I've just come in from some major pruning on a rose with some awful blackspot. It caught it from the one next to it, which rebounded nicely with major pruning. (Maybe they know I'm capable of the ultimate pruning job. Patience only stretches so far.) The KOs next to them are spotless, which explains why so many gardens are stuffed with nothing but KOs.

I can't advise you, Christin, our growing conditions are so vastly different. Is there a rose society near you? I hope you can save the heirlooms, especially.

Nell

I totally understand! I've never grown roses before. Last year, I got a Belinda's Dream & it looked like a dream. It got so big & so beautiful & full of blooms. This spring, it was coming up just fine, but my DH pruned it. Then it rained and the rose got canker. Then aphids. We've cut it way back and will need to cut more. Thankfully, my brother & a dear friend both have a lot of rose knowledge and they're giving me good advice. It's been quite the learning experience.

I know the feeling, my yard was full of Roses when I moved here and they all suffered terribly, I was so frustrated that I dug them all out and gave them to friends who were willing to nurse them, I have slowly reintroduced Knockouts, a Minature and a Zephrine Drouhin climbing rose on an arbor and so far so good.

Here, I don't even try to grow tea roses, I stick to shrub roses. Mostly no worries, other than a bit of pruning in the spring, and some compost tea once in a while.

Jenny P

Few seem successful with them. I maintain 4 'high maintenance' tea roses for my wife and a set of 'Blushing Knockout' shrub roses. All require rescue from japanese beetles,later, and the Knockouts do get some aphids, but the'Goldrush','Mr.Lincoln','Tropicana' need daily vigilant inspection against all sorts of aphids, caterpillars, yellowing leaves, blackspot. Some neighbors have an un-named rambling rose with small clusters of double pink flowers that grows like a weed and seems trouble free. It goes on for generations.

I love my roses and find them cheerful. They do get disease especially black spot but I try and grow another vine with them so they don't look nekkid when I take leaves off. Mainly I grow antiques said to do well here and they seem to.
My best rose is a mystery rose. Was at the "pink house" when we bought it. Never looses all it's leaves, always in flower except 2 months out of the year, nothing eats it...I had to move it twice and cut it back severely and it is more beautiful than ever right now. Whoever does the Knockouts should see this one. It is so much better -redder, scented, flowers in clusters and keeps well in the vase. If you cut off a stem for flowers 3 more grow back.

That's my kind of rose!!

GGG
P.S. Jean La Joy is about on her way out. I've put up with her long enough...no leaves, a few flowers right now but not a leaf. I'll find something else better!

I've learned my lesson the hard way, I now buy disease resistant cultivars.

Aphids can be controlled with lady bugs or a spray from a hose. Roses usually get aphids when there's a quick growth spurt. They like the tender shoots.

This is the first year that I've had no problems with my roses and I have over 27. The only thing I did different was forgetting to fertilize.

Thanks for hearing out my speel guys; I appreciate it! Hopefully our weather will be temperate and not so harsh on the poor beauties. Maybe things will start to look up later on...
CMK

Growing roses can be frustrating, especially if you grow the wrong ones for your type of climate. You can never be sure until you've grown a specific rose in your garden. Then you must evaluate it and decide whether it's a keeper or a goner. Rose tuning is a fine art and one that takes time and patience. Some years they'll do better than other, due to many things, like cold/hot conditions, rain or absence of it, fertilizer, etc. Once you get the hang of it it will be better.

I don't like hybrid tea roses, so I don't grow any. My love affair with roses started with the luscious blooms of Austin roses, as seen on the catalogue. From there I progressed into antiques and old fashioned types. A pretty straightforward path. I now have a reasonably good idea of what does well in my garden and climate. For example, Bourbon roses don't do well. After several years of trying to cuddle Zéphirine Drouhin I finally shovel pruned it earlier this Spring. It felt good - it hardly bloomed, was a monster and had all sorts of diseases known to the rose world. On the other hand, many people grow it and love it in other types of climate. As I said, you don't know until you try it.

Austins, with the exception of Jude, The Obscure (a fantastic rose for a warm climate) don't do particularly well in my garden either. They look very pretty in early Spring, when our weather mimics the temperate English weather, but then look lousy once the hot Summer weather settles in. The result: no Austins get added to the collection and those that eventually succumb won't be replaced.

On the other hand, and somewhat suprisingly, gallicas do very well here. Contrary to popular belief that says gallicas only do well in colder climates, mine do exceedingly well and the only drawback, apart from the short blooming season, it's their wanderlust. I'm forever digging suckers from all over the garden! What a nice problem to have :-)

Then there are the bullet proof ones and the staples of my garden - the rambler Veilchenblau, to which I do nothing but prune any dead branch and fertilize once a year, Maigold, the Kordes rose that stops people on their tracks when in bloom, Ispahan, a damask whose leaves disappear under the fragrant flowers, the lovely nodding old teas, like Lady Hillingdon and Monsieur Tillier and the delicate looking china Old Blush.

Bottom line: do experiment and see what does well for you. Don't get discouraged if some years things don't do as well as you wish. After all, we are taking about living beings and there are no guarantees. Tweak and tune until you find what you like and does well for you. Don't stick simply with a safe choice just because. And especially, don't get discouraged and give up! Isn't that one of the beauties of gardening, to experiment and see what sort of loveliness we can achive?

Eduarda

CMK, thank you for being brave enough to actaully do a thread on this subject. I have hinted many times in others posts about how I feel a failure with roses, but never came right out in a new thread.

I feel like I need roses in the garden.........but have limited success.

I think Eduarda hit it on the head! You have to experiment and shovel prune until you find what works in your garden----then the Japanese Beetles hit! (sort of joking here). It can be a very expensive learning process.

For example, Jeannie La Joie does extremely well in my area and is loaded with blooms and rarely looses leaves. Another one that is really nice this year is Westerland.
Buff Beauty is starting and the foliage is wonderful. William Baffin is doing well.

My Bourbon, Louise Odier, is about to be history" Blanc double de Coubert is about to go. She was wonderful for several years but has RRD. The Bourbon just never did diddly. Old Blush is a keeper and Mme Plantier is now loaded and extremely fragrant. It recovered from my deciding the clean out the bed it is in and backing the brush hog on the tractor over it, cutting it completely to the ground.

I only buy own-root roses so they can come back from severe prunings........and then I loose them sometimes.

I would call them high maintenance plants...........not my favorite kind.

This is my second or third year growing roses (have over 100), and so far so good. I do use Bayer Advanced  2-in-1 Systemic Rose & Flower Care, and there are almost no black spots. Last year it was really bad, since I began to use it late. Even though they are high maintenance, I can not imagine my garden without them. Just learning what works and which are easier to grow then others. HTs are the biggest troublemakers. And so beautiful and fragrant at the same time!
~Natalie

I hear your pain! Any roses I used to grow would look nice only in the Spring and then they all got terrible black spot so bad they lost all their leaves. I couldn't stand it anymore and now I grow Knock Outs and a Home Run and have no more trouble!
Joann

I so agree with Eduarda. Success with roses is a matter of finding what does well in your garden.

For us, Zéphirine Drouhin is a keeper. She has lush foliage, repeat blooms, and fragrance that is intoxicating.

I honestly do not have time for all the chores that I HAVE to get done, so I sure can't incur any more by having things I have to baby along. HT's are out of the question, with the exception of a couple that have turned out to be very tough. One is 'Chrysler Imperial', the other is 'Dame de Couer', both very RED, and both very beautiful. I have never had a problem with either of these HTs.

Rugosas do well here also, along with most of those praised in this thread. Rugosas will grow on the beach too, and they have a wonderful fragrance. They do have more than their share of thorns tho.......

Good thread.

Janie

I forgot to mention that rugosas grow like weeds for me too! They sucker like crazy (I believe they want to conquer the world!). I don't even dare to fertilize mine, they would take over the whole garden. They get a bit of water with the hose now and then, a severe pruning when I find the time, but most of the time I just leave them be. For those of you with acreage and wanting a privacy/security no care hedge, it's hard to beat rugosas. As Janie said, their fragrance is great too.

Those in colder climates should also try the albas - for example, Queen of Denmark is a lovely ruffled pink beauty. Another no care rose in my garden. Grow it on her own roots if you live somewhere cold so that it has a chance to sprout back from the ground if the Winter is a killer.

IMO, reputation that roses are difficult are as much of a myth as many other gardening lore. We simply need to know what to grow that is appropriate for our garden and climate. I don't spray with any sort of chemicals and they still do thrive. It's more work for me to prune the lavender and the firethorn hedges than to care for my roses (I have about 28). I believe most people associate the word "rose" with "hybrid tea rose", as if they're synonyms (which they aren't), hence the discouragement. HT roses are the ones typically higher maintenance.

Eduarda

Natalie, I'm wondering if this summer we will see more disease here due to so much rain. Have you tried Messenger yet? It's supposed to work with anything you put on your roses to make it work "More" (natural plant and growth complexes). If I dare spray anything I use Serenade, the two work pretty well together. Last year I had little disease because it was so dry, but I had few flowers too.

Almost all my roses were chosen from recommendations on the rose forum here. I found the folks who grow antiques so helpful and I just had to say I wanted "no spray" and they were very helpful with what should and may not work well for me. But then again, as with everything it's year to year (except for the K-mart rose where every year is a good year!!)

Thanks Eduarda for the tips. I grow only a few HT's (many given to me as gifts), since they arn't really my favorites.
I grow a lot of Austin's. Most of them do really well. I think you are right, there are some that need to go. I just hate throwing them away though!

I know its not just me. I talked to a Master Gardener a few months ago and she agreed with me when I stated that last year was a crummy one for rose growing here. And some freinds of mine, who grow quite a few DA and old world roses, lost several of them over the winter. We had a bizzare winter. I am hoping that all the roses need is a little TLC and some regular weather. Maybe someday they will get back to being 'no-fuss' roses.

-Glenda, sorry you do not have much luck either.
CMK

Girlgroupgirl,
I have never heard about Messenger and Serenade. Where do I get them?
Roses are the only plants I spray. The rest of my garden is "free and clear".
OT, did you make it to plant exchange we had in Barbara's house in Sandy Springs? I left rather early, so maybe you came afterwards.

I found this about Messenger....sounds wonderful but pricey and limited availability...

http://www.edenbio.com/garden/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80

and this :

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Roses-732/Messenger.htm

Hi:
No, I did not, unfortunately get to Barbara's garden (again!!). Have had little to offer in trade the last few years because of the tornado last year. Kind of knocked me for a loop (that and working most weekends!!). Serenade is an organic product which works for me with Black Spot, Messenger is the plant hormone Harpin which makes "stuff" work better - I have purchased it in "bulk" from EdenBio and get it at the same price the same amount of Bayer product would cost me. Serenade is more expensive but because my garden is organic on one side and sustainable on the other, I use it when needed. Last two years we were so dry and not humid I didn't need it!

I've moved a bunch of those pink roses I found in the woods into a sunnier spot. I kind of hope they are house eaters. I'd love to see that patch of ground covered with pink and thorns. Instead of a rain garden in the gully, I've decided to make it a bird sanctuary. I toss all my woody prunings in there. Gives the birds a place to hide from the owls and cats that roam the backyard. Hopefully, a rose that has survived the last 20 years in almost complete shade will be a strong grower if given a little sun.

I agree with Eduarda, if you buy the right roses to suit your zone and garden, you won't have near as many problems.

I have all the Morden roses...some survive the winters better than others. And I have several explorer roses. Some up against the house and garage and don't even get snow cover and they have been comming back for years. One white one, I always forget to water....it stays dormant in the spring till I remember to water....then starts putting out green leaves. lol This poor rose just never gets the same amount of water as the others. I have Emily Carr..from the Artist series....which is a seedling from the explorer series...it made it through the winter. I have Rambling Red which wintered in a pot in the veggie garden.....came through well. And Terese Bugnet x 2....one has been going for years with no care at all and the other is younger but does great on a trellis. I just bought Marie Bugnet.

My roses are spaced so they get lots of air and I really don't have that many problems. I try not to water from the top after they get growing well.....that helps. A quick prune in the spring, and I pretty much forget about them. It they were very fussy they would be shovel pruned.

I have grown others and especially mini roses as annuals. One year I tossed them on the top of the compost in the fall.....the next spring they were leafing out. lol.

Sierra

Christine, do the nurseries sell any Easy Elegance roses where you are?

I've read pretty good reviews about them online and on GW for northern areas, but I can't find any around here.
I figure if they sell them locally where you are then they probably do well there.

Maybe it's still possible to get cuttings of your roses and propagate them? Maybe you could root those stems that fall off? I guess a consulting rosarian could help ...

Thanks ajpa. I am not sure about Easy Elegance; I haven't looked though.

That is what I have been doing lately, taking cuttings of them. I need to do that with my grandma's rose, I really don't want to loose it.
Interestingly enough, all of my Teas seem to be going crazy. They are growing like mad and do not seem to have one solitary thing wrong with them. Ha ha.
CMK

Just yesterday morning, i discovered a sure way to remove aphids:

Deer!

Chomp chomp chomp. No aphids. No tender budded shoots, either. :)

I have quite a few knockouts....I love them..the show is continuous..the work in nominal...they maybe not as artistic as the others, but....for the show/vs work...I love them.

This time of year I'm usually on a rose high. Last year I swore I wouldn't buy any more, but I soon found myself digging seven new holes. I'm glad I did, too, because all seven (four of which were Bucks) survived the winter beautifully. It was a strange winter....I lost a 20+-year-old Gertrude Jekyll and a much younger one. I also lost a Buck (Prairie Princess), my big Robusta, and my one and only Knock-Out (which had never done well in my garden).

But talk to me in July and August, and I won't feel nearly as positive about growing roses. By then we'll have been through the Japanese Beetles, the Tent Caterpillars, and the Gypsy Moths--not to mention black spot, if there are any leaves left at that point.

I don't like to spray, and hand-picking loses its charm after about three minutes.

I have only one hybrid tea, Abbaye de Cluny, which dies to the ground every year but then produces blooms that are quite addictive. I also have one large-flowered climber, Crimson Sky. The rest of my roses are Bucks, Explorers, Austins, and rugosas. Even they can be difficult, depending on what is attacking at any given time. Ah, but when they bloom....... in all their lush, scented, sensual extravagance........ there's nothing like them.

{{gwi:290758}}
Abbaye de Cluny

This has been a tough year for roses here too. Late freezes,cool damp days and then rain and more rain. All of that spells die back and canker. Not to mention balling. BUT, for that one day, when you are at peak bloom all the work and "set back" seems worth it.
I've been playing with old roses for only fifteen years and find myself leaning more and more to once bloomers. They put on a better show and tend to be more fragrant. But if there is a late freeze, the buds are shot and you just have to wait until the next year.
I do spray. I've used Messenger for three/four years now with good results. I also use the supplement Response. These are cocktailed with the the fungicides and pesticides.
The spray program I follow is from "Primary Products" (website).
I've been fortunate that I have two expert rose people in my area that I can contact who will guide me and share their knowledge.

My knock-outs and climbing blaze get aphids as soon as the buds start to appear (this is the second year in a row). So I've been spraying on water w/murphys oil soap and it definitely takes care of the problem. I find that even when roses say they are 'disease resistant' it may not be for me.
but I do love them, and even though they're high maintenance I couldn't have a garden without them.