Hello Carol, I have live in Calgary for the last little while and buy a few roses now and then. For locally bought tender roses I usually check 4 places, except I warn you over the last little while the tender rose offerings have been declining and tend to be the common named ones.

Anyways two of them are close to you,

1. Sunnyside - near Canadian Olympic park. Go down stoney trail from rocky ridge and turn east onto highway 2 (trans Canada). Go past the Olympic park and take the Sarcee trail turn-off to go north (not south up the hill).It dead ends after the overpass and Sunnyside is on your right. Usually they have tender roses in pots in the main building in late may. Hardy roses and perennials are across the street. This place is expensive. I do not believe I ever bought tenders here.

2. Golden Acres - hard to explain how to get there so Google map it, but best I can describe is follow John Laurie east until it turns into McKnight blvd. Turn left before the last set of lights before you go over the Deerfoot and then turn right down an industrial street. It's a short distance on the left - can't miss it.

Tenders use to be big here but lately the have been relegated to annuals and are shown in the back of the main green house - lately been J&P offerings and good ones. Good selection of hardies.

3. Green gate down south off McLeod. Poor tender selection and have been focusing on hardies of late. Use to be excellent for tenders.

4. Edwards - had one of the coolest locations for the last two years and a nice small nursery. However they moved again and apparently opening somewhere near Calloway park (west on trans Canada to Banff)- have not been there as this will be their first growing year. Use to get lots of Austins from them but he slowed down in that area and gone to standard tenders and hardies.

Thanks, Riku!!!

That's VERY helpful.

I've been to Sunnyside last spring, and I didn't see ANY tenders. I did see lots of hardies. I guess I never looked across the street into the main building. Thanks!!

Do you overwinter any of your roses in the garage?? I made a mess of mine this year, and they're probably all dead. I took them in way too early. I also didn't realize that the large overhead heater (new house) was going on and off for MONTHS!!! The plants were still green when I brought them in. ARRRGH!! I'm cutting them back now and spraying for fungus which is all over them. The canes are dead to the soil line, which doesn't guarantee they are dead, but y'know they probably are. So if you have better info for me, that would be great. I tried in the ground, but there are so many tree roots, etc. that nothing seems to grow in the ground.

Thanks!!

Carol

Carol I don't live in Calgary but have visited there a few times. My son lives there.

Of course I went to a few garden centers just to see what they offer. I am sure I saw a few tender roses at the Walmart in Airdrie. :)

Valerie

Thanks, Valerie,

Yeah, but since summer is so short, I want to get a large, healthy rose bush. Plus, all of the roses, I have, I've gotten from suggestions from this forum - and they're all great, so I'd like a bit more choice (and nicer types) than Walmart offers. I've also bought about 3 bagged roses from Walmart (when I was just learning about roses) and they all died. So I tend to avoid Walmart - rational or not! LOL

Is your son in the oil industry?? I just ask because a lot of people move from the maritimes, go to Fort McMurray and then come to Calgary. We've done the Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Calgary route ourselves.

Carol

Sorry I am no help in garage overwintering as I tried it - unheated - but it did not work for me. So I setup a grow room (since decommissioned) and grew teas and chinas in it and cuttings. I am in the process of changing most of the gardens over to prairie bred roses and slowly this time. This year I put no protection on the tenders so what grows belongs here. Took me about 10 years to get to this stage as a result of age. Use to spend 10 days a year protecting and unprotecting the roses.

Hi Carol, do you do mail order? Both Pickering and Palatine have a large selection, shipping costs are high, though plants are nice and establish quickly.

I have an attached unheated garage that's well insulated. The very coldest temp recorded in there was -6 C and that during the deepest most bitter cold snap ... thus, at that temperature, hardy potted plants such as roses can be held with little fear of much damage, though since I'm also keeping over some frost tender plants, the temp is maintained just above freezing by at times turning on a heater. In October, when we start experiencing very hard frosts, I either put the roses in the greenhouse or garage on the coldest of days and nights, though otherwise they remain outside if it's mild ... they then go in and remain in the garage after that. Other than watering them a bit from time to time and maybe cleaning up some fallen foliage, I do nothing with them until spring arrives.

Riku, I'm with you regarding tender roses, I use to have a hundred of them, I now only grow a few, most of which are potted or planted near the foundation of the house, where they winter much easier there.

Terry

Thanks Riku and Twrosz!!

I really appreciate the help.

It's too bad you have to give up on your tender roses. I'll be there one day, but for now, Gather ye rose petals while you may.

Terry - my garage is unheated, but well insulated. Do you cover your roses (for darkness) in your garage?

I emailed the Calgary vendors that you recommended Riku, so I'll see what they can do for me.

Terry - I'm going to check on Pickering and Palatine. But - if I can't get what I want here, I'll probably go through Holesonline. But - I'm off to check those two you suggested.

Carol :)

Carol the roses I saw were potted and looked healthy. I was surprised that they even offered them in Calgary. I wish I could remember the name of the nursery I went to.....It was on the highway to Airdrie, quiet a big place. I bought a lilac shrub for my daughter in law's sister.

No, my son does not work in the oil industry. He has been out there for close to 10 years now. It is a beautiful city for sure. I do have some friends though that are doing the Fort McMurray thing right now. Too far for me to travel but each to their own.

Riku what happened to make you change your mind on the protection? I can remember all your detailed reports and how you treated your roses. You certainly showed more dedication than most.

Valerie

Valarie it was creaky joints, arthritis and backache or as I call it age and reduce the work load ... but to put this in perspective I was using protection for 500 to 800 rose bushes.

Least Carol think I am being negative, to me a couple of dozen bushes is no work issue and I encourage it to get bloom variety and to enjoy the great fragrances.

The method worked from good to okay for zone 4 to 5 repeating roses in zone 3, questionable for zone 5+ once bloomers, and touch and go to hopeless for long term zone 6 and 7 rose health.

That nursery you mention might of been called Blue Grass Nursery south of iron cross mills a new mega shopping center at Balzac just south of Ardrie. I liked it.

I should of mentioned a really unusual one (rustic but extensive perennial selection) I found through the grape vine was at Black Diamond called Vale's - only hardy roses though but I got my Kangaroo Apple plant from there ... I did say some unusual offerings ?

Carol ... no, I don't cover the roses while they're kept in the garage. It's fairly bright in there with having several windows, the cold is what keeps them dormant. If they're kept in darkness, any growth that pushes forth will be elongated and brittle. Roses don't require darkness to induce dormancy.

Good luck with your rose shopping :)

Terry

Oh you guys are just THE BEST!! :)

Thanks Terry - I'm going to save this thread to help me next year.

Riku - 800??? Oh, I would have loved to have seen your yard!!! How in the world did you fit them in your yard???? I just can't imagine the impact it must have had. I can't imagine winter proofing all of those. I bow to the master!! Sheesh :) And thanks for the name - Blue Grass Nursery!!! - I'll check it out!!

Thanks Valerie for your support!

I'm going to check Blue Grass Nursery.

Nighty night!
Carol

Carol,

I believe I'm in a Zone 2b - well north of both Riku and Terry but with a growing season better than Calgary most years - there are few desireable hardy roses for my area that survive my winters unprotected and undamaged, but very few! Thus outdoor protection is a must and every spring I'm consistently impressed with more tender cultivars that are alive - many to the cane tips and without canker (the double-edged sword of planting the crown below the soil line).

For what it's worth, my opinion of limiting my selection of roses to hardy cultivars only is like "looking for a recipe for weiners and beans in Julia Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking"!

So I, like Terry, winter tender roses in a well insulated garage the same way. As I get older I'll just have to get one of the kids to help me.

My garage roses go into a heated greenhouse in the first week of April - an integral part of my rose care.

The attached photos are the best way to illustrate how roses can be sucessfully wintered in my climate.

Outside winter protection

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Inside winter protection

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Ready for the greenhouse

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Summer satisfaction - Charles de Mils & The White Rose of York

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Thanks Rose Cavalier - as to Riku - there's a huge difference in protecting 800 roses versus 20 or so!! :) That he did it for so long is a huge feat!!

I really like the pictures you have shown. My canes on my roses (due to my own stupidity) are all black. Sigh. Next year will be better. It's lovely to see how healthy your roses look in the garage. Such lovely green canes. Did you wait until all the leaves fell off before you put them in the garage?

Just by the color of your house - it reminds me of Fort McMurray where I lived for 8 years. LOL

Are your pots on the ground??

Thanks!!
Carol - I'm sure saving this thread!!

Carol I had e-talked to Rose Cavalier in the past and what he/she forgot to say is they use what I consider a really interesting material for protection. Your husband is likely to be familiar with it. The material is re-useable and should not be a pain to store outside.You can see the silver color of it in the photos. Their white rose in the photo is an alba I believe and I think is about 18 feet tall. I have or had all the pickering albas and the best I did with protection is maybe five feet.

It is an insulating material commonly used in industrial plant and in home applications and can be bought in rolls even at home depot. I wish I had thought of it to use instead of every year buying 42 bags of compressed peat moss at 3.8 ft3 per bag or about $300 / year.