully this list will grow.

Marie Pavie (very fragrant, good repeat, been growing
happily in a pot for years now)

Cecile Brunner (fragrant, excellent repeat, been growing
happily in a pot for years now)

Perle d’Or (very fragrant, very healthy, excellent repeat)

Prosperity (fragrant, most bs resistant of the hybrid musks
I grow & better repeat, too)

Sir
Thomas Lipton (we don’t have the soil/climate for most rugosa’s, but this one
was said to be tolerant of our conditions and has grown beautifully for the few
years I’ve had it. Disease free; okay repeat;
supposedly very fragrant, but I don’t detect too much scent)

Flamenco Rosita / Ivor’s Rose (very healthy, but not very fragrant)

Easy Going (excellent health & excellent rebloom, mild fragrance)

Buck roses Prairie Breeze & Prairie Sunrise (fragrant & healthy) (I’m adding Aunt Honey, HoneySweet, Quietness &
Enchanted Autumn this year to see how they do)

Kordes roses Dark Desire, Savannah, Karl Ploberger, Summer
Romance & Beverly (all very fragrant & healthy) (I’m adding a bunch of their other new
varieties this year)

Marie Pavie in her pot:

Perle d'Or

Perle d'Or in a pinker mood:

Prosperity:

Sir Thomas Lipton:

Pat, beautiful photos! I just want to mention about Perle d’Or, I have one from Burling, 3 years old, it's still 1' tall, it won't grow tall here in zone 6a. Seil is in 6b, not much warmer than here, it might stay short too.

Oh Summers, that's sad to hear. It's a vigorous thing here with no dieback even during those two back-to-back polar vortex winters we had a few years ago...but even then, we were probably warmer than your average winter.

Oh my, thank you all so much for all these suggestions! I'm going to make a list (a long list!) and check them all out on HMF.

I don't intend to toss everything out and start over. I inevitably lose several every winter. Those losses I intend to replace with ones that are less labor intensive. I'm sure there will be some that I keep regardless of their fussiness just because they are dear to me for one reason or another.

I do have a few Buck roses but the only one I would consider to be healthy at all is Quietness. Winter Sunset is fair but Rural Rhythm and Country Music are TERRIBLE spot magnets, not to mention wimpy growers.

That's another thing. I want robust growers. I'm very tired of watching my roses grow backwards every year. I know some of it is due to winter die back but I don't think all of it is. I've had some roses that had to be cut to the soil line in the spring and they came back bigger and better than ever. Others not so much. I bought the gorgeous Crescendo two years ago. The first season it was magnificent. The second one it all but disappeared and I got exactly one bloom on it all season. I'm betting it has disappeared this winter. I've had dozens of roses do this and it's very discouraging. I'm not talking about the cheapie bagged roses either. These were well grown out expensive potted roses from nurseries. Just off the top of my head both Black Cherry and Disneyland did the same thing and I know there were plenty of others. I sometimes think it's the location but then the rose right next to it is thriving so I don't get it.

Sorry to rant and I do really appreciate all your suggestions!

Cynthia, your garden photos are so very, very,VERY LOVELY!!!!!

Rebecca

Yes indeed, Cynthia has beautiful gardens!

Cynthia, did you order 300 roses for this spring? :-) Do you still have room for 300 more?!? :-)

I can't add too many suggestions here that others haven't. My garden is still too new to give any advice on what survives winter for me (only 2 winters in). But Canada has released/named a new rose this year to celebrate 150 years. It's called the Canadian shield rose. It looks promising. Rated to survive zone 3 winters. 4-5 foot high x 3-4 foot wide. Red blooms, 42-52 petal count, good repeat. Claims to be black spot & pm free. I'm going to plant one this spring. It seems to check all the boxes for my area. Just thought I would put that here for you. I also planted Oscar Peterson last year. Very winter hardy. Its 3 foot canes were bright green to the tips today. Thats rare for me to see. Bloomed well. Grew great. White with yellow stamens, very glossy foliage.

I love John Davis!! It easily survives (with no cane loss) my zone 3 winters. It has 2 bloom cycles. The first one is impressive and the blooms last for over a month!! In your zone, it should be even bigger! It's supposed to be a climber - but I have no clue as to how to do that. :)

Carol

Sharon - I think your plans to gradually adjust your garden as roses die is a sensible one that avoids the greatest amount of work. You might find that a wimpy rose fits in OK around a more robust one and the occasional bloom that it puts out justifies the limited footprint that one knee high diva bush takes up. Thanks for the insight on Rural Rhythm & Country Music - I've thought about both of those, so it's great to know they're iffy at best. And we definitely agree with the rant - why can't roses that look great at one time continue to look at least decent after that?

Speaking of great, those John Davis pictures are to die for Carol. Whatever you're doing it's working, and I plan to use these pictures to inspire my John Davis who has been moping in John Cabot's shadow for a year or two. Time to shape up, Johnny!

Halloblondie - I saw that Canadian Shield listed somewhere (I think Hortico) so I'm pretty sure I have it coming among this year's order. Looks like Oscar Peterson is in the running for next year- that is a gorgeous bloom picture.

Thanks for the compliments on the garden, Rebecca & Summers. Remember though that these are shots at the roses' best moments, so I get to pick and choose what makes things look good. I'm sure I've posted various versions of that hybrid musk picture quite a few times here on GW. And yes summers, I have a little over 300 roses ordered this spring to plant, but if you think about it I'm almost at a replacement rate of roses. Since I have just over 1000 roses, losing 15-20% means losing 150-200 roses a year, so I'm really only planting 100 and if you keep planting divas there's always room to plant one more.

You'd think that as I take Seil's excellent advice and do more sustainable roses I'd have fewer rose deaths and in general I keep creeping up in true survivor percentages. However, every year I have some roses that I've had for 5 or 6 years mysteriously give up the ghost, even in these milder than average winters. No particular critter problems, so it gets filed under "mysterious deaths" in my records. That means I may still have room to plant roses even after I get smart about what I plant (well, let's leave that one as an IF for now).

Cynthia

Seil, I completely understand where you are coming from. I have what you might want to call, the exact same problem for the exact opposite reason and that is my intense heat and humidity. I have all but given up on most hybrid teas and all roses that are not disease resistant. My fellow South Florida rose gardener and Garden Web buddy, Kublakahan calls the summer our Florida "winter" as it is usually what kills off our roses. They get stem canker, turn to one cane wonders or just die from the bottom up. That, chili thrips and disease does them in. Some just out right refuse to grow. Others spend the rest of the year sulking and trying to get over the damage the summer left behind and never quite bounce back. It sounds a lot like your winters right?

I always find it funny when people say, "Oh you live in Florida, your roses must get huge".

Well in fact they don't. Only the really really healthy vigorous ones get large and those are few and far between. Most roses are plagued with so much disease here, they need constant pruning to keep them looking even remotely healthy, so they usually don't get out of control.

Plus, they do most of their aggressive growing when nights are cool which is only in the winter time here.

Anyways, I cannot comment on winter hardiness, but in terms of disease resistance and vigor, the Kordes have been outstanding for me. I can't say enough about Wedding Bells, Beverly and Plum Perfect. I just hope they are hardy for you because they are very healthy for me. Same goes for all the veranda series.

I never thought about the Florida or other hot area summers in that way. I just assumed you could all grow monster roses because of the high Temps. Never thought about the other issues. So thanks for educating me on that. I actually have fantastic weather for growing roses. From spring to autumn the weather is ideal. Its just the winters that can kill my plants. The Austin's loved the weather last year - 6 foot canes on new plants, basal breaks galore. We do have Japanese Beetles, but they come after the spring show here & they tend to just like a few of mine, not all of them. Black spot can happen here, but it is not too big of a problem unless it is too shaded or a poor performer.

Lucky you Hallo. I really wish my area was more suitable for growing roses, but it's really only the tenacious gardener who takes on roses here in South Florida. Up in northern Florida however, roses do much better, so it's not the entire state. But boy, if I've learned anything it's that roses are tough, they are very drought resistant plants, they are versatile and most importantly not all roses are created equally. It irritates me when people say 'roses' like a general term. There are so many different types of roses, roses with many different strengths and weaknesses; it's what makes it such a challenging hobby, but also so rewarding. There are so many variables. Even what does well for you, may not do well for your neighbor and vice versa.

But with that being said, it's always best to start with varieties that are known to do well in your region. That is why this forum is so invaluable. And that is why local Rose societies are so important. (I just wish I had one near by)...I've been thinking of starting one.

SoFL rose, I thought you and Kublakahan started a rose club last year. I am sure there are other rose gardeners will join you guys.

Seil, Get some Ascot from Palatine next year before it's sold out.

When it rains it pours. Seil you are a much better gardener than I am so no advice from me. I all ready went with the most disease resistant roses on the market. The rest where removed. I either shoveled them while dormant or waited until they looked their very worst. Sure made the job easier.

I was outside Monday having a bit of a pity party but I was the only one at the party. Gardening certainly has its ups and downs for every one of us I guess. Well, unless you can afford to tell your landscapers how you want things done. But then thats not really gardening is it? I'll just say that do to circumstances here. I need to figure out how to cut back fast or else. I enjoyed it sooooo much. Now its too much to handle. Wishing you the very best at a successful cut back. Just enough for it to be enjoyable. So we don't feel like snapping at the dog because we're to tired to be nice. Good luck Seil

I hope I'd never cut back on roses. I have never removed any roses from my garden, as long as they're alive, they're welcome to stay. I am a rose keeper, seeker for this life time. :-) Growing season is short up north, I'm trying my best to get most of the blooms for the season. Keep what you can Seil, give them a chance in your garden, plant the grafted parts 3-4" under the ground, or just cover the grafted parts with mulch, they will stay alive & bloom for you year and after year. Spring is here, winter blue will be gone by tomorrow.

@SoFL-rose - it's funny because I would love to live in your area and grow so many things that I can't here! All the tropical plants. I guess we always want something we can't have, lol!

@summersrhythm - I have to ask; how big is your property? I know you have lots & order lots of roses & you still have room to keep all of them year after year? Would love to see some pics of all those bloomers.

@seil - do you grow other plants besides roses? I'm just asking because I find by having lots of other perennials, shrubs & annuals in my gardens, that it can help fill in when the roses are not optimal.

Hallo, I am living in a suburb, don't have a big lot. I started collecting roses 3 years ago after I found this rose forum. Before that I only had about 350 roses and most of them were landscaping, carefree roses for the colors, some DAs, a few old garden roses. This forum is like big rosy hole, without knowing I started collecting roses. Most of my new plants are still small, I have to wait for 2-3 years for them to grow up, my lawn is shrinking every year. lol

I only have 45 roses so far. Unless I take out the majority of the lawn I probably won't have room for more than 100. My problem is I also love trees, perennials, shrubs & annuals! I'm starting to collect hydrangeas, day lilies, coneflowers, roses & a whole lot of other stuff!

Thank you all! Yes, I have lots of other plants in the garden from early spring bulbs to burning red viburnum for fall but the roses are my babies. But as I've aged I've acquired some health issues and can't spend as much time out in the garden as I used to. And it shows it. Things aren't likely to get any easier either. So I really do need to pare down the work and make things simpler and easier to take care of. As things die off I'm replacing them with the things I've found that have worked well and didn't need intensive care all the time. I'm also trying to reduce the bed sizes too. I don't need those huge beds when a smaller, neater, more efficient one will do just as well. So I look now for things that have a long bloom time or a repeat and tend to just take care of themselves. You've all given me lots of good ideas and things to research, Thank You!

Patty, thanks for your post. Last year I discovered I was in the exact same place as you are now... I had a garden that was too large and my roses were less than I wanted them to be. I ripped out the huge raised bed garden (actually a friend's son wanted it and took the wood and the dirt for free and moved it all to his yard and made both of us happy!!) I looked over my roses and decided to keep the best of the best and get rid of the rest. Then I did multiples of my favorites... most of them with fewer thorns. I ended up with:

10 JOHANN STRAUSS

7 PERDITA

6 CROWN PRINCESS MARGARETA (had 3, added 3 this year)

3 CRESSIDA (adding 2 this year)

and 3 more that are on trial.

I also added a small raised bed garden on a patio. NOW I HAVE TIME TO SIT AND SMELL THE ROSES AND WATCH THE CLOUDS GO BY!!! I no longer will be "snapping at the dog" (loved that part of your note because it is SO TRUE) because I am constantly feeling like there is something I should be doing with the roses and the garden. I do believe I will be able to relax. :)

Rebecca

Seil, I know that Austins don't do well for you, but if rugosas do, I had a Blanc Double de Coubert that was a blooming machine all year long... It left my house because of it's thorns. It was a skin ripper.

Rebecca

Thanks, Rebecca. Your in zone 4, if they can survive you winters they will surely survive mine! I'll take a look.

Thanks for the extra confidence boost Rebecca. Wish me luck. At least I'm rather confident that once it's done it will be a relief.

I recommend High Country Roses and Northland Rosarium for cold hardy roses, Seil, that aren't DA.

Seil, I plant all of my roses DEEP... grafted 4-6 inches below graft... Own Root 2-3 inches below root line. Perdita and Johann Straus are grafted and close to the house. CPM is DAR Own Root and anywhere you want her. BDDC was grafted, but it wouldn't have mattered. I think she'd grow in a rock. Gorgeous, FRAGRANT but NASTY! :)

Patty, it's a little bit of Heaven...

Rebecca

These are easy, healthy and hardy in my garden.

Nymph Egeria

Bouquet Parfait

Tausendonschon

Mignonette

Martha's Vinyard

Also, Seafoam, and Darlow's Enigma.

I have a bunch of species roses that are beautiful, once blooming but they all bloom at different times and set hips.

I have a lot of once bloomers, shrubs and climbers. Like MadGallica said, I plant clematis with them, they are very easy to take care of.

I live in central Michigan, on heavy clay, in the countryside. Our property originally was a swamp/lowland that was later tiled for drainage in the last century so that corn could grow. It is colder in the countryside -- Magnolia soulangeana for example, thrives in Lansing, but cannot be found around a farmhouse here. Below are the roses that have lived through at least one polar vortex, are not sprayed, fed or winter protected. They are planted with their crowns about 4" below their original soil line; most are own-root. I found that in our heavy clay, roses planted much more than 4" did poorly --suffocated maybe? I do mulch, twice a year. I've finished the spring pruning, which is mostly just tidying up.

Here's what has not only survived, but done well enough (I listed the heights of this spring's live cane) to provide lots of flowers on a healthy plant:

Shrubs:

Darlow's Enigma --I have a lot of this planted for its vigor and scent.

4-6 feet of live cane this spring; blooms all summer and several of

them also support clematis varieties. In shade it grows "viney", in the

open it makes a lush vase shaped shrub. Doesn't work cut.

Buck's: --

Quietness: I have multiples. Tall (3' canes this spring), lush and healthy.

Hawkeye Belle: yes, the flowers ball all summer long. BUT-- come fall all is

forgiven. The flowers don't ball, open slowly, it blooms and blooms, and I

count on it for fresh flowers until a deep freeze. More than once AH gave

me flowers for our Thanksgiving table. So, from September to November I

have flowers -- no scent though. It also sets large attractive hips. 4 feet of

live cane. Disease free, super healthy foliage.

Dakota Sun (bred from Buck roses by R. Smith) ---WOWSA! steady bright

yellow flowers, nice full plant shape, 30" of live cane. Flowers aren't

fragrant, and don't last that long cut, but a steady bloomer that is disease

free and blooms enough to make a steady color impact in the garden.

Arctic Star: super hardy; live cane to 24"; steady bloom of clustered white

roses; no fragrance, but enough flowers to make an impact in the garden.

Moore's Roses:

Keith's Delight = a rock star! Several live canes to over 4'; easily reaches 10'

here; sets lots of big hips; constant fully double blooms of yellow w/pink

edge in clusters, and foliage so healthy and shiny I'd grow it for its foliage.

Not fragrant, but creates a very strong impact in the garden.

Vineyard Song: live cane to 30"; steady bloomer, healthy grower.

Chicadee: Cheerful happy plant, steady flowers on a mini plant.

Polyanthas:

Marie Pavie -- I wouldn't garden without it. Fragrant, constant bloom, healthy, stays about 12-18" tall and live limber canes to about 6" (rabbits!!!).

Austins: Our winters have killed or stunted most of them, but a few are great:

The Pilgrim -- live cane to 4', blooms in flushs, nice soft clear yellow. Lush

growth. No fragrance.

Teasing Georgia: my first Wow! rose. Easily 5' by summer's end,

4' of live cane this spring; healthy and lush. I pick most of the

summer blooms for the house because I can't stand seeing the

Japanese beetles in them. Faint fragrance.

James Galway: not fragrant, but super healthy and hardy. Live cane to 30".

Transcendent: I have this in multiples. Very fragrant and hardy; live cane to

24", grows to 36" and shrugs off all disease.

Kordes:

Westerland (cantelope orange), and its sport, Autumn Sunset (golden

yellow)-- I grow these as shrubs. I count on these roses for constant cut

flowers for the house, sweetly fragrant, beautiful healthy foliage.

4' of live cane this spring.

Laguna : thorny, not fragrant, blooms mostly in the spring...7' live canes this

spring, healthy...I don't really like it, but it is sooo healthy.

Jasmina: shy bloomer, live cane to 4', not fragrant.

Cinderella: a thorny octopus monster. Lots of 6' canes, pretty constant bloom,

not fragrant.

Sebastian Kniepp: Gorgeous! Creamy white with a pale pink heart. Steady

bloom all summer, vigorous plant.

Very fragrant of myrhh; live cane to 2", grows to 6' by fall. This is what

I thought an Austin would be like.

Liebeszauber: 2' live cane but reaches 6' every fall. Not fragrant, but super

healthy and great grower (if you can deal with the giraffe look).

Odds and ends:

Artic Pillar: live cane to 24"; blooms in steady flushes

Paul's Lemon Pillar : blooms only in the spring, but heartbreakingly beautiful.

40" live cane--looks more like an open vase shaped shrub. Fragrant.

Baron Girod de l'ain -- blooms only in spring. Healthy, but if it died I wouldn't

replace it.

Autumn Bouquet: very fragrant, pink hybrid tea sort-of. 6" live cane, grows

to 36" by fall. From Pickering -- don't know where to get it now.

Isabella Springer /Victorian Memories: 40" live cane. Steady bloom.

Baltimore Belle -- an ogr; blooms in June for over three weeks. 6' live cane.

Lush and beautiful.

Leda -- a damask. short bloom period, but a beauty

Charles de Mills-- gallica, runs around like mad, but gives 2 weeks of glorious,

intensely fragrant bloom; very healthy. Grow it by the road :)

Common pink moss: again, a runner (more densely than Charles): but this

blooms for over 3 weeks. I love it -- I have it in several spots around the

house and yard. I've seen it by several abandoned farmhouses, growing in

huge patches.

Rosa palustris: Swamp rose. Vase shaped shrub, very graceful. Fragrant, almost thorn free. Blooms late for a species (end of June).

Rosa setigera: marching on to 16'. July bloom -- makes a wall of pink; bees love it. Sets little red hips.

Radiance & its sports: I love this early HT. Beautiful olive green foliage, gets a

bit of blackspot but shrugs it off; constant very fragrant bloom. Dies down

to about 1" of cane every winter, but bounces back to about 2' every

summer. I wouldn't garden without it. I have it own root -- it would

interesting to try it grafted.

Scentimental-- I have several; very healthy and hardy. Fragrant, but doesn't last cut.

Jadis: gets a bit of black spot, but gorgeous fragrant HT blooms.

Own-root hardy; live cane to 6".

New Dawn & Awakening: 36" live cane; grow to 12' plus...super-thorny. I think

Awakening gives a better garden impact.

Albas -- love them; they only bloom once a year. However, their foliage is

beautiful too --grey green, and they tend to have a vase shaped growth.

Rugosas: FORGET ABOUT THEM! Most of them die rapidly here from borers

(raspberry cane borers). They need constant surveillance: most canes will

only survive two years before succumbing to the borers. Every spring I

check the viciously armed canes for damage; I cut & burn those that show

evidence of attack.

Only a few varieties have survived: White pavement, 6" spring; Sir T. Lipton

30" (not fragrant), Novalis (white, beautiful but not fragrant), Frau Dagmar

Hartopp --36", first rose to bloom, large hips and sweetly fragrant.

FDH is the best of the bunch for me.

Note: A few years ago, MSU planted a long (100' plus) row of Rugosa hybrids on campus by their recycling station. They looked great for one year, then rapidly declined. I noticed they had been replaced last year with different, non-rugosa, roses.

Other forget about it roses: R. spinosissma (sp?) types -- borers + don't like our soil.

Too young to fully report on:

the newer Kordes hybrids. So far, Dark Desire seems great; Summer Romance and First Crush were just thorny green blobs their first two years -- maybe this year they will bloom?

Austin's Strawberry Hill -- very healthy; live canes to 30"; fragrant

Sunny

Sunny, I'm so glad you posted your list of roses in a Zone 5 region. It's great to hear feedback from folks that have similar climate challenges, i.e extreme cold temps (although this past Winter was mild). I ordered for the first time ever from Joy Creek Nursery the following own-root roses: Awakening, Antique 89 and Eutin. Can't wait to get them. Thanks again for your post and happy gardening.

Seil, have you considered albas. True, they only bloom once, though there rumors about a breeder in Germany having come up with repeat blooming albas which might make it to the USA in a century or so, but the show is spectacular and lasts a good 4-6 weeks in cold climates. They are so vigorous they can be used for trellises for morning glories and other vines later in the summer. They can be planted on north or west property lines where other roses might not grow well.

Bella rosa........ I also bought Antique 89 from Joy Creek in Feb, it's in a pot waiting for warmer temps, we seem to have entered the 50's for highs & 60's promised for mid-May. We have a VERY long Spring.

Bella rosa........ I also bought Antique 89 from Joy Creek in Feb, it's in a pot waiting for warmer temps, we seem to have entered the 50's for highs & 60's promised for mid-May. We have a VERY long Spring.

Sorry about the double post, I received a message saying to re-submit as it hadn't gone through. Oh well.

How big is Joy Creek's band? I will receive some today, it's my 1st time ordering from Kathy.

Hi, I only have one rose bush in my garden, but it certainly fits your criterias of hardiness and reblooming. Mine is George Vancouver, part of the Canadians Explorer series. It does very well in my zone 3, and blooms nonstop from July til October (first frost). And my next purchase will be John Davis, after seeing the beautiful pictures posted by rosecanadian!

You may try simplifying your HT protection. I just bury the bud unions deep and wrap the canes with burlap. There is no need to get everything done before the first snowfall. The roses are just fine if they are covered with snow. If the snow melts you can cover them. I didn't finish covering them until January 2nd.

Thanks, Mazerolm!! That made my day!! :) I am terrible, though, at getting climbers to climb. Mine's just a shrub. I have seen one where a John Davis was climbing up a lamp pole - it was divine!!!!! Truly a heart stopping show!!

Carol

Thank you all again for the great suggestions!

Zack, I do bury the grafts but unfortunately we do not get good snow cover like we used to. We had a couple of weeks of snow on the ground in December but it was all gone after Christmas and we never got it back again. That's how it's been for the last several years. So I can no longer count on having a good snow cover.

Mazerolm, zone 3?! You're amazing!

Carol, I can hardly keep any kind of climber here in zone 6. To get anything to really climb it has to be cane hardy and there aren't many that are that hardy without great winter protection efforts.

Well, you'll like John Davis then. :) Definitely cane hardy!!

Carol

There are a fair number of climbers that are perfectly hardy. You just have to get out of the mindset of pushing warm weather roses.

Something I expect is going to be an issue with switching is spacing. Hardy roses need about twice the spacing of northern HTs. So it can't be a 1 to 1 replacement.

I'm growing Prairie Sunrise and it is fragrant with less care than some of my perennials. [g]. I ignore it and clean foliage, no bugs, no winter protection here in zone 6a. It's put out a lot of blooms this fall too.

I wonder how you made out since last year, when you posted this?

I grew the Fairy, but the flowers were tiny, and there was no fragrance at all. Prairie Sunrise is healthier than it was.

Back in the days when Olga used to post, she listed Quadra as one of her bombproof roses: huge red continuously blooming Canadian climber, tough as nails and oblivious to blackspot. Maybe that one would work. Hortico has it.

Has anyone mentioned the Easy Elegance roses by Ping Lim? I grow a couple of them, Sweet Fragrance and Kiss Me- They are both fragrant, disiease proof and winter hardy. Mine died back to about 6 inches this year in our zone 5 winter. Now they are 4 feet plus.

Sweet Fragrance also has fantastic repeat.

The Buck rose, Prairie Harvest is a nice desease free rose with good fragrance-

Prairie Sunrise, another Buck rose is also bulletproof and has a strong unique fragrance