To someone like me who was raised along the Minnesota border, that is interesting news -- and promising--zone 3 roses? WOW.

However, I doubt that anyone outside the upper midwest has any idea who Ole, Lena and Sven are. Kinda like an insiders joke. LOL

Kate

We have both Ole & Sven & love them both. Ole is an incredible landscape rose, which blooms profusely. It got a lot bigger than we thought & we had to keep cutting it back last year because it was overshadowing its neighbors.

The last link now requires a log in. Here is another:

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/16980371.html

Here is a link that might be useful: link for above

dollsandroses, could you tell me how big your Sven gets? I just planted 3 of them this year. I loved the smell of the blooms.

Sorry, I forgot to ask, how good is the rebloom on Sven for you?

This is a very old thread, so probably a long shot. Does anyone still grow the northern accents roses? If so how are they for you?

I've been able to get my hands on sven and lena still looking for the others. Northland had ole at one point but doesn't seem to anymore .

I have some seedlings of them in my garden that I like a lot. The originals grow in two public gardens here. They are very nice, free blooming, vigorous, and hardy. Occasionally they turn up at the big Friends School Plant Sale. I did some crosses with my seedlings this year so hopefully will have more in the spring.

If I can get cuttings to strike from my best seedling next year, i’m happy to send you one.

That is very kind of you, I will continue looking but, may I reach out to you come spring?

Definitely

I absolutely love these Zuzek roses from this Norwegian tradition and at times I've had all of them. Sigrid and Sven are pink balls of virtually nonstop blooms all season. Those two top out at about 3' high and about as much wide. The blooms are probably multiple petals but they're small and the appeal is the blooms en masse rather than any individual blooms. They stay mannerly but are nearly constant bloomers.

Ole and Lena (which I presume are the first bred, given the ubiquitous nature of those names in Norwegian stories) are lower whitish blooming flowers that are maybe 1.5 feet high and wider than tall. They have fewer petals but the same nearly nonstop blooming habit. I had my rose society out to view my newly reconstituted rose garden this spring and out of all the Austins or Hybrid Teas or floribundas blooming, the president took multiple pictures of Lena in full bloom.

My impression of these four roses is that they fit well within the scope of hybrid musks, though they are shrubs by designation. They have an informal quality but the pop of bright pink color of Sigrid and Sven add a punch to the usually pale colors of most hybrid musks (of course Wilhelm and Nur Mahal have that pink color too).

They are tip hardy in zone 5 so the zone 3 designation is something I find personally quite plausible, but obviously not testable in my garden. I love these roses and am anxiously hoping to replace Sigrid (my favorite) this year from Northland (an awesome rose vendor).

Cynthia

I have not seen sigrid on their website, I have seen ole listed,I sent an email but no response.

I would phone, Dirt Digger.