from Sam Kedem's web site: (Easy Elegance) A color enhancer to be fully appreciated when grouped; the appearance is of modern rose, yet with superior hardiness & disease tolerance for easy care; the dense & compact bush produces masses of flowers continually. 3Â, Z-4b, C

own root stock

I think for a first choice you did fine. You shouldn't have to baby it, but I've heard nothing of it's performance here. I understand the Easy Elegance series is new so you may be some of the first to provide the rest of us feedback.

I have to say I admire your sense of humor and adventure. We, the rose challenged, salute you!

Lynn

You should be fine. In my opinion the Easy Elegance roses are not just a pretty face.

I bought Grandma's Blessing late last summer and it came through winter in better shape than Carefree Beauty (zone4) and Morden Blush (zone3). None of them got any more winter protection than a few leaves thrown over the crown. It was a very healthy, happy plant last year and looks great now.

The Easy Elegance roses are own root so you shouldn't have to plant them extra deep or anything. I am very pleased with Grandma's Blessing and added two Tahitian Moon this year. If I had more space I would get a bunch more EE roses. They are hardy for our area, fairly disease resistant, and just all around great.

Congrats on a good choice! Oh, and the Rose forum is a great place to go if you need any help with it. I've learned so much on these forums :)

Laura.

If you want to winter protect it and don't want to do the "MN tip", in fall just cut the rose to about a foot within the ground, place a box around it (bottom and top flaps removed) and fill in around the crown of the plant with peat moss and then leaves, or other insulating material.

That is how I overwinter my hybrid tea 'tropicana'.

You can plant it a bit deeper than it was growing in the pot as well. This offers additional protection for graft or crown. If it's not grafted, this offers additional protection for the stems, as long as some of the stems below the soil survive winter, it will quickly recover in spring and push new growth.

Glen

You'll be fine! Another way to deal with them over winter is to dump compost about 1 foot up on them, put a generous ring of chicken wire around it and fill it rather tightly with leaves. If it can't survive a winter through that there's a problem ;)

I am NOT rose-challenged - I LOVE roses and have a good list of very hardy ones that are very happy to not even be buried much all winter if you get bitten by that wonderful thing - the "Rose Bug" :)

-Marie

sjmarq and lynnsherbs, thank you for your support. Now that it is planted I keep finding stuff that I should have done, like water the plant in WHILE I am filling the hole. Oh my. Rose challenged -- I like that description. Also now I have to Fear The Deer, those big rats just don't understand bribery and consider deterrent plantings a mere appetizer to my garden.

TwoHuskies, glad to hear that your EE is doing so well. Music to my rose-giddy ears. Interesting about Carefree Beauty, I almost bought one of those instead! So now you will be changing her name to merely "Carefree", since she is not earning the Beauty part?

glen3a, I'm a mean-spirited wench who forces her plants to show splendidly for her all summer and then fend for themselves come winter. It probably has something to do with not being breastfed long enough as an infant or failing home ec in 8th grade, I don't know. If I ever get a therapist hopefully we can find out. Till then...no protection for the unwashed masses of my garden! OK, I MIGHT rake some leaves over them. Possibly. No promises.

selkie, if you have a list of uber-hardy roses, I would adore having access to it. Or a part of it. Or just a torn corner that I can decipher in the air conditioning. No way am I venturing outside for the rest of the afternoon. I put on sunscreen, stepped outside, and it literally slid of my skin and dove for the hostas.

Don't get me wrong, I do like Carefree Beauty (although the long stems are floppy right now...) I was just suprised my EE rose came through winter better than that one.

I would love to hear what other hardy roses people are growing around here. Shrubs, antiques, etc. I'm really getting away from hybrid teas and am especially interested in what antiques do well around here. If you'd like I can also share my hardy rose list, but they were all added between last year and this spring. Maybe we should start a new thread???

I'm going to the main Linders in the morning to browse the roses since they are 30% off. It sounds like trouble and I may come back with more stuff that I don't have room for.

Laura.