Mumsy's Romantic Garden Advice

[MumsyII]

Mumsy, your roses could make a girl swoon! just beautiful. Here, I need a zone 3, or with global warming perhaps a 4. IT leaves out lots of gorgeous roses.

Thank you. When you live in colder climates, you can still grow many kinds of roses. I used to have a book that dealt just with those plants. Sadly, someone borrowed it and never returned it. (I no longer lend my books)
Many species roses have delicate looking single blooms but grow from Alaska to California. The Nootka Rose comes to mind. Rugosas come in single and doubles. They are so tough they can take salt spray from coastal winds. They have the fragrance of cloves. I love Rugosas. White through every shade of pink to purple.
Asian species roses run from tropical to the hardiest of shrubs that can withstand freezing temperatures and snow cover.

If a rose has yellow to orange in it's bloom, this tells me it is less hardy. All yellow roses trace their ancestory to warmer climates in China.

I grow own root roses. Remember our discussion on cuttings? Roses propagated from cuttings are much hardier than those grafted polyanthas, teas, and Grandiflowers offered in nurseries. If an own root rose dies from severe weather to the ground. Don't give up on it. It will often come back from it's roots and recover. If a grafted rose dies the same way, the shoots that come up will be from the graft. A less than desirable plant.

If anyone is shopping for roses, try to remember to try to see if they have any scent - as Mumsy said, its the old roses that have the scent.


Many old European rose varieties have heady scent. Many species roses do too. Do your research before purchasing if this is important to you. And remember. Weather will lessen or concentrate scent in the garden. The best perfume is usually dawn and dusk.




If you have a farmers market, that can be a good place to get old roses. or watch for your local garden club plant sales - and when you are there, ask! lots of times people have old roses that are suckering out and are happy to share.

Also, there are shrub roses which tend to be highly scented. Not as delicate as Mumsy's in appearance, but tougher than nails re weather/goats/deer, etc.

Good advice. The fun is in the hunt.
Many rose shrubs are root spreading. I share mine now that I'm not selling them.
Don't let appearances fool you with old roses and species. Some of the most delicate are also the most tough in my garden.
Some are over twenty years old. They have withstood windstorms, eighteen inch snow packs, and frozen ground.


I am lucky to have a huge flea market near me that almost always has stuff people have dug out of their gardens. I got two old farmstead roses that way, and some varieties of monarda/bee balm/bergamot (sorry I don't know the latin names). When the lunch ladies at the local elementary school wanted to go to a lunch lady conference, they had a garage sale and one of them brought in a bunch of north star cherry trees - I'm getting my first signficant crop this year. tiny tart cherries, a lot of work, but.....

You got it right! Monarda is bee balm here too!

I'm like Mumsy, I really enjoy the small nursery garden stores - such interesting possibilities, lots of choices, and people who know what they are talking about. Plus, shopping local supports your own community where as big box stores don't. Having said that, I do keep an eye out this time of year for the "garden center" clearances at big boxes. One problem I have noticed is that since they are national chains, they get in lots of plants and trees and shrubs that won't grow in the area, only in parts of the us.

Yep! Gotta do the research on roses. And sometimes the foot work.

Golden Wings is tough as nails in my hedge. The thick plantings and living at the drip line of huge trees gives it a micro climate.


Another tough species rose called Moyesii. The hips are lovely and delicious.


Wild roses here are everywhere. In fields and along the roads. Very tough and grows from Alaska on down the coast. Light sweet frangrance. Deer ignore it.

A Gallica rose called Charles de Mills. Survived the mini ice age in Europe. I dug up eight root suckers from my own root shrub. Gave one to each of my children.

Sorry...I can go on and on about old roses.

 

[aoxa]

Mumsy,

here is a list of the roses at the nursery. Do any pop out at you as something you would recognize/recommend?

http://www.cornhillnursery.com/retail/roses/roses.html

 

[Leahs Mom]

Is anyone familiar with this book?

http://www.amazon.com/Trees-All-Sea...=1-1-catcorr&keywords=book:++zone+6+evergreen

 

[MumsyII]

@Leahs Mom: The book is not familiar to me but it appears to be a good one.

@Aoxa: Good find! Own root roses grown in the field and offered bare root or potted! A very comprehensive offering. Yes. I am familiar and have grown all of the Albas, Gallicas, and many of the species. One or two of the Piminelifolia and The 'Other' in the end have quite a few as well. The Canadian varieties are not known to me but many many of the roses at this nursery are worthy and I can give first hand accounts on what they will do under a system of neglect, no fertilizer and no spraying poisons. Some are no longer with me. Nothing lives forever. I suggest anyone that gets an old own root rose, try and get a few cuttings going so you have one or two in reserve in case of accidental deer or goat munching. I protect my newly planted roses, trees, shrubs with chicken netting. Bird netting gets tangled in the thorns and becomes impossible to remove with out cutting it out. I quit using it except when draped over other supports held above the young plant.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I just looked online and they have that evergreen tree book in one of the local libraries. Think I'll get it tomorrow and see if they have anything for my zone that I could create the "wild" look up front with

 

[midnightroo]

Lovely roses as usual Mumsy. We have wild roses, but they are white.

Lala my Egyptian walking onions did that this year also. Brrr you get cold! We are zoned 6b/ 7 I think.

Leah, not familiar with the book, but I like the looks of it also. I will have to see if they have it at the library.

Armor, not sure if you can freeze sunflowers. You might want to out a covering over them so the squirrels don't get to them. I am really disliking the squirrels this year. I think putting them by the furnace might work. Just check for signs of spoilage.

I have read about plant I'd apps. I haven't gotten one I keep forgetting, but I think there are some.

 

[Kassaundra]

I think the "zoners" are high on something personally. We used to be 7B but now are 6A I believe w/ the new system, but w/ our HOT, DRRRRRRY summers and mostly mild winters I just don't believe it!

 

[NanaLynn]

Lovely roses as usual Mumsy. We have wild roses, but they are white.

Lala my Egyptian walking onions did that this year also. Brrr you get cold! We are zoned 6b/ 7 I think.

Leah, not familiar with the book, but I like the looks of it also. I will have to see if they have it at the library.

Armor, not sure if you can freeze sunflowers. You might want to out a covering over them so the squirrels don't get to them. I am really disliking the squirrels this year. I think putting them by the furnace might work. Just check for signs of spoilage.

I have read about plant I'd apps. I haven't gotten one I keep forgetting, but I think there are some.

The squirrels here in NC are bad too, they keep stealing my delicious tomatoes! My husband said that "this means war!"

 

[midnightroo]

Kass, what state are you in! I am in Md, but we vary a lot here because of the mountains in western md and the coast. I have noticed huge microclimate difference between my neighbor and me. She has more trees that offer cold protection, but they hid the squirrels, and stink bugs.

Lynn, yes my husband wants to buy me a blow dart. We thought it was stealing our eggs, but I haven't seen it for a day or two so now I am not sure.

The view from my back deck this evening. Don't mind the dirt spots, the ground is low there so I am trying to fill them in. I just dumped and the chickens spread it out for me.

 

[Kassaundra]

I am in eastern OK about 45 miles south of Tulsa. OK has major differences in climate too. The area we live in is called green country, full of lakes, rivers, hills.