Hi folks
I've been growing roses more or less seriously for 15 years or so and have kinda felt like I'm getting the hang of things in the last few years. Not that I'm always successful by any stretch, but I chime in periodically about things I think I know like hardiness or bloom power of particular roses in my zone 5. I haven't posted as often lately as I used to because I've had to live on the computer for work since COVID (apologies to my GW family here), but I still lurk.
I've discovered in the last year or so that there is still a ton I don't know about growing roses in my own zone. I was buying my usual cartload of 20+ roses at Home Depot last spring (as a start for replacing the 150+ roses that usually die on me each year out of 1000), and I got to chatting with another lady doing the same. We were sharing notes about roses we liked, and when she reached for an Angel Face body bag I quickly and confidently stated that it's not going to survive in our zone 5 Nebraska. She responded, "That's odd, I don't have any trouble with Angel Face".
My jaw dropped. You mean ANGEL FACE? The heartbreakingly lovely 6 inch high lavender wimp that has one or two blooms before fainting onto its metaphoric couch and dying in rapid consumptive gasps? It's like saying unicorns thrive in our lakes and rivers. Sure, it may be reliable in warmer zones and I wouldn't argue with someone from California saying that. But in my zone 5 bitterly cold then baking hot and dry Nebraska? No way (I thought to myself). Still, I figured I had to learn the secret for keeping this rose happy. Turns out she was the president of our local rose society, so I signed myself up to join the next meetings.
One of the first events was a June breakfast that apparently rotates between the houses of various members. My word, what a humbling experience. One of the reasons I can grow 1000 or so roses in a large-ish suburban yard is that a whole bunch of my hybrid teas and floris are knee high at best. The people hosting the breakfast had absolutely huge hybrid teas and floris that I would have sworn don't survive in my zone. Gemini, French Lace, Frederick Mistral, Frances Meilland, Pink Peace - I've tried each and every one of those at least 6 times each in my yard and they've never even pretended to survive. In their yard, virtually all their HTs were at least the size of sofas if not Volkswagons. Canes as big as my arm. MINIS as big as easy chairs. I asked if they winter protected (nope - mostly tip hardy without it). Fertilizer routine (10-10-10 and organics once a year in spring). Gorgeous and prolific bloom that I've only approached on a few roses at a time, never all at once, and never those varieties.
I thought this might be a fluke until I saw the same at the next house for another event. And the next house. Yep, massive roses with great cane structure and extensive blooms. Even the local park with our Hamann Rose Garden that's to show off rose landscaping has the same kind of growth and blooms, on plants that largely don't have any surviving canes over the winter on most of them (I know, as I helped prune this year). Since then I've seen some member gardens that look less intimidating but still lovely and clearly I've been missing something for years.
After lots of talking and comparing notes, I have come to three conclusions about what I've been missing:
1. Roses like food.
Gee, who would have thought it, right? I mostly knew this but figured if I fed the soil, I'd feed the rose. It's true to a point but the spectacular roses require at least some supplemental food in my zone. The rose society makes its own blend of organic meals that are part of why the canes on their roses are so robust, so I've been adding that to my rose plans. Unfortunately the voles have also added it to their plans, and I've lost quite a few roses as well as a ton of bulbs to the little varmints and never had troubles before. Sigh. Every solution has its own problem I guess.
2. Grafted roses survive and thrive better in my zone 5 than own root.
I really really really didn't want to believe this, even though plenty of folks on GW have said as much. In fact if you check older posts I fervently argue that own root roses are as good if not better in zone 5 because the graft doesn't have to survive our winters. SOME of my own root roses, even some that are HTs and floris, are tall and impressive once established. Aha, that's the key word. Once established. There is a pattern behind which roses are among the 150+ per year that I replace after dying in the winter. A vast majority of the roses from excellent vendors that don't survive my winters are the own root HTs and floris. If I can get them past 2-3 years, they can become strong and robust blooming plants. In general, however, the HTs and floris that come to mind that have a significant presence in my yard are mostly all grafted. I'm resolving to buy primarily grafted roses for HTs and floris (unless I really can't resist and can't find it elsewhere) - the shrubs, hybrid musks, rugosas, once bloomers and OGRs still seem to do fine own root though some Austins can be a bit finicky.
3. Roses prefer to be sprayed to minimize blackspot in my zone.
Yeah, well, two out of three isn't bad. My roses are still going to have to tough it out no spray, and fortunately most of them build better blackspot resistance as they age. That means if I can keep them alive through #1 and 2, I don't have to worry as much about #3. I have too many respiratory issues to think about spraying, not to mention being too danged lazy. I also don't exhibit (except for this year when we're hosting the regional show) so I don't care if the leaves look a bit sad now and then. Frankly after 15 years of integrated pest and disease management (also known as "you're on your own" benign neglect in my yard), I don't have that much blackspot pressure in my dry zone 5 though others who spray do.
So in answer to the topic of this post of what I don't know, I'm tempted to answer "just about everything" but that's not actually true, however humbling all of this is. Life is about learning and being willing to admit when you have made mistakes so you can continue to learn from them. Besides, I've learned a ton about how to kill roses (!) so if I've said a rose DOES survive in my zone it's pretty likely to be accurate. Just don't take my past pronouncements that a rose doesn't survive in my zone literally for a while till I put some of these things into practice.
We'll see if I can have a great spring flush in 2023 now that I've got these "new" strategies and have mostly recovered from pruning every last one to the ground to counteract RRD two years ago. If so I'll try to post some photos - see earlier note about being lazy (this time to catalog three years of backlogged photos) for why this might be a bit behind.
Cynthia
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoNippstress Nebraska z5 thanked BenT (NorCal 9B Sunset 14)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoNippstress Nebraska z5 thanked Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6
3 years ago
Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR