Welcome nancykn,
I'm up in the mountains west of you, in Johnson county. I have mostly raised beds because of the rocks,clay and all my trees. Climbing Blaze has done well for me,and Tiffany and Mr. Lincoln and several others i don't know the names of. Kaye will know better what does well. She'll be checking in sometime. I know she's busy doing damage controll from our freeze last week. Good luck and hope you like ARK.
vickie

Nancy,
Roses are hard because of the humidity here--blackspot cam be awful. I have two roses that friends gave me. One I think is New Dawn, a lovely pink climber, very robust and lightly fragrant, with heavy spring bloom and intermittent bloom thereafter. The other is Betty Prior, a hot pink cluster rose, also heavy/imtermittent bloomer, not a climber but Big, with 7 ft tall canes. I should have been satisfied with these two, as they were disease free as long as it was just the two of them, but nooo, I got rose greedy, and ordered several David Austin roses--Tamora, Henry Nevard, Reine des Violettes and Graham Thomas, all of which are much more susceptible to blackspot than the catalog let on--and more prone to winter kill than my old ones. Now my old reliable ones also get black spot and I spend way too much time spraying. The new Knockout series of roses are supposed to be the most blackspot resistant roses ever developed. I haven't tried them.

Hi,
Christie, Vickie and Mulberry!
I am so glad somebody noticed me! thank you!
I appreciate the advice, and getting back to me in general. I did plant a Blaze, the freeze though might hae done it in. The leaves are all drooping pretty bad. I gave it miricale grow for roses, dont know if that helps or not. And maybe I should have put more rocks in it like you said christie, I will do that next time, I'm still looking for some other ones. this was a new house, Not anything planted yet, Just a crepe myrtle, that looks like it went in the freeze too. All the buds are brown and dried up now. Would it help to prune it all off , do you think? Well anyway. I am North of little rock. Near Conway, about 10 min. We havent had a chance to get to the mountains yet. I'd love to soon. I heard Betty Prior was a pretty rose!. Also that Chrysler Imperial did good around here. , but then Ive heard the opposite , so I dont know.
It is def. different from Ohio. It is a very beautiful country here. but I am still homesick. I have two grown sons back in Ohio. that is the hardest part.
Well thank you again for the info and just welcoming me!
nancy

Hi, Nancy. There are many roses that do well in your area without a lot of fuss. Many of the Old Garden roses are among those as well as some modern ones. Weeks has a series out called "Easy to Love" that include Livin' Easy, Easy Going, Hot Cocoa and Pretty Lady. All but Hot Cocoa has been totally disease free for me. The old China roses are tough and don't need much special care. I love them because they are good landscape bushes as well as pretty blooms. Texas A&M has done some trials in N. Texas for roses that grow well. Link below for their website, it's a good place to start.

Roses need lots of water but require good drainage. Raised beds are always a good option.

Here is a link that might be useful: Earthkind Roses

Oh Kaye, Belindas Dream took my breath away!
vickie

hi everyone, It has been awhile since I have been on, my comuter was down awhile. anyway, I tried some tips form you guys. Some of my roses and others are doing great, but my red climbing blaze is grown like 6 feet tall already, and not 1 bloom anywhere. Does anywone know why, it gets plent of water and everything here is total sun. I fertilized with the rose miricale grow, and planted accordingly. My peace is growning great and my knock-outs. I also have a beautiful blue lavender lady, has done real well, but my Belindas dream I orderd from Antique Emporium, islike a dead stick. That was the expensieve one. Any suggestions be wonderful, you guys all sound like so experience gardeners. Im just starting, pansies, did bad. marigolds good , Hibiscus was geat but hte leaves are full of HUGE wholes, Ive been using an insecticide spray, but to no avail. My hydrangeas look,great and are staying a lavender blue so far! I'm excited about that. Some of the flower heads are starting to turn brown, and I am not sure wether to cut them off or how far back, or leave them there. Wellsorry this is another long one. Thanks everyone.
Nancy K

Nancykn, I didn't see your first post, so let me say glad you are here belatedly.

I have had great luck ordering from Chamblees Roses of Texas and their prices are very reasonable. You might check them out. I got my Belinda's Dream there plus some others. Some of the Buck roses are very disease resistant too. They also carry a huge line of them.

My hibiscus had lots of damage too. Japanese beetles love them. As for the hydrangeas; I leave mine brown on the bush. They look wonderful in the fall and winter. They also dry beautifully. Just cut the blossoms at whatever color stage you like, and let them dry out of the light.

As for the climbing rose, some take the first year to get established and then bloom heavily the next year so don't give up on it yet.

Gardening in the Ozark Mountains is a never ending learning experience.

Here is a link that might be useful: Roses

Nancy, My Blaze did,nt bloom the first year either and it grew tall also. It should bloom next year. Something is eating my rose folage this year. Never had that trouble before. It looks like a deer is getting them because several leaves are disapering at once. We'll have rose fed deer meat this fall.
vickie

Thought i'd bump this up to answer miniroses question.
vickie