I need to replace dead bushes with something else. Oso Easy Roses?
The foundation bushes at the front (south end) of our house were looking pretty rough last year, but I wanted to wait and see if they would make a comeback this year. Instead they seem even more decidedly on their last leg. I am pretty sure they are barberry bushes. It would be easy enough to just replace them with the exact same thing (especially since they had such nice, clean lines and were low maintenance), but I can never just do things the easy way. Instead I always have to hunt for unicorns, seeking that which is both beautiful and self-sufficient.
I am here in Zone 5b, Chicagoland, so there are definitely some limitations to my selection. We get plenty of rain, but also blazing hot summers and sub-zero winters, plus ping-pong weather throughout. And did I mention the clay soil?
Here is my situation:
Right now I think I am leaning towards Oso Easy Cherry Pie roses. They seem relatively tidy in appearance, are SUPPOSED to be extra low maintenance, and really appeal to me because it SEEMS like they will add a nice pop of color for most of the warmer months, instead of just a few weeks in the springtime. However, I am also skeptical of these "oh so easy" roses - will they be so easy for ME, in my environment? I know some plants have a habit of dying back to the ground for the winter, which probably wouldn't give me the chance to enjoy one of those picture perfect plants I see online. Also, my mom used to have more traditional roses at her house, and she took them out completely because they always looked quite ratty after winter. Can anyone advise? Are these Oso Easy Roses really as "set it and forget it" as the plant-mongers say? And will they flourish in the Chicago suburbs, or merely persist?
If I go for the Cherry Pie roses, should I let them stand on their own as the barberry bushes have done, or should I add some kind of border in front? Like maybe alternate some kind of (short) lavender with some kind of other, more plain plant? Something else?
Wisteria plants are also one of my favorites, and a trellis with a climbing wisteria to the far left of the bay window would look so nice, but it's probably not a great plant to have so near my foundation, and low maintenance it is not... but I digress.
In lieu of the roses, I have also looked at weigela (especially "Fine Wine" and "Roses and Wine"), but I worry it won't be as tidy of a plant, or in bloom for as long. And it seems debatable whether the weigela or the roses would require less maintenance in order to look their best.
I am also aware of the many varieties of hydrangeas and azaleas/rhododendrons. For some reason I've never been a huge fan of hydrangeas. I guess they seem kind of old-fashioned, and they drop flowers in messy clumps, so need attentive grooming. But I'm sure there is at least one version out there I'd enjoy. The azaleas/rhododendrons look so nice in the springtime, but they don't keep their flowers for long and some of the azaleas in my neighborhood look a bit wiry. I also don't care for lilacs very much because of their short blooming season and often disheveled appearance. Finally, there is always the trusty boxwood with its clean, round composure, but of course, no colorful flowers. :(
So, are the Cherry Pie roses my perfect unicorn, or are they a dragon in disguise? I look forward to your thoughts (unless they're about how fussy I am ;) ), and appreciate your insight!
Comments (15)
Dingo2001 - Z5 Chicagoland
3 years agoRelated Discussions
It's easy when it's somebody else's
Comments (20)The sketch is not meant to be realism, but to illustrate some of the general concepts I spoke of previously. (I already see a couple of places I would tweak it. But it'll have to do as is.) In spite of the fact that it will likely be followed by some form of berating condescension from one of the forum's self-important contingents, you can probably glean some thoughts and ideas from it. I don't think of Rudbeckia as "wispy" as it has a more solid mass. But you'll be the best judge of what appeals to you. There is ALWAYS room for Rudbeckia somewhere! I'm just saying I'd prefer not to feel "hemmed in" on a fairly narrow porch. I have never had to kill pampas, but Roundup sounds like a good place to start. It might be a process as opposed to a one-time hit....See Moresomething pulled up rose bush
Comments (8)Did you use anything when you planted it like bone or blood meal? Three months in the ground would have been what I consider barely established and easy to uproot. A rose bush in the ground for a year would be much more difficult to pull up because of the root mass. It could have been a raccoon if he was after something underground, I've just never heard of that. I have seen raccoons dig up dog food that my dog buried when we went camping so if there were something 'stinky' maybe they were after that. Raccoons like meat and are masters of destruction. My grandpuppy is a 3 year old mastiff mix, so not technically a puppy. My pet name for him is is misleading :-)...See MoreOMG I'm cleaning my rose beds & can't believe how many roses are dead!
Comments (15)Sympathies on the losses, Beth. I know you love your oddball roses and you're one of the people in the US that has some of these unobtainable roses. It's frustrating to lose track of such things, but as you mentioned you've had a lot else on your mind. I'm glad you are at peace about your mom, but it still has taken a toll in emotions and time along the way. It's good that many of the roses will be replaceable, and I'm sure Burling would reserve some of them for you if needed. Take a deep breath and look at the roses that have SURVIVED and are blooming. For me that's the antidote to the rose carnage we have in cold zones after every winter. I grieve the ones I've lost till I pull the tags and wipe them from my lists, then they aren't staring me in the face to remind me of what isn't there anymore. Sometimes then I can look back at the losses after a year or two and appreciate something I've put in place instead as much or more. I wish I could share cuttings with you to help out, but getting plants in and out of California isn't something one can do on a casual basis I fear. Hang in there and take lots of fabulous pictures of the roses you still have! We'll be watching for them. Cynthia...See MoreIs This Wilting Rose Suffering From Lack of Water or Something Else?
Comments (86)Westes: An automated trench digger that goes down 3 feet is still feasible. The majority of the roots are in the upper 2 feet. I saw a crew tearing up the neighbor's asphalt drive-way, they used an automated digger that tore up the hard drive way FAST like a fork going through soft cake. Digging a long trench through my rock-hard clay by myself was the hardest part.The easiest part was to use a SHARP SPADE to chop a few roots DEEPER than 2 feet. The trench was too narrow & deep so I could not use a pickax. A 4-prong pitch-fork is handy to pull out the tree's roots from your rose-bed. A deep spade is a the most powerful weapon against black spots, fast drainage is created when one removes the rocks below. If there are rocks below, it will delay drainage and black spots occur when ACIDIC rain-water pools up in root area. David Austin Rose Catalog recommends using a pitch fork in gardening. I can't garden without pitch-fork and LONG DEEP SPADE. My long-spade is 25 year old and it was better-quality back then. Newer ones on Amazon can't compare to the old-garden tools. Some pics. of the brick-border dug down to 2 feet to stop my 20-year-old Norway Spruce tree from invading my garden: Above is TRIPLE-PROTECTION against root-invasion. 1) Right most is DUG-DOWN-brick-border (using 4" thick cement blocks at 2 feet depth, and smaller bricks on top to level out. 2) To the left of it I fill with stones from my garden (the size of oranges & lemons). 3) I put LARGE SQUARE BLOCKS on top TO DENY THE TREE-ROOT (ON LEFT) OF RAIN-WATER. The pots on top used to have tree-root CRAWLING UP inside. Norway Spruce tree roots VARY IN DEPTH. Where it meets my rose-garden, it stole water to be VERY DEEP, at 2 feet, so I use 3 bricks-level (large cement blocks at bottom, and a small Holland brick on top). Then as the root goes toward sunny & dry spot it became shallow (so I use only 1 brick level). That's the advantage of putting down bricks: ONE CAN ADJUST THE LAYERS OF BRICKS according to roots' depth. If I had done corrugated vinyl siding .. it would be IMPOSSIBLE to adjust the height of the barrier. Plastic Shield like corrugated vinyl siding comes in FIXED depth (like 2 feet or 3 feet) and it's major work to cut a hard-plastic sheet. I have lots of thick Plastic-edging in my garden (dug down to 5 inch., and it takes me 20 min. just to saw off a 5" section. Above upper-left shows the Norway-Spruce root going into my rose garden. Below the pots there's cement blocks dug down to 2 feet. On the right-edge of the pic. is another barrier of cement-blocks (dug down deep). Where the 2 barriers merge in a V-shape I put more square blocks TO PREVENT RAIN WATER from seeping in. This was done last year. This month I dug in my garden to plant new roses, zero Norway Spruce's roots came in. The barriers are 15 feet away from the trunk of the 20-year-old-evergreen tree....See More
Elana
3 years agorifis (zone 6b-7a NJ)
3 years agoElana
3 years agoEmbothrium
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoElana
3 years ago
Karen F
3 years agoI am not sure if you can get the Shield Rose where you live. This one has survived everything that is thrown at it. I never got around to covering it up for the winter. due to going for therapy on a pulled muscle in my arm and upper thigh. I was afraid it had gone but like wow they all survived but one. Here is one of my Shield or there is the gorgeous Chinook Sunrise. Was having issues but you should see it this year and I never got to cover it up as well. This shield rose is awesome!!! Hah one lady said I should cut it back as I wouldn't get any roses on it. Well it made a liar out of her as it did indeed get roses on it all kinds of beautiful red ones. Even had a bout with the sawfly larvae which I ended up taking out my stool and a measuring cup of hot water and dish detergent and picking them off it by hand. Then when finished I threw the water over our wooden fence with them in it. :) I live north of Toronto in Ontario, Canada. Have yet to see the flowers on the chinook as they were all finished with for the season when I bought it from our nearby garden centre. But have seen pictures of them online. Have yet to see any buds on the shield or the chinook.
littlebug zone 5 Missouri
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoElana
3 years agoKaren F
3 years ago
Embothrium