Favorite Roses

 

 

The New England climate afflicts two kinds of hardships to roses: Winters are usually very cold, and summers can be hot and humid. Roses should be hardy to zone 5 if planted along the coast of New Hampshire and Maine, and to zone 4 if planted further inland. Secondly, if maintenance is to be kept at a minimum, roses need to be considerably disease resistant, because the high humidity during the summer increases fungal diseases like black spot and mildew.

Many of the roses form Canadian breeding programs are very suitable for New England. I use some of the hardiest ramblers to growing over fences and in hedges. They are perfect where function is important, but most of them have little or no fragrance. This is typical for hardy roses - fragrance and hardiness don't seem to come on the same plant. These shrubs are best planted in the background, where fragrance would not be much appreciated anyway.

Some of the finest roses, Hybrid Teas and Floribundas, which come in an abundance of color, and of which many are fragrant, do not survive the North-eastern winter unless great care is taken regarding winter protection. Alternatively, the "modern English roses", raised by David Austin, which are also recognized for their lush colors, full shapes and rich fragrance, can be grown quite successfully in New England if some winter protection is provided.

However, there are many other groups of roses that fare well here, such as the Rosa rugosa selections and hybrids, most of which are very fragrant, or a newer group called the Knock-out roses, with little or no fragrance, but with an impressive abundance of blooms throughout the season. They burst with energy, and feature full and fresh foliage and unmatched disease resistance.

With respect to hardiness, it has been observed that roses propagated from cuttings (so called "own root" roses) are generally hardier than grafted roses. The graft location on the rose plant tends to be easily injured by frost.

'Charlotte' will bring music to your garden!

 

 Modern English Roses, bred by David Austin:

 

'Charlotte', (photo at left) deeply cupped light yellow flowers in small clusters, and with a mild, pleasant tea rose fragrance; compact, hardy to Zone 5 - 'Charlotte' reigns with great elegance and noble personality!

'Graham Thomas' is similar in style to 'Charlotte', with a stronger butter yellow and an intense, beautiful fragrance. 'Graham Thomas' can grow quite tall and is suitable to be trained as a climber. It is one of David Austin's best known roses.

 

'Heritage' is one of the most enchanting roses. The deeply cupped blooms are of the purest shell pink and have an enchanting old rose fragrance. A noblesse of the rose garden with great personality.

 

 'Heritage'

'Abraham Darby'

 

 

'Abraham Darby' (photo at left) is a somewhat exotic garden creature with a fragrance as fruity as its color - a rich apricot-yellow with pink and orange overtones. Likes to ramble over fences in warmer zones. However, it seems sensitive to blackspot! Give it excellent air flow and clean up dropped foliage in  the fall to minimize re-infection.

 

The medium pink flowers of 'Gertrude Jekyll' are so fragrant that they are used for making perfumes. I love this plant for its spicy aroma.

The 'Mary Rose' (photo at left) is similar in color, but more compact growing. This rose is very floriferous but I have not been able to detect much fragrance.

 

'Mary Rose'

'Cuthbert Grant'

  

The Parkland Series

(propagated on own root)

'Cuthbert Grant' has dark velvety red flowers of beautiful shape and with a pleasant fragrance. It is also a compact plant with healthy foliage and exceptional hardiness (Zone 3). An outstanding rose and one of my favorites. Can be used in perennial beds, rose gardens, as a small hedge or in shrub borders - everything goes!

'Morden Sunrise' surprises with warm orange-yellow flowers that open flat and are strongly fragrant.

 
'Morden Blush' is a white rose with light pink inner petals and a mild, sweet fragrance. Because of its special charm, this rose is frequently used in the floral trade for wedding arrangements. 'Morden Blush'

 

 'Morden Fireglow'

This rose has a stunning color of coppery orange-red, and quite some fragrance too. I found, however, that many of the Parkland Roses (including the Mordens) are somewhat sensitive to black spot, at least in our coastal climate with moist and muggy summer days. Keep them clean and in locations with good airflow.

 

Rosa rugosa varieties and hybrids:

These are also called beach roses, because they do well on lean, sandy soil, and also tolerate some salt. They are also called potato-roses because the leaves remind of the foliage of potato plants. Rugosa-roses are native to east-Asia and Japan and despite common believe are not a native species - although they have taken their place along the coast, where they have naturalized. The dried hips make a good tea rich in vitamin C.

'Jens Munk' is a member of the Canadian Explorer Series, with medium pink flowers and a  spicy, somewhat unusual fragrance. Look at the shiny, healthy foliage on this plant! In our own observations, this rose was completely untouched by any leaf disease, including powdery mildew, and out competed everything else in that respect, except for "Knock-Out", which is equally impressive. However, this is an extremely thorny plant, even for a beach rose, and I would only recommend it where thorns are not a problem. It more than replaces a good barbed wire fence and will keep anybody out of your property if used as a hedge. Makes a good weapon, too - but don't we already have more than enough weapons? Try the  peaceful "Therese Bugnet" if you prefer less thorny canes and a more refined foliage. It is not as resistant against mildew, though. Both are hardy to Zone 3 without protection.

 

'Jens Munk'

'Hansa'

 Rosa 'Hansa' is an old Dutch rugosa variety with reddish-purple flowers and a spicy cloves-and-fruit fragrance. It develops large rose hips, which can be harvested for tea or made into a kind of jam.

'Charles Albanel' has similar flowers. It is often described as a low-growing rose. After long observations, I found it less vigorous, but it is a good plant where a lower, less aggressively spreading rugosa rose is needed. It mixes well into a groundcover planting, best combined with other low plants that provide good foliage, such as Boxwood or Spirea 'Magic Carpet'.  Zone 3

Similar again in boom is the very vigorous 'Purple Pavement' (Rotes Meer), which provides a long season of bloom. It is reliable and disease resistant, but in my garden developed a large number of suckers. Where soil stabilization is needed, or a large area needs to be colonized, this would be an excellent choice.
 

 

Rosa 'Schneekoppe' (Snow Pavement) is another member of the Pavement Series with unusual whitish-lavender flowers that open from purplish-lavender buds. As most rugosa roses, it is very fragrant and bears reddish hips in the fall. I found it to be very compact and not suckering - a fine plant covered with flowers. The name of this plant refers to the highest mountain of Silesia, the formerly German state from where both my parents fled at the end of the war.

'Dwarf Pavement' (Rosazwerg) has light pink flowers with a good fragrance. It has a compact habit growing only 2.5 ft tall and is reported to be very salt tolerant.

I would recommend 'Hansa" and 'Schneekoppe' as the most rewarding beach roses for the average garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rosa 'Schneekoppe'
(Snow Pavement)

Rosa 'Knock Out'

 Other Hardy Shrub Roses:

Here are included some very modern achievements of rose breeding. The emphasis lies in their ease of use, linked to disease resistance, vigor and hardiness.

Rosa 'Knock Out' is loaded with dark pink to cherry red flowers. This rose is so healthy, it sets new standards for disease resistance! It is also very vigorous, grows in a dense, rounded shape, and blooms like mad!

If someone asks me for a reliable, easy to grow and rewarding rose, this is certainly the one to recommend.

The 'Knock-Out' breeding has now resulted in more colors such as pink and blushing pink. I am deeply impressed with the abundance of bloom and quality of foliage on these plants. 'Blushing Knock-Out' has a slight cast of silver-grey in the foliage, which gives it a very distinctive, elegant look. It combines to great effect with purple foliage plants. 

Rosa 'Blushing Knock-Out'

'Macy's Pride'

 'Macy's Pride' is one of the newest additions to my large collection of favorite roses. Excellent glossy dark green foliage sets off the supposedly white flowers which to my delight have a cast of yellow in the center and unfurl from blush-pink buds. There is a distinctive, refined fragrance as well.

'Carefree Sunshine' is described as a yellow 'low-maintenance' rose, but I did not have much luck with it. My plants did not seem vigorous. I am now trying the older variety 'Golden Wings' for a hardy and slightly fragrant yellow shrub rose.

 

 

Rosa 'Bonica' is an award-winning French beauty with glowing light pink flowers. It is everblooming, slightly fragrant and develops orange hips in the fall. The foliage is refined and disease resistant.

'Carefree Sunshine'

'New Dawn'

Climbers and Ramblers

'New Dawn' is an old classic, for good reason. It has an abundance of high centered light pink flowers with a detectable light rose fragrance. It is very disease resistant, hardier than most popular climbers, tolerates some shade, and ends the season with a display of rose hips. In our plantings along the property fence, 'New Dawn' is clearly the strongest growing rose, and has no hardiness-issues at all. This rose stretches over a width of 20 ft. on our fence. The light pink combines wonderfully with many of the darker pink, red and purple flowered Clematis.

 

 

 

The Canadian 'Henry Kelsey' is a very hardy and disease resistant climber with medium red, slightly fragrant flowers. Zone 3

'Rambling Red' is the most beautiful climber to look at, with dark red flowers and healthy foliage with tints of purple and red in the young leaves. However, as with many of the hardier and more disease resistant roses, I have not detected any fragrance. 

'William Baffin' is a vigorous large shrub with deep rose pink open flowers and small red rose hips in the fall. It blooms reliably under less than ideal conditions and can also be trained as a climber. Bred in Canada and hardy to Zone 3.

 

'William Baffin'

Rosa 'Alexander MacKenzie'

 'Dortmund' is an old German climber with single red flowers recurring from June into fall. It is a Kordesii Hybrid with a very healthy constitution and can be used as a climber even in part shade or dappled shade, for example climbing up a tree in a woodland. It seems to need a few years to get fully established, but then it is very rewarding, spotless on the foliage, and reblooms reliably throughout the season.

'Alexander MacKenzie' is a Canadian rambler with raspberry red and slightly fragrant flowers, and has a tough constitution. Zone 4
   

 

Home

Sculpting with

Stone

Painting with

Flowers

 Shaping the Earth Nursery

Other

 Artwork

 Directions Contact

 

Please ask for our permission if you would like to use any of our photos, graphics or text!