MAC or New Dawn? House eater rose for DFW .

3 years ago

I have a blank wall that faces east by northeast it is two stories sloping to one story and it has no windows. There is no garden here - just grass up to the brick. Seems like a great open canvas for a house eater. I think I'm between Madame Alfred Carriere and New Dawn but would welcome other suggestions. The slight tilt of the wall to the north makes this wall have less sun than a straight east facing wall- so shade tolerance is a factor. Also, I live in Dallas with its alkaline clay and scorching heat. Here are factors I'm considering in the order of importance to me:

Disease resistance - especially blackspot. This is the first rose I'm planting at this house but I had roses at another place I lived in DFW and therefore I'm well acquainted with blackspot. I don't want to have to spray this rose. Especially if I need an extension ladder to so :-)
Bloom and rebloom quantity / quality. I have already dropped Cecile Brunner as I've heard the climbing version doesn't rebloom much it at all so this is an important factor. I like teh idea of this being a regular feature in my backyard.
General health of the plant. I like a healthy looking rose plant but know the shade may create some compromise here. Would prefer to not have to fertilize too much. Especially anything not organic. I don't want to have to amend or topdress soil aside from initial planting.
Ease of training - pretty sure MAC wins this one going away, but its on my list. Behind the others, but would be interested if anyone things New Dawn really isn't that bad. I've seen her but never had one so I don't know how bad it is to train really.
Individual bloom quality / performance - I haven't seen MAC in person. Would be interested in how long blooms stay on etc. Both look nice in pictures. Other items above would be much more important though.

Any input would be helpful. Looks like there isn't much activity on the Texas forum anymore but Gardenweb was a great resource to me 15 to 20 years ago.

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Comments (9)

fig_insanity Z7b E TN
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
You only need to know one thing. New Dawn will eat a house, yes indeed. But New Dawn eats humans for dessert.

It's one of my favorite roses; the porcelain pink is ethereal, the buds are perfect, the blooms are romantic. Completely disease free here. But....THORNS. Wicked, evil, blood-sucking, unavoidable, vampiric THORNS. My three ND are allowed free reign up their respective trees. Once every three or four years I suit up in armor and prune out the dead wood. Otherwise, I admire them from a distance.

My nephew, who used to help me with garden chores, re-christened ND as New D*mn, as every time he came near it, there was a freshly minted "d*mn!" floating blue-ly through the air.

EDIT: if you'd like to see what ND can do, in spite of the warning, there's a video on Youtube that might still tempt you into folly, lol.

New Dawn video
User
3 years ago
Har har, fig-SO TRUE. Another truly "evil" rose is Adelaide d'Orleans; that is the only rose I can think of that truly can compete with New Dawn for the wickedness of the thorns...
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Eric
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks for the warning! I was thinking you helped make my decision. But then I watched the video 😆
User
3 years ago
I've not found 'Mme Alfred Carrière' to be particularly resistant to Blackspot. YMMV, of course.
fig_insanity Z7b E TN
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
@User The only house-eating rose I know of that is WORSE than ND, thorn-wise, is Mermaid. Thankfully I'm not even tempted to grow that one, as it is NOT hardy here. But it is a stunning rose in full bloom (in someone else's garden), and I'm convinced from photos I've seen that it could eat Mt. Rushmore, if it were only a few zones farther south, lol.

The saving grace here is that Mermaid doesn't *require* pruning, so the only caveat is to not plant it near anything you ever want to find again.

Mermaid's flower

Mermaid's size

Mermaid's THORNZZZZZ
BenT (NorCal 9B Sunset 14)
3 years ago
How about Peggy Martin ? There is a huge display of it a Fort Worth Botanical Garden where it’s doing very well and could definitely eat a house.
Diane Brakefield
3 years ago
Grrr. I hate New Dawn, and I've grown several. Ouch. Diane
fig_insanity Z7b E TN
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
@BenT (NorCal 9B Sunset 14) Peggy is a great suggestion. I have one in a 15 gallon pot (I know, I know) that I keep meaning to put in the ground. Even in a pot, it has canes at least 12 feet long, and would be longer if I didn't have to whack them back to keep her from smothering other roses in my pot ghetto. Thornless, VERY healthy here, vigorous, hardy (unprotected except for our one week of near zero F before Christmas 2022). I don't detect a scent, and the flowers are smallish, but they are abundant. And it's somewhat shade tolerant. Perfect for Eric's site.

A stellar rose. I should have thought of it first, lol.

Renae is another great thornless rose (that I should have mentioned sooner). I'm not sure how shade tolerant it would be, as mine is in a full southern exposure, climbing up an old apple tree.
Eric
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks for the Peggy suggestion- will be looking at that more closely. Beautiful. Really appreciate it!! Good to know MAC may not be as disease resistant as I heard before