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jlee160_gw

favorite zone 5's

14 years ago

Hi I am looking to plant a few roses. I love the david austins,and old rose look I was planning on going through Chamblee's nursery- any favorites you would reccommend for our area? I am considering- Ambridge, glamis castle, Dick Clark, colorifc, also love Easy does it, ebb tide, and charles darwin, grahm thomas Thoughts....?

Comments (13)

  • 14 years ago

    I would give Glamis Castle a pass. I asked Peter Schneider about it, thinking it might be good in the colder zones, and he said he was set to take his out. Blackspotted like crazy, and mildewed.

    In his new book, Right Rose, Right Place, Schneider also recommends Golden Celebration, but not Graham Thomas. I visited his Freedom Farm last spring during Peter and Susan's open garden days, and it is an amazing place, but set on top of a windswept elevation. Some cold zoners have reported being able to grow GT, but you might want to put it in a protected spot. I have a GT growing against a south facing wall, with concrete walkway serving as heat sink in front. I also covered GT well for winter, so we shall see how well he survived,

    Mary Rose and St. Cecelia both are said to be hardy; St. Ceclia in particular seems to be a sleeper in the Austin ouvre, not noticed amid all thehype about Galloping Gert, Heritage and others, but now loved and appreciated and offered by quite a few speciality nurseries. I bought both last year, I think from LongAgoRoses, which nursery I highly recommend, so I can't say yet how well they will do.

    What did grow very well for me in only one season, and bareroot at that, where some large flowered climbers I ordered from Vintage--Rosarium Uetersen, Awakening, Karlsruhe, Parade, White Cockade, Lawinia.

    You might want to see if you can get Right Rose, Right Place, by Peter Schneider, from your local library. If you use as much as I do, you will want to buy it. Schneider gives the lowdown on the suitability of many roses of many classes, including a long list of HTs he has been able to grow, for zone 5 gardens.

    I am finding that many roses on own roots don't grow very fast. Particularly the Portlands. I dug some up and potted them to overwinter in my kitchen, where they are now growing and putting out new foliage. I may simply keep the Portland group in pots permantently. I think now that replanting bands into black pots, preferably in spring, to encourage root growth is essential for most own rooted roses in our climate.

  • 14 years ago

    I have had both Golden Celebration and Graham Thomas for many years and they both winter very well for me. Of the two Golden Celebration is the more vigorous grower but is less disease resistant.

    I got Dick Clark last spring and it was beautiful but I cannot say how it is going to winter yet.

    Easy Does It did not winter well for me at all. It limped back it's first winter and died the second one.

    There are different advantages and disadvantages to own root v/s grafted roses. Grafted roses are usually larger when you get them, establish quicker and grow larger faster. However, if you have a very severe winter and the roses dies to the ground you run the risk of losing the graft and having the root stock take over. With own root roses you don't have that risk. Even if the roses dies all the way down it will grow back as the variety you purchased. But, they are always smaller when you purchase them and do take a longer time to mature than grafted roses.

    You can bury the graft on a rose to protect it from winter. This has been recommended for cold climates for a long time. But there have been some recent threads on here discussing whether or not this is good for the rose. It was long thought that if you buried the graft the rose would eventually root from above the graft and become an own root plant. Some people are finding though, that this isn't always the case and that it can inhibit the plant from sending up new canes called basal shoots. If the rose does not send up those new canes and renew itself it will eventually age and die out.

  • 14 years ago

    I saw this Pims' rose at the Cranford Rose Garden. I just had to have it as it was "rather" bright in color and I had just the spot. About all of the Buck and Kordes roses are fine for us. I am trying Golden Fairy Tale and Prairie Breeze this year also.

    Here is a link that might be useful: My Girl Easy Elegance�

  • 14 years ago

    Eglantyne and Sharifa Asma are beautiful and fragrant.

    Eglantyne is my favorite Austin, a heavy bloomer with a sweet rosewater type of scent, very winter hardy.

    Sharifa Asma has a rich Old Rose type of scent. It's more compact than Eglantyne. The blooms remind me of the old Alba roses.

    Glamis Castle has a strong myrrh scent that is not to everyone's taste.

  • 14 years ago

    Thanks, Seil, for that info. about basal shoots. A Wisconsin Rosarian wrote the same about burying it too deep inhibits basal shoots, and he prefers to mound soil on top over the winter. On the contrary, Douglas Green, Canadian nurseryman, recommended burying it 6" deep like Karl did for his Firefighter & other HT's with only some oak leaves as winter protection.

    I made the mistake of burying a peony too deep (12 inches), it never flower - so I tried to kill it for the past 12 years. It never die on me, and kept sending shoots. The soil there is always wet. I suspect as long as there's moisture, basal shoots always grow. The recent peonies which I planted shallow (1" deep) are more wimpy with early winter-die back. I gave my neighbor a peony and they planted it shallow, it died during 2004-05 drought.

    The nursery sent me a grafted rose by mistake, Pat Austin, hardy to zone 6b. I planted it 3" deep. She's the most winter-hardy compared to the other nine own-roots, zone 5b Austins which I planted shallow at soil surface. They all came as same-height bands. I'll plant all my own-roots 3" deep for this spring.

    Favorite zone 5's roses: Any Austins and any shrubs. In zone 5a rose park nearby, the hybrid teas are really short and didn't bloom early June - while the Austins and hardy shrubs are 4' tall, tons of blooms, and ready to be sniffed. Hardy shrubs bloom much earlier than Hybrid teas.

  • 14 years ago

    well, I ordered :
    julia child
    golden celebration
    scepter'd isle
    evelyn
    koko loco
    Charles de Mills
    Carefree Beauty
    Folksinger
    Madame Isaace Perriere
    Freisinger Morgenrote
    I cannot wait:)
    I went through Chamblee's and long ago roses

  • 14 years ago

    well, I ordered :
    julia child
    golden celebration
    scepter'd isle
    evelyn
    koko loco
    Charles de Mills
    Carefree Beauty
    Folksinger
    Madame Isaace Perriere
    Freisinger Morgenrote
    I cannot wait:)
    I went through Chamblee's and long ago roses

  • 14 years ago

    Nice list, jlee! I got Koko Loco last year and I can't wait to see how it does this year! Love the color of Charles de Mills. I should get it.

  • 14 years ago

    Perfect list, jlee - good choices! Thank you, Nastarana, for recommending the book, "Right Rose, right place" by Schneider (I'm going to the lib. today). Also thanks, Nastarana, for the info. about Portland own-roots don't grow fast.

    I checked the soil mounded on top of my Austins. They heaved up by 2-3". With freeze-thaw weather, expand-contract, plus wet spring, many roots are exposed. Last spring was really wet, and plants' roots heaved up my entire brick border (as if someone had lifted the bricks and threw them out). I can see suppression of basal shoots in a steady-cold climate like Wisconsin with a insulating snow cover. But for my always changing and wet weather, basal shoots development is pretty aggressive.

    I can see why the rosarian Karl Bapst, zone 5a, planted his Hybrid Teas 6" deep - 3" to accommodate root-heaving, and another 3" for them to develop own-root and survive any drought.

  • 14 years ago

    Graham Thomas and Golden Celebration both died in my garden. Golden Celebration didn't make it through the first winter. St. Cecilia is puny and weak. Evelyn is good. Try Charlotte if you want a yellow rose. Madame Isaace Perriere is a once bloomer.

  • 14 years ago

    I second Predfern's warning about Golden Celebration. That one is always thirsty, and can dry out and die in the winter. I have to water mine (in partial shade) weekly, even during the winter, if there's no snow. It wants to climb and I can't chop it down as a free-standing bush.

    Lady Emma Hamilton is also very hardy among my 10 Austins, NOT a single leaf being blemished by the cold - her thorns are low compared to Knock-outs. Her foliage is glossy with superb disease resistant. She blooms more than Golden Celebration since her petals are simpler.

  • 14 years ago

    David Austin's catalog claims that most of his roses are hardy to Zone 5, so unless he actually states one of his roses is less hardy, I'd assume most of them would be fine for you.

    Of course, I'm talking about his own shrub roses, not the other roses from other breeders that he also sells--like hybrid teas or old/antique roses.

    For the record, Austin's Molineux is one of my favorites--floriferous and fairly good disease resistance. Another tough but beautiful Austin shrub is Queen of Sweden--and very disease-resistant. For spring I have ordered the hardy Austin beauty called Lady of Shalott--supposed to be very disease-resistant also.

    Kate

  • 14 years ago

    I wonder if Golden Celebration does better if it is grafted. I've had 3 of them and the grafted once did the best. I also grew Madame Isaace Perriere, but I had to pull her out due to RRD. I had her on the east side of my house and she repeated quite well, but I have read other reports that she is a once bloomer. I second the nomination for Sharifa Asma. Great rebloom, fragrance and a rounded more compact habit than some of my other Austins. I love my Molineuxs too. They stay rather small on their own roots in my garden. I didn't see Rose DeRescht on your list. She does very well in my garden even in part shade. Need to spray her though.