Mike, over the years of trying new roses and yanking most of them out, because I am VERY fussy about what I like and what I want to see in my yard. I have finally settled on my favorites and have multiples of them. (CPM, Cressida, Perdita and Johann Strauss). I just planted some large hardy bushes this year as anchors in my yard on two corners of my house. So, I have both. Took me a long time to come to this point, but I am very happy that I did.

Rebecca

Rebecca, why did you choose them in particular? Fragrance? Flower pedal count? Beauty? Durability? Disease proof? Color?

Thanks! I see you are in Zone 4, so your answer will interest me..

Mike,

With me, a great rose gets all the room it wants. I have multiples of a very few roses in this great rose category because there are so few great roses, going by my picky, fussy requirements. Fortunately, the only large bush that I consider great, and I am nuts about it, is Quietness (5' X 3'...this size may be medium to you, but large in my garden). I have three of them.

When I have two different varieties which have essentially the same characteristics in all categories: strong scent, big flower, desirable same color, disease resistance, winter hardiness, EXCEPT one variety is a smaller, more compact bush, I choose it over the larger bush. That way I can grow more differing bushes in my relatively small rose garden (18' X 8').

Moses

I too have a lot of different roses. Floribundas, hybrid teas, grandifloras, shrub & ground cover. Even some that could be climbers if I were in a different zone. My garden is only going into it's 3rd season, so I'm trailing about 60 different roses. Certain ones, like shrub roses, will stand up to my winters. But I also have to worry about Japanese beetles and black spot. So it's survival of the fittest. I like the idea of lots of different varieties, so ones that stay under 3 feet in width are ideal for my yard size. But if after a few years certain ones thrive even if they are larger I would thin out any under performers.

I am doing the same as modestgoddess: trying a variety so that I can eventually figure out which ones I like, which ones work in my garden, and how big they get so I know where to place them. Then I will likely go for more multiples/size and less variety. If it's a rose I like then I'd rather let it grow large (assuming it doesn't get in the way of people like on a walkway or patio) and enjoy it even more.

Big roses make a big impression.

Space for air circulation over size of plant.

I have done both, in smaller yards I have planted the bushes tighter and kept them trimmed, in our current house I finally have a big enough rose bed to spread them out and see how big they want to get.

I love the look of large overflowing shrubs so that's how I choose. I love large rose shrubs ! I do still plant tightly though , even though I have the room I have a cottage garden mindset. If there is empty space, something is going there. Dosnt have to be a rose but most likely will be. I don't prune much either. I'm learning some roses need it though and some do not. I like to let my roses reach their full potential as soon as I can !

I'm just starting to be interested in smaller roses , simply to fill in those areas. I find my garden looks a little one dimensional right now with all the roses planted up against a fence. I need some to go in front of the large ones

Depends. I have an area of my lawn where there are small (gallicas) & large OGR's ( Madame Hardy, Great Maiden's Blush, etc) mixed in with viburnums, hydrangeas & perennials. Another area of the yard where I have a 25' hedge of John Davis & then an area where I have a bed of mixed Modern shrubs, Fl, etc that stay below 4' tall. Why does it have to be an "or" proposition.....different things for different areas.

limited sunny space so variety works for me :-) and anything that survives our winters. It definitely is trial and error.

sharon

Mikerno, Yes to all of the above... Cressida and Perdita are FRAGRANCE, CUT FLOWER. Perdita is a blooming machine and hardy when grafted away from the house or own root next to the house. Johann Strauss is hardy against the house, blooming machine, AMAZING CUT FLOWER that lasts forever in the vase, and has a great but not strong fragrance. Crown Princess Margareta is just plain all around everything!!! And she's big.

Here are photos that everyone has seen so appologies to those people in advance.

Love them all!!

Rebecca

Rebecca, and anyone else who has Crown Princess Margareta, can this rose stand alone or does it need support? I know it can be a climber, but I want to grow it as a large shrub, if possible. I doubt it will get as large in my z5 as it does in warmer zones.

That's great. Many have different reasons why they choose what to do. I have yet to figure out my favorite, but thus far I am in love with the Mr Lincolns HUGE flower and stuff your face into the center rich and great fragrance. I almost want to plant two. It seems to grow tall stems and huge flower but takes up little room width wise. Red as Red can be which makes me think of starting another thread about color.

The other is my Sterling Silver! What a very nice shrub and great fragrance. The flowers almost look fake, a weird color of off white.

Then my other favorite is the Barbara Streisand...It's amazing red rich new leaves as they emerge into dark green with dark red and then the fragrance that knocks your shoes off. I am almost wanting to buy another of this one too.

Rebecca, the description of what you gave me is exactly what I look for in Roses. This is only my first full year of growing them successfully since coming here. I use to kill any and all of them in the past before I learned of protection and treated just cut stems with product to protect from borers. Borers were the reason why I would lose all my roses..Not anymore! Now it's time to maybe get one of what you described, or something else just a strong as the ones I have in fragrance. I do notice many roses resemble each other fragrance which prevents us from having to buy many unless you are looking for a different color.

Flowersaremusic, my CPM is in it's second year. Last winter was wicked here and we didn't have a hard freeze before we were hit by a blizzard, and about 3' of snow with -20F temps. My CPM that got covered with snow had cane survival to the tips. The leaves were still green and ready to go this spring when it all melted, but I stripped them all off. The CPM that didn't get covered right away winter killed to the ground, but is coming back fine.

As far as size, I got 3 CPM own root from David Austin Roses. They were gigantic when they arrived. I planted 2 of them about 12 inches apart. They bloomed like nuts all summer and grew a few 5' canes. All but the newest cane survived under the snow and didn't break under the weight of it. I haven't supported it yet, but I did wrap the long canes around others to make a self support of sorts and that put out a lot of laterals. It is setting buds now. Time will tell if it needs support. My guess is I will use short support on the sides this year and see what next year brings

.

Rebecca

I'm with Lilyfinch. I want vigorous, lusty, exuberant roses. I have no patience for wimpy roses since in my climate many roses are dwarfed, and once I saw Hoovb's Bishop's Castle I knew that's the look I wanted.

Wish I could see that photo!!!! :)

Rebecca

I love a medium size rounded rose bush . Unfortunately roses on Fortuniana root stock for Florida can grow huge .My first year roses were turning into monsters , I had to prune them again . I actually have to cut them back after every flush , otherwise they will grow into each other . I plant 2 or 3 ft apart .

Pinkrose. Good to know about the summer pruning. I am trying 2 roses grafted on Fort this year. Sharifa Asma and Teasing Georgia.

Totoro

Actually Fortuniana can be addicting! It is a vigorous grower .also suckers a lot when the rose is young .My roses reached their full height by 6 months .

In answer to the original question, I prefer enough space so that I can have as many roses as I want and let them grow as big as they wish (smile). Since that'll never happen, as my wishes outgrow my space, I tend toward variety over profusion. I will plant similar bloom shapes or color schemes in a bed to look like there's some repetition, but in reality I want more variety. There are some sections of my yard that I'm now converting to "grow as big as you want" once-bloomers, since I'm reluctantly concluding that year-round roses don't grow well in that space. We'll see how the battle of the giant thugs goes in a few years.

Cynthia

Thank you, Rebecca. That's the kind of report I was hoping to hear. I'm a bit baffled why almost all my roses died to the ground this winter. Once we got a good snowfall, it stayed on the ground with no freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw like we usually have. The roses remained under snow all winter until it melted in the spring, but almost every rose had to be pruned to the ground. They're all coming back very nicely, but I thought the total snow coverage would have kept them all insulated from cane dieback, even though winter was colder and longer than usual. If CPM does well in zone 4, I have hopes for her here.