Maybe....I have had Zephy for about 15 years. I used to put up wind breaks behind her on the west side of my pergola which I think helped a lot. But I stopped doing it with climate change as our winters were warmer. But the wild fluctuations in temps all winter is harder on them than just plain cold. She has died back nearly every year for the past three years after the killer winter of -40. She started back again this year but reached about 18-20" and stopped. She used to be to the top of this trellis but can't see her now.

Very inviting photo. Love the peonies with the rose. What is in the foreground with the purple flowers? Hopefully mine will look like that soon.

Thanks nana! Sure wish she still looked like that! Front purple rose is gallica Cardinal de Richelieu.

That’s a beautiful ZD! Does your ZD repeat well? Out of 4 ZDs only 1 repeats a little, it had a few blooms. Mine were all from JP.

On the other side of lkaye's "maybe", I've not been successful at overwintering ZD in about 3 tries, including my warm protected zone 6-equivalent area. Maybe our dry climate isn't to its liking. Either way, ZD is a fussier rose than New Dawn and more likely to appreciate some protection. FWIW, I haven't been able to overwinter New Dawn either, though I have a lot of climbers, so everyone's region differs a bit. Clematis should be fine and they're nice to fill in between rose bloom cycles.

Cynthia

I had an own root ZD in my zone 5b garden for over 15 years bought as a tiny own root from Heirloom. It survived our winters of -20 below with little problem. It wasn't good at rebloom though and was a bs magnet in my no spray garden. But the flowers were beautiful and the scent...ahh. Sadly she succumbed to a vole attack a couple of winters ago.

A friend of mine has a stunning one in her garden a couple of towns over from me, still z5b. She doesn't get any repeat bloom but wanted a thornless rose for an arbor over a main sidewalk. Memorial Day weekend it was fully leafed out, about 7 feet tall and very healthy looking with no winter cane damage.

sharon

Sharon, and all who answered, thanks so very much for your suggestions, and input. The one I have is also own root. I got it from a nursery that's in a zone 4-5 area. He claims to only sell things that will survive in his area, so I bought it with fingers crossed. It was potted, so had a lot of growth. I loved the smell so much, I bought another one 2 weeks later for the other side of the arbor. I would be thrilled with not too much die back, and Sharon's post gives me hope.

From reading posts on this site, I think my next rose will be Kiss Me Kate to grow up a trellis with my Jackman Clematis. That trellis covers the sunny end of the porch, and thorns won't be a problem there.

I love roses!

nanas- I bought a grafted KMK from Palatine this year. She's loaded with buds. My own root KMK from Jackson and Perkins is tiny and no buds yet but it did come through the winter pretty good. Kordes Honeymoon Arbor is very hardy and flowers well for me, literally growing like a weed but no scent. Lady Ashe is very hardy here, a pretty peach blend with nice scent and healthy foliage. I didn't lose a singe cane to winter dieback although one cane was broken from snow weight. This is on it's 2nd year bought own root from Chamblee's. Some Austin small climbers are reliably hardy for me, Teasing Georgia, The Generous Gardener, Wedgewood Rose, and Heritage all over winter well.

So many roses, so little space....

sharon

Sharon,

Thanks for the rose suggestions. I will check the out. I live in a modest Victorian house that I painted the color of black raspberry ice cream. It has accents in moss/sage green, a darker shade of the purple, and a white called sterling silver. Soooo, I try to keep the flowers located close to the house in shades of pink, purple, and yellow. But I have reds, oranges, etc in other beds.

I bought a grafted golden showers climber last year. Love the fragrance. It's on an obelisk that I built with several first year clematis vines. They were all small, so didn't help to protect it. It had almost total cane die back, but is growing back nicely.

I also bought a grafted Stormy Weather climber, which didn't have cane die back, but it's growing with a massive HF Young clematis, so it was surrounded and protected, which is why I accidentally cut off a long, live cane that I thought was dead. I have it in water but am going to attempt to root it. I love it's fragrance as well.

Your house sounds beautiful. I LOVE Victorian houses, especially the modest sized ones. Id' love if you'd post a picture of it with your roses.

I don't winter protect since we have a serious vole infestation and mulching makes a too inviting winter home for them.

sharon

Thanks, it's not as decorative as the fancy Victorians, but it's cozy. I went thru my photos. I have pictures of most all of my flowers, but none with the house and the roses together. I will see what I can do to get a picture of them together.

Sandy

Thanks Sandy. I like the less showy Victorians although my husband loves Queen Annes. Gothic Revival is my favorite followed by Italianate. But small. He likes the house I like the Carriage shed :-)

sharon

I'm with you. I love carriage houses. There's a huge estate in the next town, and the caretaker lives in the carriage hose. Very cool!

My decorating taste runs a mix of middle 1800's and cottage, so my house fits well for me. I've turned much of the yard into gardens, and there is a section of woods at the back.

Sandy, it sounds like we're gardening soul mates, lol. I love Cottage style, not the fussy Victorian (although I do have a reproduction Medallion back Victorian sofa in our sitting room) and we also don't have any lawn, just flower beds and gravel paths. This way my husband gets to enjoy his motorcycle on the weekends instead of mowing. Plus why have boring grass when you can have gorgeous flowers? We own an acre of land but only about 1/4 is cleared, the rest is woods. We also have swampland across the road and back onto about 200 acres of woods. The only problem is lack of adequate sun but I grow the roses that will flower decently in these less than perfect conditions.

sharon

We have even more in common. I have a very old massive catalpa tree in my yard, and it makes my gardening pretty shady. I had to remove a 90' pine which opened up a section. So I immediately planted a couple of rose of sharons, 2 hollies, several rhododendrons and azaleas, plus on the edge of that area I had already planted a ninebark, a couple of weigelas and a smoke tree.

I have a couple spots of sun/partial sun, and there are so many more things that I want, but I'm running out of room. Yikes!

Sandy, we are surrounded by 75 foot pine, oak and maples. We had looked into solar since our house is perfectly oriented south but would have had to remove about 10-15 trees at $2500 a piece. Beyond our modest pocketbooks and worse it would leave no money for roses!!

My shade gardens are mostly hydrangeas, especially an old lacecap that flowers in about 2 1/2 hours of early morning sun, Rhodis, astilbes, hostas, hostas, hostas, holly, a beautiful pink laurel bought this spring and other shade loving perennials.

The sunniest areas are roses on top of roses(no three to four feet of space between) with fillers scattered throughout. My best roses for these areas are these DA's: Windermere, Queen of Sweden, Desdemona, Olivia, Heritage, Teasing Georgia, The Generous Gardener, Darcy Bussells, Boscabel and Gentle Hermione. Kordes include Summer Romance, Honeymoon, Cream and Lavender Veranda, Polar Express, Summer Memories and Zaide and a scattering of others including Julia Child, Knockouts and Bolero, which is far too tender here but I still love her. I have a Boscabel and Gentle Hermione in probably 4 hours of sun planted practically in sub soil and they're still putting out some buds even though they are extremely neglected so Austins tend to do well in not ideal conditions.

It's definitely trial and error, seemingly more error than anything else but when you hit on the right rose that will flower in these conditions... heaven!

Sharon

I found a couple of shots that will give you an idea of the house color. It is not pink, and it's not lavender. Probably a poor choice. The first 2 are on the driveway side, and it gets afternoon sun, but it's just a narrow strip between the house and driveway. The third one shows the other corner which gets some morning sun.

What a perfectly Charming scene! It's all of a piece. I too, love old houses of any sort :grand, small,l Victorian, Edwardian, bungalow, mid-century modest, you name it. So long as it's not "jacked up". I've never understood why people want to live in an old house and then try and make it look like a new one. I really like your color scheme. I live in an old house too but I'm afraid you wouldn't like it enchanted as it is on the grander side of things. As you both know it's a lot of work, but when it all comes together it's like a dream come true.

FWIW, my step-mom grows ZD in Southern Maine and while I don't believe it climbs a great deal, it is quite vigorous and bloomy acidic sandy soil.

I personally feel the apricot Shades would be lovely with your house and have a very nice 1930s feel about them. Ghislaine de Feligande might do well in that case.

Vaporvac, I also love the larger older homes. My daughter has a 6000 sq ft 3-story Victorian, and I love it. It's just more house than I need or want to take care of. I prefer to spend my time in my gardens. She also has lots of flower gardens everywhere, but she's half my age.

I too wonder why someone buys a lovely historic home, and 'remodel' it, rather than restore it. They are such individual, charming, unique treasures.

What zone is your mom in? I ended up buying a second ZD for the other side of the arbor. Still need one for the lattice work at the end of the porch. I will check out your suggestion of Ghislaine de Feligande.