What does the word 'hardy' mean to you? It is going to have an enormous influence on what is, and is not going to be hardy in your garden.

One of the problems with modern roses, is that the hardiness ratings are often for the coldest a rose can hold onto life with its fingernails. People who are used to it, often don't mind growing a rose that dies back to the ground every year, puts out a couple of basals, and produces a dozen roses a season. Is that going to be acceptable to you?

Then there are the roses that perform reasonably well *as grafted plants*. Own-root they just sit and wave at you and never grow. This is a big part of the Palatine feeding frenzy. There are very few reliable sources of budded roses left, and they are at the top of the list. In general, if a rose is cane hardy it will eventually make a decent specimen own-root.

I can't comment on hardiness, but I think the rose you mean is lemon Zen. I grow that rose and like it very much. . Can be a climber. Matt would be able to Advice you on it's growth In Colorado. John starnes said it was only ever growing Indoors in Colorado

A good point, Mad Gallica. I have suspected that for many evaluators, "hardy" means that it will survive. At all. I do want something much better than that for my garden. I absolutely want roses that are delighted to be growing in my garden, and show it. I suppose I have been spoiled by having grown roses in an easy climate, but I am convinced by beautiful gardens I have seen in northeastern United States and northern Europe that this can be done. For heaven's sake, consider Sangerhausen! Elizabeth Park in Connecticut is 5b and it is lovely. Of course, they probably do more winter protection than I have in mind.

My experience in a mild winter climate is that there are roses that do well on their own roots, and roses that require the vigor of a robust rootstock to perform in a satisfactory way. I remember planting a virus-indexed Peace on its own roots and found the results to be pathetic. That was when I really learned that lesson. Trying to grow own-root Dart's Dash amd other Runaround Sue roses confirmed my understanding that own root is NOT always best. On the other hand, the vast majority of my roses were indeed own root and did excellently well. It all depends on the cultivar and the conditions in which it is being grown.

Looks like you are in favor of white/yellow roses. Hope you do not have or manage thrips in your garden.

Elena, I love a white garden, and have decided to soften the effect with pale yellows along with blue perennials. I rarely got thrips in my previous garden. Are they an especial problem here? I do not see them on the hydrangeas I have inherited (and plan to keep). I hope they also will not bother the Hibiscus syriacus 'Diana' which I love and plan to plant.

Vaporvac, I did indeed mean Lemon Zen. (I was copying from a list I had elsewhere and I suspect autocorrect played a part in that. Of course I am capable of doing typos all by myself.) Thanks, I will correct that. I will look forward to Matt commenting, or anyone else in Colorado. I think it looks very pretty, and would enjoy having one of John Starnes's roses, but if it is chancy I can let it go.

Elizabeth Park is 6a at the coldest. It is more likely a heat island 6b.

Mad Gallica, I guess the map I looked at was out of date, so thanks for clearing that up.

Still, I have seen beautiful roses in more northerly gardens in New England. My ancesters all came from northern New England and maritime Canada. I have not visited the Canadian sites, but have spent time in most of New England. And I always visit gardens.

Rosefolly, I am not sure that I know where you are exactly, just suggested to take this potential issue to consideration.

The European once bloomers are magnificent here, as are some of the Explorers, and of course rugosas. Those are going to be the backbone of any decent, cold weather rose garden here. It used to be that a serious rose garden would go through the churn of replacing modern roses every other year, but I really don't know who can still afford that.

The zone maps weren't specific enough to pick up heat island effects, but most people know they exist. I've heard of a gardener at Vassar in the 50's who grew rosemary in the ground because the Poughkeepsie heat island was enough to bump it up to zone 7. The old time rose society people would complain that they could grow HTs on their postage stamp sized urban lots, but their kids, who had an acre in the suburbs, couldn't.

Rosefolly, I don't have any helpful information whatever to offer, the conditions you're selecting roses for being wholly outside my experience. I just wanted to say, best of luck in your new garden!

Elena, late this spring I moved to Zone 5 Colorado. I have mentioned this in earlier related posts, but if you didn't see them, you would have no way to know. I suppose I could keep repeating it, but I thought it would annoy people to be told this over and over. I am happy to let anyone know who asks.

Mad Gallica, situations similar to this are exactly the reason Sunset developed the Sunset zones. Many western gardeners use them in preference than the USDA zones, and for good reason. They are more nuanced. They were first developed for the West, but they were later extended to the entire US. Their National Garden Book does not seem to have taken off though, and it is now long out of print. Of course with changes in climate they may no longer be as useful as they were at one time. Since the Lane family sold Sunset Magazine to Time Warner in 1990, I have not observed any effort to update the vast amount of gardening information they once produced. There was a new edition of the foundation Sunset Western Garden Book in 2012, but nothing since then. I will be interested in seeing if a new one comes out.

Thank you for your kind wishes, Melissa. It is actually enjoyable to have a vast new array of knowledge to acquire. I am having fun!

BTW, I have tried more than once to update my username to "Rosefolly in Zone 5", or "RosefollyZ5", or any other more informative name. It looks like it has taken, then it reverts to Rosefolly. Ah, well!

While I don't have any of your roses, I will be very interested to read your reports of how they do. It sounds like a nice list. There are a couple I've researched for myself but haven't pulled the trigger. Good luck!

Sunset zones are a joke for anything colder than zone 8. Which is why you are describing yourself as USDA zone 5.

Agh I forgot to get back to you! So sorry. I'm pretty north too, so hopefully the following is helpful.

I have a City of York, year 2 currently, own root, growing slowly but doing well and no winter loss so far. I have seen VERY promising photos on HMF from a garden in Kansas City so I'm pretty hopeful for mine.

I don't have Mme. Hardy but I do have the extremely similar bloom of Mme. Plantier which does *wonderfully* here and is probably one of my best roses, very reliable, heavy bloomer, a lovely scent that can waft even here, and hardy for sure.

My Jude the Obscure is grafted and I have doubts about how hardy or vigorous it would be as an own root here. It has hung on through the winters "by its fingernails", as Mad said above about some. If it dies I wouldn't replace it even though it's got beautiful and fragrant flowers.

For apricots, I have Alchemist (hardy and vigorous) and Morgengruss (hardy so far but slow growing) both very beautiful. Another white to consider is Guirland d'Amour.

Cynthia and Magpie, thank you both for exactly the kind of specific feedback I was hoping for! I will be revising and rethinking.

Cynthia, since you mention specifically selecting grafted roses, do you have any nurseries you can recommend? Most of my long rose-growing life, I have been planting primarily own root roses. Well, I've planted a few grafted roses, but Fortuniana won't cut it in zone 5!

I can't speak for grafted roses but I did want to reassure you that many own roots can do quite well here

I've never grown this one, but what about J P Connell? I've admired it and thought about ordering it for the bed nearest our wooded area. However, you'd need to check with someone who has similar growing conditions to find out how well it would perform for you.

Magpie, I assume (should I?) that Cynthia may be refering to roses that are borderline hardy, and that the grafted rootstock increases vigor, which indeed they do for many modern roses. Some rose are feeble on their own roots. I mentioned that in the case of Peace in my earlier post. I was thinking about this overnight. Your comment confirms the conclusion I came to. Where I am uncertain if a rose will do well, and if I am still determined to grow it, I will look for a grafted plant. Otherwise, I will be content with own root. That is probably what I am going to do with my once blooming European OGRs, and anything rated zone 3 or 4.

Cynthia, after reading your comments I decided to replace Prairie Snowdrift (Olsen) on my list with Snowdrift (Lim). Given that roughly 30% of the roses I hope to plant are once bloomers, I want the repeat bloomers to do a good job. I found it on sale from NatureHills, a nursery I never heard of before, and ordered it this morning. So now 5 of the maximum of 18 roses I have room for have been decided.

The three roses I ordered from High Country Roses all arrived yesterday - Moonlight Romantica, Goldbusch, and Pearlescent, all new to me. They are gorgeous! I've seen lots of roses in gallons that look less impressive than these do in quarts. I am going to pot them up into gallons later today so that when I plant them in September they will have the most robust root system possible. I am also considering your suggestion of Oscar Peterson - a lovely single.

Karen, J P Connell is a very handsome rose. I'm not sure about the repeat - I want good repeaters since I am growing several once bloomers. I looked at the comments on HMF. One grower said that it dies back to the snowline, but then grows vigorous new canes. In this part of Colorado, we get a fair amount of snow but then it melts, then repeat, over and over. I'm not sure that we have a reliable snowline. I will ask around and see what I can learn.

Speaking of singles, has anyone grown Golden Wings? A random conversation in a bookstore yesterday brought this one to my mind. The other roses suggested to me will not work in my garden, but I like the idea of this one.

Rosefolly,

We grew Golden Wings and it is a fabulous grower here. We took it out because it was going to be too large for the spot we put it. Decided not to relocate it because the Japanese Beetles decimated it in the summer.

I miss having it's yellow in my arrangements.

Rosefolly - glad the list was helpful! You're getting input from various people to give a range of opinions, and obviously the input from local Colorado people will be the most useful.

For grafted roses, I get big healthy affordable bare roots from the following vendors and don't hesitate to order anything I want from them: Palatine, Regan's, Witherspoon, Edmunds. Menagerie sent some gorgeous and healthy bare roots, but I don't consider them affordable till they have their 50% off sale. Similarly, Jackson & Perkins bare roots usually survive, but they have variable shipping conditions and policies that aren't ideal. David Austin roses arrive fine as bare roots, but they often deliver them late in May and that's not great for my zone. Local nurseries and things like Home Depot or Lowes can be good for many roses. My Home Depot carries Oscar Peterson and most Easy Elegance roses for around $25. I can often find other Canadian roses there like Morden Blush (highly recommended and totally hardy).

Yes, the grafted recommendation is for roses that aren't robust on their own roots in their first year. Some local rose gardeners have been able to grow and maintain relatively weak HTs on own roots as well as grafted (like Red Intuition), but I have much better luck and more robust plants long term if they start grafted. If I can only find something I want own root though, I do it.

I grew JP Connell for about 10 years and it was cane hardy in my virtual zone 4 pocket, like most of the Canadians. However, it never seemed to rebloom, in contrast to roses like John Cabot or Alexander Mackenzie that rebloomed reasonably well once established.

i was puttering in the garden yesterday and thought I'd throw in recommendations for a few more roses in soft colors:

Bliss Parfuma - absolutely rock solid hardy and low disease pressure, big fat Austin like blooms without the fussiness, tall and narrow and great rebloomer. Does fine on own root.

Heaven on Earth - big well-branched bush that can get to 6' or more. Soft apricot blooms that fade a bit to cream. Survived years in my zone 4 pocket with modest pruning after winter, then eventually bloomed itself to death. Great rebloomer and fine on own roots.

Folksinger - Buck shrub in soft apricot that is also a great hardy bush that can get to 5' or more. Trouble free and hardy to zone 5 - haven't tried it in colder pockets of the yard. Does OK in part shade and is fine on own roots. Both this and Heaven on Earth would go well with Prairie Sunrise

Sweet Fragrance - my favorite Easy Elegance rose in a non-fading apricot color that is cane hardy and 4-5' tall well bushed out. Disease resistant and consistent rebloomer - it can glow in the right kind of light. This one is in my top 10 roses among the 100s I grow.

Morden anything... hardy and good rebloomers once established

If you want a climber, Polka would fit in your color scheme. It's a darker apricot, but it's cane hardy and puts out the biggest multipetaled blooms in a lasting apricot. Just be sure to train its canes early as they harden up pretty quickly and don't cooperate with reshaping them.

If you can get the climber Barock from Palatine, that one has knocked my socks off this season. It's new to me, but the blooms are classic HT form and a non-fading soft apricot. My neighbor commented on how she wanted to cut the blooms on her side of the fence (of course I told her it was fine - do it!), and that's notable because she rarely asks for anything being a sweetheart.

If you like small tufted blooms in white, both Cassie/Snowdrift from Roses Unlimited and Lena from Northland roses have been pretty nonstop bloomers at the edge of larger beds. They provide cover for roses that have bare knees and would fit in nicely in pots if you like those. Lena has been hardy for me before but Cassie is new this year.

If you head to Walmart, they had the True series from Ping Lim. The yellow one is True Joy, and it has lemon yellow fluffy blooms that are starting to repeat pretty well even in the first year.

Irene's Awakening is a semidouble low rose that has cheerful large yellow blooms that repeat well. I think that's from High Country Roses. It overwintered well and stays a modest size. It would pair well with your other singles.

Just food for thought! If you get stuck for ideas in a color/style range of roses let us know and we can all chime in with opinions.

Cynthia

Golden Wings gets HUGE here! This one has to be something like 8x8 at the Denver Botanical Gardens.

I also wasn't insinuating anything about what Cynthia wrote, my comment about own roots was meant to be taken at face value, as a solitary comment and not a response to anyone in particular.

My mother lived in Longmont, Colorado in two different houses, for 8 or 9 years. The last couple of years she lived there I would visit to help do her spring pruning. Roses that stand out in my memory as doing exceptionally well for her are:

Jeanne Lajoie - My mom grew this as a climber over an arch next to the chain link yard fence (so it got a lot of wind). It took a few years to get to the top of the arch, but it eventually needed a good amount of pruning every year to keep it from smothering its neighbors. I remember it as always having some flowers whenever I would visit.

Elmshorn - This is an older Kordes rose, and I think High Country Roses is the only one who sells it. Although it does not seem popular these days, it was a stupendous landscape rose in Longmont, and almost always had flowers. My mom grew it in an area of poorer soil in the corner of the back yard.

Distant Drums - Another of my mom's favorite roses that was a healthy, fantastic performer for her, both in Longmont and Wichita before that.

Golden Wings - My mom loved this rose and it grew well for her in Longmont as well as in Wichita, Kansas where she lived before Longmont. The stamens still look pretty after the petals fall, and it blooms repeatedly throughout the season.

Alba semi-plena - This rose was a very vigorous grower in Longmont. It grew in a corner of the back yard where the board fence met the chain link fence next to the alley, and was pretty exposed to the north wind. After the spring time flowers, the blue green foliage looked beautiful the rest of the season. The heavy load of orange hips were stunning in the fall.

Rosa glauca - My mom grew this in the yard of the first house where she lived in Longmont. The foliage is beautiful year round. My parents only lived in that house a couple of years, so I don't know much about how much it will spread on its own roots.

Great suggestions PlantloverKat - Jeanne Lajoie was a happy climber for me in my zone too. Good feedback on Golden Wings and fabulous photo Magpie! That one is going on my list for my big giants area. I presume it doesn't sucker? Your comments are always insightful and it's good to get a variety of perspectives on any issue. That's why it's a forum and it's wonderful to be a generous and kind one too with everyone's time.

Cynthia

Cynthia I honestly have no idea if it suckers or not! I don't think so but couldn't say with 100% certainty. I wish I had taken a picture of the base! I definitely need to take a trip back to the botanical gardens, hopefully I can pull it off soon and provide some more insights. I agree many different perspectives are good, and I have benefitted a lot from reading your comments and threads in the past, it has absolutely played a role in the roses I've chosen for my own garden.

Golden Wings did not sucker for us. Here she is as a 2 yr old plant in June.

I'm not sure the botanical garden's one is a single plant. We have a neighbor with one that is as tall but not nearly as wide and it is at least 20 yrs old. Possibly 30.

Hello Rose Folly,

Welcome to the club of those of us who have grown roses in cold zones. I see a lot of worthwhile and interesting suggestions in the posts above.

With respect to your yellow rose list, there is one other that I think you might wish to consider. I am inserting a link to the High Country Roses site in Colorado, specifically to their page for the Canadian Artist Series Roses - "Bill Reid". The images of the bloom are more orange than the ones we grow in the Summerland Ornamental Gardens, we have six plants, all of which bloom abundantly in a bright sunny yellow.

The Canadian Bred roses in general and the more modern lines, 49th parallel and artist series in particular are well worth growing. Another spectacular rose in this series is "Campfire", aka "Tom Thompson. Here is a link to an old Houzz thread with reviews and good images of mass plantings of "Campfire", most being grown in zone 5 and lower. We have this rose in as the anchor variety planted throughout our Canadian Heritage Rose Garden in Summerland because of its mounding habit, prolific bloom and re-bloom and it's vibrant variable colours, red, yellow white all mingled in a single bloom.

Finally, a link to a thread on "Olds College Centenial", a little known Canadian hardy rose, hardy to zone 3. It has English Rose style blooms in a bronzy orange colour a bit reminiscent of Pat Austin. An English Rose for zone 3, I call it. This is a great favourite in the Summerland Ornamental Gardens. Several of the local rose nurseries are now stocking it, because people are asking for it.

I wish you much joy and success in your new cold zone garden. You are getting advice from the experienced old hands I see. I am certain you will have a spectacular new rose garden in your new home in Colorado.

Cheers, Rick

Ooh yes Rick, I'd forgotten about Bill Reid - it's a golden yellow that would fit well in with your singles and it's rock solid hardy for me once established. Campfire also has that singles feel and is never out of bloom, with mutable color from dark pink to coral to yellow to white (fades white in the summer). Its stays a modest size so it would fit well at the feet of other roses.

Rick - any possibility of the Olds College Centennial showing up in the US? HMF doesn't list any vendors.

In the meantime, Morden Sunrise carries some of the same oomph in a gold-coral tone with again that low petal vibe on a small bush.

Cynthia

Hi Cynthia,

Yes, it is sad that "Old College Centennial" (name is a link to HMF), never became popular. Likely because the Canadian Government was shutting down its ornamental plant breeding program just when this rose was released. It was bred at the research station in Morden Manitoba. It is named after my alma-mater and I ordered it for the Canadian Heritage Rose Garden at Summerland when we were building that new garden 5 years ago. I have propagated quite a few plants of it to sell at our spring plant sale and they go as soon as the sale opens. It and Gertrude Jeykll, are always the first to go and folk even ask if I will propagate it as a special request.

I looked and cannot find a source for it in the US. However, I have two suggestions if you wish to try to get it. I got many of the roses we planted at Summerland from a wholesale nursery in Grand Forks, British Columbia. It is called Bron and Sons Nursery, (the name is linked), and they are right on the Washington Border. I know they ship wholesale to the US, so you might try to call them and see if they would ship to you if you explain that OCC is not available in the US. Or they might be able to tell you if they know of a US retail nursery who stocks it. The other possibility is you could call Northland Rosarium in Spokane and ask if they might import it for you from Bron and Sons. They are only about 200 kms from Grand Forks and might be interested in getting this rose if they hear about it.

Sorry to recomend a rose that isn't available in the US. This is the first time that has happened. In my many years of growing roses, it has always been the other way around.

Cheers. Rick

Great ideas Rick! I need to email Northland anyway about reserving a replacement of Sven and Sigrid (two absolutely stunning pink hybrid musks) and I'll drop a suggestion for Old College Centennial with him.

Thanks for the links! They don't show up in the post but I can figure them out from the names.

Cynthia

It is sad that the Agriculture Canada bred roses are not well known, or well marketed in North America. Many of them are available in Northern Europe, even some that are rare in Canada. I am putting in a link to the Summerland Ornamental Gardens website, go to learn, then roses and scroll down until you see the article "Rose From the Dead" written for Harrowsmith Magazine. It explains why many wonderful garden worthy roses are not available/known.

The issue can be summed up in two words, business and marketing. The same explanation goes for many other roses, Austins, Bucks, OGRs, older shrubs, etc. Here is the link - Rose From the Dead.

To keep it on topic, many of the most garden worthy cold zone roses, are hard to come by. They are worth seeking out and returning to commerce by we, the knowledgable rose community.

Cheers, Rick

Florentina has done very well for me in zone five for a red climbing rose. This one is only on its third year

Also in that bed are Tes of 'ubervilles, Plum perfect, Bolero, Mother of Pearl, Belindas Dream, and sweet fragrance

This is a bed with many David Austin's that have done well Desdemona, Munstead wood, Boscobel, wollerton old hall, crown princess margareta, St swithun, Princess anne, Benjamin Britten, Queen of sweden, The Ancient mariner, and several others whose names are not coming to me. There are several that weren't blooming yet in these photos.

Thanks to all for the wealth of information that has come pouring out. I am simply overwhelmed. Even when I lived in zone 9 (the past 30 years), I thought this forum had grown just a bit lopsided toward the warm climate roses. I don't remember that being true back in the 1990's when I first started posting. I am grateful that so many have responded.

I now have probably as many roses as I am going to be able to fit in my new, smaller garden, especially since I plan to have as many perennials as roses, and a few other shrubs as well. I mentioned before that I ordered and received Pearlescent, Goldbusch, and Moonlight Romantica. I have also ordered Oscar Peterson and Snowdrift. The heat will delay shipping for those two. I am waiting to be notified from High Country Roses for these roses: Tuscany Superb, Prairie Sunrise, April Moon, Golden Wings, Aicha, Honeymoon, Madame Legras, Madame Hardy, and Morden Snowbeauty. I may need to cut two or three from that list due to reasons of space. It will need some measuring and some thought.

I have a house in my hometown of Aurora <MN. Can't get much colder than that. I happen to love, love Country Dancer, a Buck rose. I have about six growing there, and they have survived now for four years. I'm not around to baby them, except in the summer, and they pretty much have to survive on natural rain. If I lose one, I buy another. Now, I'm attaching pictures of the only climber I have ever ordered for that Minnesota house: Cecile Brunner. Does that look like CB to any of you? Starts yellow, then to a gorgeous apricot and gets pale at the end. It is next to a stone wall, so maybe the radiant heat keeps it alive. I'm going to order more...since it is doing well, whatever it is, I'll see if I can get a group of them to survive and spread out a bit.

Looks like Ghislaine DrDe FeligondFeligond Do you have other pictures? I'd like to see more of the leaves Also reminds me of autumn sunset but those leaves are so particular on autumn sunset. I'll have to take a look at poker. Polka I'm sure I have this rose somewhere I think I meant to say westerland. I'm looking in my pictures Anyway Does not look like my Cecil brunner

Not Polka I don't think.

I wonder if it is a Canadian rose Vedazu. Not Cecile.

Not poker Poker poker polka. That was a mistake! I can't findfind Bedazzle versa On HMF vedazu