Rose Fever: Pursuit of the perfect garden (a springtime vanity)

me | 3/18/07 | Knitting a Conundrum

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Spring fever has got me. I want to get out of the house, away from the computer, and dig in the dirt. Getting ready to start a new rose bed. Anybody else out there nuts about roses?

[Knitting A Conundrum]

OK. I move back into a house I had rented for five years. The fun flower bed I had planted on the south side of the house, under a bay window, had two sickly rhodenderons, some snap dragons, some dead (evidently rounded up) grass, dandilions and had sunk a whole brick's worth into the ground on one side. The oak tree we had planted 8 years ago looked like it did the day we left, sickly, struggling to live. The back yard has one tree stump and lost most of the grass in the center of the back yard. A yard that is mostly a blank slate waiting to be gardened.

So, as winter has given way to early spring, I have rebuilt the garden wall and leveled it out, so the slope to one side is now three bricks deep to the other side's one brick, and added another row. The rhodenderons, which don't grow well here anyway are history. The weeds are pulled. I need to add more soil. I want this bed to be a rose garden now. It gets lots of light. The soil is a little clay-ey at points, but not totally. I raked up all the ugly stone a tenant had put on one half the bed. It's ready to be amended.

Anybody got advice about rose bed soil?

[Quix]

Please keep us posted. I have no great insights on roses. Jackson Perkins seems to have a lot of good varieties.

Anyone nuts about heirloom tomatoes? Just ordered umpteen dollars worth of seeds. If you're in the 4 corners NM area, let me know, should have lots of fruit! LOL.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Heirloom tomatos are fun too...I don't know if I'll get my veggie garden in this year, but next year! I have a back yard that's about 70 ft. wide, about 100 ft. from the patio to the back of the fence, and it's empty...waiting to be turned into something worth gardening. I'm planning on planting a plum, maybe a couple of peach trees, put in a shed, a fountain, a veggie patch, and some more flowers. It's like a blank piece of paper...just waiting to be written on. But it won't be done in one year.

[JRios1968]

I like cheese...

[JRochelle]

I'd love some but live in Indiana. One of my favorites is Brandywine.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Hi,

Roses must have excellent drainage. They do better in sandy soil than they do in peaty or clay soil. You said you've got clay; you'll need to replace that soil, or build raised beds.

You live in Idaho? Check this USDA Hardiness Zone Map. Your zone will determine how hardy the roses have to be. (For example, I live in southern New Hampshire, Zone 5b. I can't depend on having any plant labeled zone 6 or higher survive the winter.)

http://images.meredith.com/bhg/pdf/gardening/hardiness/idaho.pdf

Go with "own root roses", not grafted ones. The roses in most catalogs, such as J&P, are grafted. The graft is very sensitive to cold.

Don't bother with hybrid teas, unless you want to spend time in the fall burying or "cocooning" the plants. And then there's no guarantee. Go with roses labeled "hardy."

This online catalog (in Oregon) has some examples of hardy and own root roses. You may be able to find a selection at a local nursery. They say all their roses are own root, so maybe their hybrid teas would survive.

http://www.heirloomroses.com/

Roses must have full sun for at least 6 hours a day. More is better for abundance of blooms.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I'm not a rose novice, and was a semi-serious rose enthusiast back in Houston, even a member of the rose society, but this is a different climate. This area is very hard to start bareroots roses, which is why my roses are still in the nursery, in a greenhouse. I will be putting them in a raised bed, which has some added topsoil; there is still room for a good bit more soil and amendments, and I have another 3 weeks to get the bed ready. We're zone 6 here, and so I'm not so needful of extra hardy, but it gets dry. I won't plant anything not rated zone 5, just to be safe, though. And I'm getting my plants through the best local nursery, where they have lots of talent on staff.

I am planting floribundas, not hybrid teas, though. Cherish, a Star Rose patented variety, is the one I'm really looking forward to.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

The house I used to live in in Ogden once upon a time had had a lovely rosebed. But the original owner not only put in the rosebed, but also planted a walnut tree that overshadowed the garden. What a waste. I had mercy on the plants, dug them up and gave them to a friend with a sunny yard.

My current yard is sunbaked acres...great place for a rose bed.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I like feta, stiltson and brie...how about you?

[JRios1968]

Nacho, cheddar, maybe some Double Gloucester

[KoRn]

You can't forget Papaver Somniferum. No flower garden is complete without it! ;^)

/sarc

[Judith Anne]

Oh, THANK you for starting this thread! We had a 3 rail white equine fence put up across the 130 feet of our front yard road border, and the man who put it up also dug holes about every 8 feet between posts for roses, I was thinking of red climbers, thought it'd be pretty over the fence. I was wanting something that blooms like crazy all summer long...

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Red rose shining in the sun
Rosa alba white as snow,
Gillyflowers pink and white
Thus will my sweet garden grow.

Johnny jumpups in the spring,
Sunflower in the summer sun,
Daylilies stretched out in a line,
Thus will my sweet garden run.

Crabapple blossoms in the spring,
Red fruit shining in the snow,
as my roses sleep till spring
Thus will my sweet garden go.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Climbing roses can be so pretty. I am thinking of putting some in the back yard next year, but I know I'll be lucky to rework my front this year.

[Judith Anne]

I'm thinking bright red climbing clusters. ;-D

The holes are 18 inches deep, just waiting to be filled. I thought we'd put topsoil mixed with manure, put the roses in that, and fertize with Miracle-Gro rose fertilizer. Oh, and put some seven dust on them, or whatever, to keep the bugs off.

[this_ol_patriot]

Own root is right, Meidiland. Knockout or any hardy shrub-hedge own root type. I grow em in development soil, i.e. the stuff the contractor leaves behind after he pushes the topsoil away, I just amended the planting holes a bit.

Planted a dozen "Red Freedom" hedge roses bought bareroot from Springhill the first spring after I moved in, they grew to 4ft and bloomed from June through November till a killing frost. The second year they were 6ft monsters with some canes an inch or more across. I pruned heavy the following spring and they still got huge. I put Meidilands around my birdbath and Knockouts along the driveway. All bloom now from May till killing frost and some even a bit beyond if we have an Indian summer.

Black spot and Aphids are the devil though. Don't water the leaves in fact I don't water them at all if we get biweekly or so rain and they do fine. Spraying with a solution of dish detergent and baking soda seems to help with both Aphids and Black Spot.

[dandelion]

Me me ME!! Ooh, I'm so glad to see a roses thread. I have about 30 roses planted around our little ranch, and I'm working on more. I ordered them from Chamblee's roses in Tyler TX, and I have been thrilled with them.

http://www.chambleeroses.com

There was a time when I would have never even attempted roses; I thought they had to be pruned and sprayed and babied. I'm totally lazy and not really good at gardening, so anything that I plant had better be "bullet proof". But after I "discovered" heirlooms and own-root roses, it opened up a whole new world for me in the garden...

I specifically bought heirloom and own-root roses that have been designated as "earth-kind" for Texas by Texas A&M horticulturalists. (That sounds like an "eco-nut" thing, but it simply means the roses do well without spraying or too much water). They have done magnificently, even in a drought and without a lot of attention. I did virtually nothing to prepare the soil, only fertilized once (with Miracle Gro) and still they grew! VERY disease resistant and hardy!

Here is my rose list so far:

Shrub, Climber and Landscape Roses

Belinda's Dream
Climbing Pinkie (4)
Reve D' Or
Dublin Bay
Sombruiel (mislabelled as "La Biche")
Buff Beauty
Climbing Cecile Brunner
Cherokee Rose
Mermaid (2)
Seafoam
Mutabilis
New Dawn
Love
Monteczuma
Climbing Joseph's Coat
Mrs. Oakley Fisher
and a GIANT unknown gloriously red grandiflora planted the gardener before me...

AND IN THE OTHER CORNER:

Teas, "Tea Types" and Hybrid Tea Roses (In the enclosed front "Rose Garden")

Heirloom
Baroness Henriette De Snoy
Maggie
Peach Beauty
Granada
Sweet Vivian
Autumn Damask
Sun Flare
Knock Out

I'm very excited about this year's "crop" of roses, since we are entering our third year after planting and I am hoping the recent rains will bring plenty of beautiful blooms...

As for heirloom tomatoes, I have three I am planting this year: Arkansas Traveler, Cherokee Purple, and Yellow Pear. I had great success with Yellow Pear, but I think it was simply too hot for Brandywine last year :P This year I'm going to test Arkansas Traveler and Cherokee Purple to see if they'll produce in the terrific Texas heat!

Hey, could we start "The Rose Garden" ping list?

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Here are some good rose sites:

http://www.rosemagazine.com/

http://www.hometime.com/Howto/projects/landgardn/land_11.htm

Rose growing in south central Texas:
http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/roses/rose.html

http://www.gardenersnet.com/rose.htm

http://www.ars.org/

[Knitting A Conundrum]

That sounds like a great idea!