Roses take over

Fri. May. 29, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Roses take over

If you’ve been listening to me, you know I’m not fond of fussy plants. Roses were in that category for quite some time until I learned more!

I love my carpet roses. For gorgeous bloom all summer, they deliver year after year.

Carpet rose late June 2019. Photo by Teri Knight

 I also have Easy Elegance roses from Bailey Nursery that have delivered for 6 years.

Rose ‘Music Box’ from Bailey Nurseries

My favorite magazine, Northern Gardener, has a fantastic article on roses for those of us in cold climates. Oh there are so many beauties but here a few to whet your appetite for cold hardy roses.

 With vigorous trialing programs in Dilworth, Minnesota, there are fourteen rock star roses that thrive with minimal maintenance! Keep in mind, roses need full sun.

Highwire Flyer rose ‘Radwire’, is described as very vigorous. It’s a relatively compact and dense climbing rose that produces a wealth of semi-double to double hot pink blooms! It grows 3 to 4 ft. wide and 6 to 8 ft. tall. It’s a stunner.

Rose Highflyer ‘Radwire’

‘Music Box’ is one of the roses I have! Each multi-colored double bloom is amazing as it evolves from butter-cream yellow to warm pink. It blooms all summer off and on, stays about 3 feet tall and wide. 

‘Music Box’ photo by Teri Knight

Did I mention these roses, including my carpet roses, don’t get black spot? There is ONE thing… Japanese beetles.  (shudder)

But let’s not end there! ‘Sunrise Sunset’ has blue-green foliage with fuschia pink flowers.

Sunrise Sunset

Blue-green foliage is disease-resistant on this everblooming shrub rose. Its dense, spreading habit makes it an ideal ground cover and is also well suited to mass plantings. Performs extremely well in cooler and warmer regions.