If you read the Springhill article in last week’s Bloom Thyme Friday, you know that roses are planted more than any other plant. It was fun to read the favorites for each state. LINK
GARDEN ROSES
You hear a lot about types of roses and there are many: hybrid teas, grandifloras, noisettes, polyanthas, old garden roses – just to name a few! I believe all of them are beautiful and have their place. I especially love old garden roses and will even give some room to a diva or two. However, most of the roses in my garden are ones I simply call “garden” or shrub roses. Even though my garden is large, it is a cottage garden and is home to all kinds of shrubs, perennials, herbs, veggies, annuals, and roses! So I want roses that work well with the other plants, aren’t difficult to care for and are great for cutting and sharing! Note: I have about 175 roses tucked around all those other plants!
FRAGRANT GARDEN ROSES
Contrary to what you might have heard, there are easy care shrub roses with fragrance.
Here are a few of the fragrant ones in my garden…
SAVANNAH: Large vigorous shrub with large full blooms filled with deep rose fragrance. A standout in the garden!
MOTHER OF PEARL: A fabulous bloomer with gorgeous peachy pink blooms. Light sweet fragrance. I keep adding more! I think I’m up to eight of these! They pair very well with white lilies in the garden.
FLAMENCO ROSITA (Ivor’s Rose): Lovely old fashioned blooms on a large, hardy, disease resistant shrub. Stunning color and a wonderful fragrance.
QUIETNESS: Such a pretty soft pink bloom with medium rose fragrance. Delicate looking blooms on a sturdy shrub.
MUSIC BOX: Small hybrid tea-type blooms on a large, blooming machine. Light rose fragrance. Confession time: I have 9 of these roses. They look so pretty in the garden and last well in a vase! (Easy Elegance Collection)
CHAMPAGNE WISHES: Rich creamy white blooms with an ivory center on a medium-sized shrub. Sweet fragrance. (Easy Elegance Collection)
AT LAST: Great bloomer, lovely petals, with ruffled edging and the orange/peachy color is divine and right on point with today’s color preferences. This one has a wonderful medium to strong fragrance. Proven Winners has a real winner in this rose!
DESDEMONA (David Austin): A lovely, floriferous bloomer that as you can see the pollinators love. Lovely light old rose fragrance.
THE GENEROUS GARDENER (David Austin Climber): A well-behaved climber – about 8′ – 9′ in my garden. The blooms are large and open beautifully. A lovely old rose/myrrh fragrance.
EARTH ANGEL: This one is relatively new in my garden and has taken a while to become her best self. Now in her 3rd year, I can say that I need at least one more! Beautiful, fragrant and few roses match her in beauty and charm!
POSEIDON: Full blooms in a wonderful lavender color. The petals have beautiful ruffled edges. The fragrance is light to moderate.
Pomponella, Posiedon, and Earth Angel are Kordes roses. I find that Kordes roses do very well in my garden (Zone 5b) and there are many on the market. Note: More than 30 years ago the Kordes Company (Germany) made the unpopular business decision to stop spraying their rose fields. The result was that they were way ahead in the sustainable rose department.
SPEAKING OF FRAGRANCE
We know that fragrance is very subjective and this is truly a subject where there is much more than meets the eye… errr nose.
Recently I had the chance to have the delightful Rebecca Koraytum of David Austin Roses as a guest on the Rose Chat Podcast. She gave a lot of insight on “THE FRAGRANCE OF ROSES.” You can listen here…
GARDEN ROSES WITHOUT FRAGRANCE
This list of roses is beautiful in the garden and wonderful in a bokay – however in most cases, these don’t have fragrance or have very little fragrance. I don’t let that stand in my way and still consider them very valuable. Fragrance can be added with lavender, lilies, mint, lemon balm, and a bevy of other herbs and flowers. Just like gardeners who grow them, roses grow best with good companions.
THE FAUN: A blooming machine with gorgeous blooms all summer long. Sometimes I get a hint of fragrance with this one. The cupped blooms on this one look very old-fashioned but this one was released in Denmark in 1983.
PETITE PINK: Covered all summer with the sweetest sweetheart blooms. Lasts and lasts in a vase and dries very well for dried arrangements!
POMPONELLA: Large shrub with arching canes of beautiful clusters of blooms. Just so pretty and a mild fragrance.
THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT
Friends, these lists are just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many great garden roses today and more on the way! Yes, we’ve come a long way from when that first Kock Out rose was released. Letting the world know that roses truly could be grown without chemicals and realizing that is exactly what many gardeners are looking for! Today many dedicated hybridizers are committed to bringing beautiful and sustainable roses to our gardens. I have the pleasure of testing the new roses from time to time and I can tell you, the future is bright.
There are rose trials going on constantly and awards being given to outstanding garden performers each year. Much of this is done regionally and that takes “finding the right rose for the right place” to the next level!
My good friend Dr. David Zlesak works closely with the ARTS trials (American Rose Trials for Sustainability). Each year they release more regional winners. Take a look at their website here. Dr. David joined me to chat about the ARTS program on Rose Chat a few months back. You can listen here.
EASY ELEGANCE COLLECTION
Most of the roses in the Easy Elegance (Link) collection I would recommend. Another line to be looking for is the True Bloom (Link) collection. Easy Elegance roses are available at most Lowes and as the True Bloom plant inventory is built, they will be sold at Lowes and Home Depot. Currently, they are mostly found on the west and east coasts.
WHERE TO BUY
I have also been getting a lot of questions about where I buy my roses. While I buy local when I can, these roses can be tricky to find in my neck of the woods, so I look to online sources. Here’s a list of suppliers with a link to their websites. Take a look around, these websites have loads of information…
High Country Gardens (Link)
Heirloom Roses (Link)
Roses Unlimited (Link)
Antique Rose Emporium (Link)
Palatine Roses (Link)
David Austin Roses (Link)
Chamblees Roses (Link)
Jackson and Perkins (Link)
TRUTH BE TOLD
Truth be told — no plant is NO CARE. Even the Garden of Eden has its “issues.” Each garden has its own variation of soils, climates, and disease/pest pressure. There are many bugs and diseases that can “love” your plants too. Fortunately, by regularly spending time with our plants to not only enjoy them but also to see what’s going on, we can keep them from being loved to death by pests. 😉
Until next time, here are The Generous Gardener, Quietness and Music Box working together…
I’m so glad you listed Champagne Wishes. I’ve added two more and they started blooming even as “babies”. Other than dead heading and feeding, they basically are trouble free and beautiful.
It is such a sweet rose! The color is so much richer than just white!
You having me longing for a larger garden! Just LOVE the Music Box rose, so pretty!
There are so many pretty ones available!!
My favorite in your rose collection today is by far Savannah as I have her. So beautiful with a wonderful and lasting fragrance. All of your roses and their leaves look so healthy, and, of course, they are all gorgeous! I am finding Japanese Beetles on my roses now, not a lot but enough to do damage to the buds and petals. And it is supposed to get hot here in VA on Father’s Day (90 or more degrees). I have been pruning this past week the spent rose blooms and dead rose canes. It is really a lot of work, but their elegance and beauty make up for it. My Heirloom lilac-colored rose has bloomed, and the color is so unusual. Just love it and trying to dry the petals. Google and see a pic of the Heirloom rose. Heirloom is the name of the rose. Happy Father’s Day to your Mr. G.
wow so many beautiful roses, the variety is endless, I have alot of explorer and knockout roses but also species roses and lost the graft on my orange roses and it reverted back to dr huey. still a pretty deep red. my new dawn never did recover fully after that cold snap a few years ago and I had to move it last year which set it back even more. hopfully it will recover fully with the other roses. my fairy rose is hanging on in the front doesnt get very big.
Thank you, Teresa!! Your wisdom and your advice are so helpful. I am running out of room in my garden, but you make each of these roses so inviting.
So many pretty ones to choose from!
Love your choices! I have several of these and at end of season bought At Last. It sat alone on the lot and was blooming it’s head off, I read that it can blackspot but the blooms were just gorgeous and the fragrance was b-e-a-u-tiful! I thought “Your going home with me, we’re going to be great friends!” anything that blooms like that gets a free ticket to ride!
At Last is a pretty one!