(HOST) Roses have a reputation of being hard to grow. But commentator Charlie Nardozzi says that may no longer be true – if you grow landscape-type roses that flower freely, resist pests and are hardy in our cold climate.
(NARDOZZI) Roses have gotten a bad rap over the years. People love roses and want to grow them, but so often they end up bug and disease infested, barely limping through our Vermont winters.
If you love roses but don’t love the fuss of caring for them, then you should try the landscape roses. This class of roses features all the things you’d want in a carefree shrub. Plants are vigorous, hardy, and pest resistant, and they flower all summer. While the blooms may not be like the cut flower roses you see in florists’, the blossoms are still attractive and the shrub makes an excellent landscape plant, hedge or fence. Some are even fragrant, too. Just give them some fertilizer each spring, prune out dead or broken branches for shaping, and let them grow.
Here are some of my favorites.
The Knockout series was bred in Wisconsin and is hardy to USDA zone 4. So it will grow in most of Vermont. Plants grow 3 to 4 feet tall and wide and have good resistance to black spot and powdery mildew diseases. The series comes in a variety of flower colors, including red, pink and yellow. One of my favorites is the ‘Double Knockout.’ This selection has red, double flowers that I use for cutting. I know it’s tough because it survived deer browsing last year and bounced right back. The newest in the Knockout line is ‘Rainbow Knockout.’ It features coral pink blooms painted with a rich yellow at the base.
An older line of landscape roses is the Carefree series. Many gardeners are familiar with the rose-colored ‘Carefree Beauty’ and the pink flowering ‘Carefree Wonder.’ The breeder describes these roses as needing "no more care than a peony." They grow 5 foot tall and wide and are hardy to zone 4 – and have good pest resistance. ‘Carefree Sunshine’ is the newest variety in this line. It features bright yellow flowers and good black spot disease resistance.
Although the Simplicity roses are generally not as hardy as the previous two series I mentioned, they do have something the others don’t: fragrance. The new ‘Lavender Simplicity’ features large, semi-double lavender colored blossoms that are great for cutting and have a citrus scent. The shrub grows 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide – making it a good hedge plant, too.
Finally, we shouldn’t forget our friends to the north. The Canadian Explorer series has a number of shrub roses hardy to zone 3. Although not as floriferous as other landscape roses, they are still good to grow in our tough climate. ‘John Cabot’ grows 6 feet wide and up to 9 feet tall, so can also be used as a climber. It produces a main flush of double red flowers in summer and repeats blooming until frost. ‘John Davis’ is a similar selection – only with double pink blooms.
So don’t shy away from roses this summer. Get some of the landscape varieties, and enjoy the color and greenery without worrying about their care.