I think you don't understand how big big roses are. Pick *one*.

mad_gallica I have already bought one Wasagaming Rugosa rose. Can you give me some idea as to size?

I have grown Sir Thomas Lipton before. Had three of them. That rose seems to form an upright shrub for me.

I'd probably do it, Dara, if you want all three. I bet they will be lovely. If you had room to put one of the Wasagaming elsewhere, that would work too. I love Wasagaming and grew it in Alaska and now here. I read Sir Thomas Lipton wasn't up to Alaskan weather, but I might try it too down here. Good luck whatever you do. I'm sure Mad is right that they could each fill the space.

Sheila, how tall does Wasagaming grow? My deck shades the bed up to about four feet from ground. Sir Thomas Lipton gets tall from my experience, but not so wide. Sort of open in growth.

In the PNW climate, most rugosa get BIG! Wasagaming can get to be 6'x 6'!! One will easily fill that bed. I would not include any more than that as the crowding will impact their growth and health.

I am in zone 5 and my Sir Thomas Lipton is huge. It is well over 6-7' tall and it arches downward and outward about 5' on each side. It is very prickly and the base is bare up to the arches. I went through last year and gave it a good trim of deadwood and it looked so nice and then a big early summer storm came through with violent wind gusts and pushed all the branches to the southeast and tangled them all up so it never returned to it's nice shape and I am now left with a lopsided bush that the south front fried in the 100 degree heat last July. My Sir Thomas is not a reliable rebloomer. I did see a couple flowers way at the top of one cane late near fall but that was it. This is my favorite photo and the picket fence is 4' tall.

This is very interesting and helpful information. Gardengal I think you are right. I'll stick with one of the Wasagaming rugosas for this bed. For some reason in my garden roses never reach the size that everyone here states. Ikayetwvz5 thanks for your picture of Sir Thomas Lipton. My three shrubs never achieved that amount of mass. they were about six feet in height with a vase shape. But no more than four feet or so across. My flowers were smaller as well. However the shrubs were always shapely. I love the effect of rose groupings such as are seen in the wild. So in my garden three Sir Thomas Lipton's grouped together created this effect. Nor did I care about re-bloom which was very sparse. Other plants grown between and around the tall roses provided ongoing seasonal interest. What I did and do like about Sir Thomas Lipton is it's ability to co-mingle with other plantings while providing middle layer height. As well, the light tan thorns on the canes are very decorative to my eye. They glow when back lit. Basically I used this rose as a shrub first, rose second. It is a fabulous, easy to grow and maintain shrub for me.

I had 'Wasagaming' in a difficult spot, the spring flush was stunning, though maybe due to the location there was no repeat ... now, is this rose capable of producing significant rebloom?

I did get some rebloom here and hips here, but not in Alaska.

Rugosas, even hybrid rugosas, are prolific rebloomers and should produce all season long. Although IME, the first flush in late spring is heaviest.

Yes, rugosas generally are generous season long bloomers even in my northern climate, though 'Wasagaming' seems to be somewhat shy in that respect.

All right. Here's what I've done planting wise in this bed. That's the two gallon sized Wasagaming Rugosa rose behind the curved iron salvage piece. It is surrounded by garden ferns, dormant right now, geranium macrorrhizum and tiny starts of hardy fuchsias in the four inch pots. I hope this rose spreads like you have said!

BTW the branch is from a camellia shrub that was sacrificed to put up the deck. Poor thing was cut off while in full bloom! It didn't die, rather grew this branch outwards. So I'm letting to do that in honor of the shrub's tenacity.

My Ostrich Ferns were huge in Alaska and those geranium macrorrhizum are aggressive. I wish they could move and leave Wasagaming to it. They might have to fight it out.

Hi Sheila. You are completely right that geranium macrorrhizum are tough growers. They were already present in this bed, so I'm letting them do their thing for now. If they seem to be overcrowding the Wasagaming rose, I will remove them. Took me awhile, but I finally found the type of fern planted here. It is Dryopteris filix-mas 'Linearis Polydactyla'. This is a tall growing fern with very delicate fronds. The fronds almost look transparent. I've found this fern to not be a thug. It mixed will with other plants.

Looks beautiful, Dara. Let the best plant for the spot win.

I'm late reading this post, so not sure if you are still considering Sir Thomas Lipton. He is the only Rugosa I grow. They generally don't like our hot/humid/rainy climate with soggy, acidic clay soil, but STL is one of the very few recommended for our growing conditions. He gets big and blooms throughout the season here. Here's a picture I took this weekend where he is starting to leaf out after hard pruning over the winter...mine gets pretty dense...a thicket of thorns rather than open growth habit

and here he is just starting to bloom spring of 2017

Just as gorgeous as can be pat_bamaz7! Thank you so much for posting these wonderful pictures of Sir Thomas Lipton rugosa rose. Yay for this rose! I am still considering planting STL though maybe in another bed as everyone has convinced me that the above bed is too small for more than one big rose. Though I'm still not completely convinced of that! My soil is the exact opposite of yours. I have sandy, rocky, reclaimed forest soil that is exceptionally well draining. Plus in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island we experience severe multiple months long, drought. So my STL didn't get as big and lush as your beauty. But the basic shape is there. I like stands of roses that allow me to do interesting things planting underneath them. STL allows that to happen.