Has anyone tried Kordes Arborose climbers - Tangerine Skies or Honeymoon or Jasmina Arborose? They say they have good disease resistance and fragrance. Want to know if they grow well in our 6a/5b zones.

I have Honeymoon on order so will let you know how it does for me here in zone 4. If I can grow it, it should do great for you.

Talking about Kordes, I just received my bare-root Kiss me Kate and Florentina from Edmundroses yesterday. Can't wait for this frost to be over to put them in the ground.

Thank you for the responses.

For me the Kordes climbers are among the roses that actually climb in my zone 5b. Honeymoon, Jasmina and Tangerine Skies are usually cane hardy if not tip hardy, though they're not old enough yet in my garden to bloom a ton. Florentina is another winner that I actually planted two (not a common thing for me).

Sam, I do plant my tender roses on the south side of my house for maximum protection and I agree that it gives about 2 weeks earlier bloom and better survival. That's my virtual zone 6, so if I can't overwinter a rose in that protected side of the house it's not going to survive for me. Sadly that includes Lady Emma Hamilton. Crown Princess Margaretha survives in a regular spot but needs pruning to the ground each year so rarely blooms for me.

I find that the difference between the same zone with consistent snow cover vs without makes a HUGE difference in winter survival including surviving cane. We rarely get reliable snow cover in a dry climate like this so I can't overwinter many roses that other people in zone 5 Michigan or Ohio can do.

Cynthia

You might want to take a gander at peter Schneider's book, right rose right place he gardens in zone 5 and all the roses he writes about are hardy to zone 5 in general YMMV. Depending on micro climate of course. There's a great number of roses That I would never have considered. I zone That I would never have considered. I zone up my roses to ensure Winter survival.

I am trying to locate a Penelope Rose for friends in Mt Vernon Washington. It is an older rose and difficult to find. If anyone can help me locate one, I would appreciate. The family lost their first child by stillbirth and named the baby Penelope. The grandmother wants to give the grieving mother a Penelope rose plant for Mother's Day. Thank you in advance for your help. They live in Zone 8 I believe.

Penelope

Cynthia, How would you describe the fragrance of Honeymoon, Jasmina, Tangerine Skies, and Florentina?

Do you cover the canes or bury the canes each winter (which is tedious) to ensure canes are hardy? Or just let snow cover the base? Zoning up is a good idea.

Florentine is very light on fragrance.

Good to know.

I hope the other 3 have a pleasing fragrance. I've heard someone say Jasmina has a stinky fragrance.

I am not a good person to ask about fragrance since a rose has to be pretty highly fragrant for me to detect anything at all. In general Kordes roses, particularly the climbers, are known more for their hardiness than their fragrance. In my world if a rose won't survive my winters it doesn't matter how fragrant it is.

I don't protect the canes once they're climbing and for a climber that would be unrealistic. You'd have to untie and tie them from supports and the risk of damaging canes in the transitions is more problematic than winter might be. I do put filled leaf bags around the edges of the garden for some wind break and spread oak leaves (that don't mat down) about 3-4" thick in all my garden beds for protection of the base of roses. That can be a problem in high blackspot areas of the east, but you are more likely to get snow cover which does the same protection with less effort.

The bottom line is to pick climbers that are suited for your zone, or a zone lower as Vap suggests, and then trust them to grow on their own. Train the canes sideways and when you get laterals growing off those sideways canes, train them sideways too. The blooming canes grow off those sideways canes upward, so you want to avoid having only the main cane growing straight up because you'll only get blooms at the top of the vertical cane.

Cynthia

I have grown Honeymoon, Jasmina, Tangerine Skies, and Florentina.

Tangerine Skies is the only one that has had any fragrance to me. The other three have nothing to my nose. Honeymoon blooms the best, followed by Florentina. In my garden, Jasmina has one flush in the spring and then nothing until fall.

For me, the most fragrant Kordes climber is Autumn Sunset (it is actually a sport of the Kordes rose 'Westerland'). Sweetly fragrant, blooms all summer, super hardy and stays about 6-7 feet.

It has been used for breeding; there's a new release rose out that is one of its offspring.

Thank you, rosesmi5a, for info. on best scent Autumn Sunset and good scent on Tangerine Skies.

SamtheRoseman: Thank you for those fantastic pics. of your garden, I love the color of your GJ. My garden is shady so I'm looking for the most shade-tolerant Austin roses.

I can't wait to see my Autumn Sunset Bloom! Yes it was bred for a new climber that has Autumn Sunset as one parent and Julia Child as the other. The Name Escapes me now but High Country roses carries it.

Vap is it Golden Opportunity??

Beautiful garden, Sam! I especially like the pics of Jude the Obscure you shared.

Yes! I meant to mention it to you since my Cuttings all died. Since matt no longer carried
Autumn sunset, he told me it was because he was now carrying golden opportunity.

Thank you for all your inputs. I've ordered the following for this year and should be arriving soon:

Crown Princess Margareta

Gertrude Jekyll

Tangerine Skies

Honeymoon

Florentina

Jasmina

Milano

Wedding Bells

I've been looking at trellis options. I'm leaning towards DIY trellises - cedar outer frame with vinyl lattice. Any suggestions - pros/cons? Any other material? Or buy metal trellises (quite expensive though)?

Should I start a new post for the trellis options so that it doesn't create clutter here?

Where did you order honeymoon? Can’t find any

check Roses Unlimited -- healthy own root plants

Ann Marie, I ordered from Roses Unlimited. I couldn’t find many of the roses I wanted anywhere else because they were already sold out for this season. As rosesmi6a mentioned, RU has own root plants.

Ann Marie my Honeymoon is from High Country Roses.

I checked the website for High Country Roses when I ordered. It was out of stock at that time.

I want a James Galway (own root). If anyone knows it is available someplace, let me know.

I contacted roses unlimited. Hoping to hear back soon. Thanks!!

So I've taken the plunge and finally purchased my first David Austin roses: Teasing Georgia and Port Sunlight. I also got a couple pink climbers, not d.a.

Question for all of you. We were going to plant them in large containers for this summer. 3 feet x 15 inches x 16 deep. We plan on partially burying the pots to protect from heat. We were also planning to have them about a foot away from a west facing brick wall. Lattice has been placed. Is this a recipe for disaster or will they be ok there? We are zone 6a.

Thanks in advance for your input!

My Honeymoon climber has its first bloom. I managed to get a couple of pictures yesterday when it was raining. This evening it is in full bloom.

Your Honeymoon bloom looks lovely, lmi6a. The first DA to bloom in my garden is always Crown Princess Margareta. Some Gertrude Jekyll buds have started to open as well.

Sam, Love your CPM blooms. So pretty. I got CPM and GJ as bare this year. Not sure if I will get blooms this year. Will be nice if they bloom later this year.

Should read as - 'I got CPM and GJ as bare root this year.'

Beautiful! I'm curious about your Milano. Mine BSs terribly, but I wonder if it just needs another location with better sun.

My Milano came with 2 flowers. The blooms were on for a few days. I did notice my Milano had some blackspots too. I just got a neem oil spray. Will it help? Is it a good option to spray as a preventive measure?

I have only ever sprayed neem for insects. I do not know how it works for blackspot, but I have read that it's best to spray whatever 1 is going to spray preventatively.

My 3y old Teasing Georgia.

My jaw is on the floor! I think I'm going to have to move a few things around if this is the growth I can expect! How gorgeous is that rose and in what a beautiful setting!?

Here's how my Gertrude Jekyll's look like now

Oh my goodness.. roses like these are my dream. Your yard is a paradise, Sam.

Sam, All of your roses are gorgeous! Is that Zephirine Drouhin against the wall behind your GJ?

I'm in the process of re-doing my flower beds - I have full sun now in the beds, which I didn't have before. I can finally plant all my roses in the ground. They are still in pots. I hope my roses will grow well.

Thank you for sharing this information

My honeymoon rose bloomed:)

That's a beautiful flower Ann Marie! Does it seem to have any fragrance yet?

Yay, my Teasing Georgia and Port Sunlight have bloomed beautifully.

@Sam this is my 3 yr old Heritage this past June. It is one of my best performing roses. I’m in USDA 4b and bought a 1 gallon Heritage on a whim in 2018 because it was on clearance at Lowe’s for less than $10 in late summer. I didn’t know anything about DA roses at the time and put it in an exposed location that gets harsh Northwesterly winds in the winter. I didn’t prune it in year 1 and after it’s first June 2019 measly flush it sent up a couple of 6ft octopus canes. I pruned them down to about 2ft to prevent them from whipping around in the winter and rocking the plant. The following June 2020 I had a much more abundant spring growth and a good June flush, subsequent multiple octopus canes and a second and third flush of blooms until frost. I pruned it down to 3ft in fall to reduce wind rock and then harder in early spring 2021 for a more open branch structure. I don’t winter protect other than putting leaf mulch around the base and shovelling snow from the sidewalk on it (no de-icing salt). I never experience any die back at all, so either this rose is much more resilient than z5 that it’s documented as or it’s in some sort of microclimate on my property (or perhaps both?). I suspect that if I didn’t prune the octopus canes, it would still be fully cane hardy. I may experiment with that this season and peg the canes so they don’t grab pedestrians. In any case, I hope you give yours at least another 2 seasons to see its true behaviour. This rose has a special place in my heart as we both have the same vintage :)

rosesmi5a i noticed a slight scent but not very strong. I am new to roses and live in zone 6a. any advice on how to properly support on a trellis and protect in the winter? I have the rose planted against my vinyl fence so hoping wind wont bother it too much.

Thank you for the scent report. I don't have any roses on trellises, so I can't give you any advice @ that, but others on this forum have lots of experience with that!

@Ann Marie, I have a few climbers and ramblers on a trellis and my best advice is to make sure your rose is hardy for your climate by choosing ones that are atleast one or two hardiness zones below yours. That’s the best way to ensure cane survival through winter (right plant, right place). If the rose is near a wall that retains and reflect heat, then I do zone push and have had success with climbers my zone or one zone above. For example, I’m in zone 4b and I have no problems with New Dawn and James Galway surviving winter without protection on a northwest and southwest wall, respectively. As for training the rose, my approach is to tie the canes tight against the support so that it is secure and doesn’t whip around or rub. I do this in the late winter / early spring when the rose is dormant along with pruning so that I can see the rose’s framework. It also means that I’m working with only hardened canes (I never tie soft or semi-hard canes). I use simple garden twine and tie tight double knots. I don’t skimp and make sure the final rose frame work absolutely does not move. I tie the largest, most established canes to the support first, then the rest. I may even tie smaller canes to the bigger ones. Yes, it’s “crossing branches” but so long as they are tied tight and not rubbing, I find it’s totally fine. Key is no movement of any of those framework canes. I intentionally use twine because it blends in, is cheap, and will eventually degrade (since I do this all over again every winter/spring). If the rose cane is really old and has a tough bark and I know it’s not going to expand, then I tie into the support with black zip ties (gasp!). I’ll also mention that optimal blooms form on canes that are positioned between horizontal and 45 degrees. Here’s a pic of my William Baffin climber last year on a wooden trellis.

Thanks Tina! the honeymoon goes to zone 5 and i am in zone 6 so hopefully it survives the winter. I love your rose; its so beautiful! I am looking for a trellis similar to yours do thank you for the advice:)