Loveisroses, here is a mini nursery that is a good nursery with excellent minis. They rate their roses for zones so that should help you with your selection. This part of the rose forum is pretty slow. I don't see very many folks from your zone mentioning minis, doesn't mean they don't grow them though. This just isn't a very active part of Garden Web forum unfortunately.

If you'd like to email me I might be able to help you where you can go. Leslie lesdvs9@comcast.net

Here is a link that might be useful: Nor'East mini nursery

Thank you very much Leslie :-)

I read on another forum about a Canadian mini rose grower. It is Select Roses. Do you know anything about them?

Hi Leslie,

Select Roses is run by Brad Jalbert and family out on the west coast. He's a very nice man and a good hybridizer of miniatures and has also hybridized an outstanding HT called Gerda Hnatshyn.

You should give him a call and discuss roses with him. He'll be happy to help you and recommend varieties for their hardiness and other attributes.

Three of his varieties in particular have above average winter hardiness and are wonderful roses for the garden. They are:
Graduation Day- stunning mini.
White Patio Wonder
Pink Patio Wonder

Other miniatures you should consider for their hardiness and overall wonderful attributes are:
Sweet Chariot (my favorite miniature)
Green Ice
Jeanne LaJoie

Jalbert also hybridized a nice mini for planting in containers for the cascading effect so many desire. It is called Super Cascade Coral. Its not super hardy, but it is a tough rose that blooms well and holds its colour for a very long time. Good luck.

Thank you very much Morden Man for your insight and help. Is Graduation Day hardy and black spot resistant?

Leslie,

Yes, Graduation Day is very cane hardy and especially so for a miniature. It has also been bullet-proof in terms of disease in my garden for 4 years now. Never once has it been afflicted with BS or mildew.

All of the roses i listed for you are the hardier varities of miniatures I've tried over the years. The least hardy of the ones i listed are Jeanne Lajoie and Super Cascade Coral, but they are pretty good and have excellent bounce back vigour.

Jeanne LaJoie may be susceptible to BS in your coastal environment, whereas it is not here.

I have a number of pics of Graduation Day if you'd like to see them, but don't have them online to post here. Send me an email and I can fire a few off to you. It looks a great deal like the David Austin rose, William Morris. GD even has a moderate fragrance too. The blooms are 2.5 to 3" across, they do fade and fall from the bush cleanly after about 3-4 days. Here is a pic and description from Brad Jalbert's Select Roses website.

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Graduation day is a delightful patio rose to grow. In fact, if you cant grow this rose to perfection you really should bow your head in shame and ask mother nature for forgiveness (wink). The colour is fresh peachy apricot, with a slight pink tinge in some climates. The roses are very double pompom style and resemble the Austin English roses. They are born in clusters and are set off to perfection by the superb glossy foliage. The foliage of this rose makes it look wonderful even when not in flower. Highly disease resistance and extremely winter hardy. . Ideal for containers or borders and garden planting. Since itÂs more like a small shrub than a miniature rose, it fits into the new "mini-flora" class of roses. Highly recommended and so easy to grow well!

Classes as a "MiniFlora"

Hybridized by Brad Jalbert 2000

Morden Man, that's gorgeous! Thanks for posting the photos.

:-) Michelle

Morden Man !!!!!! Wow..you have sold me on Graduation Day. She is definately on my list to buy from Mr. Jalbert. Thank you so much.

anytime. ;)

You big tease. It's only available in Canada. And here I thought you were being nice posting a photo... (kidding, of course)

Michelle

Michelle,

Darn, I actually forgot that yes, it is only available in Canada since Select Roses does not ship to the U.S.
I am not sure if any of the nurseries that do ship to the U.S. carry this rose or not. I did a quick check and couldn't find any.

If you like, I can take some cuttings of it this year and send them along to you. Let me know. I've never tried rooting this variety, so not sure how easily it takes, but most mini's are pretty simply to root from cuttings.

Tim

Hi Tim,

I also checked and did not see a US source for the rose.

If you have cuttings and it works out being easy for you, I would love to try to root some. It looks like a lovely rose. I grow Peach Delight, which is similar, and it's a favorite. If there's something I could trade for or root for you, please let me know. I will email you my list of roses that I grow if you'd like.

Cheers,
Michelle

Tim, can you tell me more about Jeann LaJoie? I'd like to use her to grow up a narrow trellis, but stay in a pot. Do you think she'd work that way? I too would like to see more postings on this forum. A couple of mini's that I really like is an old "Scarlet Gem"--really reliable bloomer even in our Tx heat. and Baby Darling. It took BD a couple of years to start, but was covered in blooms last year.
Weldon

Michelle,

Its not a problem. I'll take some cuttings after the first bloom flush (i find cuttings take best when cut at this time) and will contact you around that time to make arrangements to send to you. No return necessary, but I'd happily take any cuttings of Darlow's Enigma if you grow it. Otherwise, don't worry about it at all.

Weldontx,

Sorry for the delay, i don't come on the miniature forum all that often, so i didn't see this post until a few minutes ago.

In your zone, Jeanne LaJoie might be difficult to grow on a narrow trellis. She is a super vigorous rose and will likely get way too big and wide to keep it in bounds without a lot of very regular pruning. Although she could certainly be grown in a very large pot or container (i'd suggest at the very least 18" deep and wide), it might be a lot of watering too in your zone and heat. As JLJ grows, she'll need a lot more water... You could try it, but I think you'd be better off planting her in the ground and giving her the space to do what she wants naturally. That being, becoming a very large, sprawling climber that covers itself in huge amout of bloom.

This may be a little late for this year, but Classic Miniature Roses has over 270 different varieties of miniature roses, and they ship only throughout Canada. I purchase my miniature roses from them and they are the best I have ever seen. Give them a try - you won't regret it.

Their website is classicminiatureroses.com Sorry I don't know how to post a link

Missflippins, thank you!
How many mini's do you grow?
Any suggestions on some that may be extra hardy and black spot resistant?

Cheers
Gabrielle

Hi Gabrielle, I usually grow two or three of one variety so that I can cut nice bouquets. I probably have approximately 200 miniatures because they don't they don't take as much space as larger roses and they don't take as much time to look after, except of course for deadheading which can be time consuming. I do spray my roses, at least I try to keep it up because I hate black spot so I'm really not too sure which ones would be the most resistant to BS. That said, I have used Safer's defender which is supposed to be environmentally safe. It is 12% sulphur. But, it does need to be sprayed every week to get all the new foliage. I used it as an experiment last year and it seemed to work ok. it was however a dry summer for us here, which always help with disease in our very wet climate. This year I'm experimenting with wetable sulphur powder. I'll let you know how it works. I really can't tell you which are the hardiest except that I find them to be hardier than the larger roses. This past winter has been the worst we have seen in over 15 years that I can remember. It's the first time we have had to cut a few climbers almost to the bud union, and the miniatures did need some pruning, but were not needing too much attention since we usually do some pruning in the fall before we hill our roses. This past year the weather turned so bad so early we didn't get the usual blanket on our roses which was a real test for the miniatures. I also grow lots of miniatures in pots which I must store in our garage over winter, or dig a hole and bury the pot up to the rim and then pile more protection on top of that.

Some of my favourites are: Hot Tamale, Irresistible, Little Jackie, Dee Bennett, Chelsea Belle, Anytime, Loving touch, Incognito, Danielle (hybridized by my husband and only available in Canada - pity) Danielle is quite disease resistant and hardy too. I also like Minnie Pearl, Mariotta for it's different blooms and super great sprays. Pink Pettycoat grows quite large and produces huge sprays - good for bouquets too. Luis Desamero is one of my most favourite for its good growth and production of perfect blooms. Classic Miniatures has a huge list and there are many wonderful little miniature roses, these are just a few of my most favouite. I will upload a few of my miniature photo and post some. I guess I should post them on the gallery though. I believe Classic has photos on their list of roses you might give this a try too.

enjoy your roses!

Missflippins, 200 Wow! When they are all in bloom the display must be breathtaking. This will be my first year growing roses so your suggestion about using Safers Defender is most appreciated. Our winters are such that having a covering of snow will not pose a problem. Our summers however never get overly hot as there is always a breeze off the ocean. Lots of rain and high humidity however.
I have pink Petticoat, hot tamale, and loving touch on order to arrive by mid May. I am going to contact Classic Miniatures to see if I can still order. Thank you so much for the site..they have some awesome mini's. Danielle is gorgeous as are a number of your favourites. You are a wonderful enabler.

Cheers
Gabrielle

Hi Tim,

I sent you a message using the GW email system re: the above.

Thanks,
Michelle