Easy Care Heirloom Roses ... The List!

When I was asked to present a program on easy care heirloom roses, I decided to use the following criteria to create the list:

1.  Roses that respond the best in MY garden with minimal care ... meaning irrigation, fertilizer, and fungicide when I remember to do it.  I live in north central Virginia, which is USDA Zone 7A.

 2.  Roses that bloom with more flowers than my level of effort should produce.

 3.  Roses that look their absolute best in the worst of conditions.  At the end of a hot, dry summer these were among the stand-outs ... both in quality of flowers and the appearance of the bush itself.

I further narrowed the list to a manageable number that could be presented to a group in less than an hour, allowing time for questions. 

Let's sit for a while and look at lots of pretty rose pictures.  (Any of you folks with slow internet connections are going to hate me for this.)

Small Shrubs

 "Caldwell Pink", found rose

Polyantha, Lilac Pink, 3-4 feet, repeat blooming

White Pet, 1879

Polyantha, White, 2-4 feet, repeat blooming

Echo, 1914

Polyantha, Pink blend, 3-4 feet, repeat blooming

Ducher, 1869

China, White 3-4 feet, repeat blooming

La Marne, 1915

Polyantha, pink blend, 3-5 feet, repeat blooming

Apothecary Rose, bef. 1240

Gallica, dark pink, 3-4 feet, spring blooming

Rosa Mundi, bef. 1581

Gallica, pink striped, 3-4 feet, spring blooming

Medium Shrubs

 "Angel's Camp Tea", found rose

Tea, light pink, 4-6 feet, repeat blooming

Madame Antoine Mari, 1901

Tea, pink blend, 4-5 feet, repeat blooming

"Tutta's Pink Noisette", found rose

Noisette, light pink, 4-6 feet, repeat blooming

Duchesse de Brabant, 1857

Tea, light pink, 4-5 feet, repeat blooming

Marie Pavie, 1888

Polyantha, white blend, 4-5 feet, repeat blooming

Marie Daly, sport of Marie Pavie

Polyantha, light pink, 4-5 feet, repeat blooming

Charles de Mills, 1829

Gallica, dark pink, 4-5 feet, spring blooming

Large Shrubs

"Darlow's Enigma", found rose

Hybrid musk, white, 6-12 feet, repeat blooming

"Portland from Glendora", found rose

Portland, medium pink, 6-8 feet, repeat blooming

Sidonie, 1846

Portland, light pink, 6-8 feet, repeat blooming

Mutabilis, 1894

China, yellow blend, 4-8 feet, repeat blooming

Sarah Van Fleet, 1926

Rugosa, medium pink, 6-8 feet, repeat blooming

Madame Plantier, 1835

Hybrid alba, white, 5-12 feet, spring blooming

Shailer's Provence, 1799

Hybrid china, medium pink, 6-10 feet, spring blooming

Banshee, 1773

Hybrid damask, light pink, 6-8 feet, spring blooming

Repeat-blooming Climbers

Crepuscule, 1904

Noisette, apricot, 10-12 feet, repeat blooming

Climbing Pinkie, 1952

Climber, medium pink, 8-10 feet, repeat blooming

Alba Meideland, 1986

Climber, white, 10-12 feet, repeat blooming

Awakening, 1935

Climber, light pink, 12-16 feet, repeat blooming

New Dawn, 1930

Climber, light pink, 12-16 feet, repeat blooming

White Cap, 1954

Climber, white, 8-10 feet. repeat blooming

Parade, 1953

Climber, dark pink, 8-12 feet, repeat blooming

Spring-blooming Ramblers

"Peggy Martin", found rose

Hybrid multiflora, dark pink, 10-16 feet, scattered repeat

Alberic Barbier, 1900

Hybrid wichurana, white blend, 15-20 feet, spring blooming

Albertine, 1921

Hybrid wichurana, orange pink, 12-15 feet, spring blooming

Aviateur Bleriot, 1910

Hybrid wichurana, light yellow 15-25 feet, spring blooming

"Arcata Pink Globe", found rose

Hybrid setigera, light pink, 15-20 feet, spring blooming

Leontine Gervais, 1903

Hybrid wichurana, apricot blend, 20-30 feet, spring blooming

Gardenia, 1899

Hybrid wichurana, white blend, 16-24 feet, spring blooming

Ghislaine de Feligonde, 1916

Hybrid multiflora, yellow blend, 8-12 feet, spring blooming

As I said in THIS post from earlier in the month ... if you want easy care roses, you have many choices beyond Knock Out.  The roses I presented here are mostly available at specialty nurseries, and they usually cost less than the Knock Outs that you see at the big box stores.  Why not grow a piece of history in your garden?

This is by no means a comprehensive list of ALL roses that grow well with minimal care ... these are some of the roses that please ME the most. I offer them, hoping that they might also please you. 

Do you have a rose or two that you grow that you think should be on this list?  I would love to hear about it.

Easy-Care Heirloom Roses

This Sunday, February 13, I will present a program for the Arlington Rose Foundation titled "Easy-Care Heirloom Roses".  The meeting, at Merrifield Garden Center in Fairfax, Virginia, starts at 2:00pm, and I will begin my program shortly thereafter.

I wrote this program to show folks that there are plenty of roses available for your garden that don't require heroic measures to look good and bloom. 

Most people get their rose information from mainstream nurseries or big-box stores.  These locations are driven by their suppliers, who buy whatever the reps are pushing, and this has increasingly become exclusively some sort of Knock Out rose.  This leads folks to think that their only options for easy-care roses are Knock Outs. 

We HAVE choices!! Don't feel as if you HAVE to plant a Knock Out rose ... unless a Knock Out rose is what you WANT to plant.

"But I HAVE to plant Knock Out", you say, "because other roses are hard to grow."  

WRONG!!!  There are SOME roses that take more effort to grow than others.  These are NOT the ones I'm talking about. 

The roses that I am featuring in this program grow and flower and thrive with minimal care.  Nothing in the garden is completely maintenance free.  Give these roses water and fertilizer, and perhaps the occasional spritz of fungicide (though not required), and they will reward your effort many times over.

My program is divided into sections:  Small shrubs, Medium shrubs, Large shrubs, Repeat-flowering climbers, and Spring-flowering ramblers.  This should provide more than enough choices for whatever situation you have in your garden.

Within each of the shrub categories, I am featuring both repeat-flowering roses and once-blooming Old Garden Roses.  Both of these types are very valuable in the garden, and I try to show folks that they need not limit their choices to repeat-blooming varieties.  (Banshee, the beauty I show above, is a once-bloomer, and the shrub without flowers is beautiful all season long.)

By the time I get to the end of the program, and I have answered the last question, I hope folks will leave having been introduced to at least one rose that they will want to add to their garden.

If you are local, I hope you can come out on Sunday to hear me speak.  I would love to meet you.  If you can't come, check back here next week and I will publish the whole list of the roses I feature.  I would do it now, but I'm still editing it a bit ... I may add one or two to the list between now and Sunday.

My Rose Gardening Calendar

It is only natural, at the beginning of this new year, for me to look ahead and plan for the gardening year to come.  All of the roses in the garden are sleeping right now, but they will awaken in a few months, and there will be much to do.  I am often asked about my rose care program.  Last year I wrote this all out and put it into a one page handout, which I will share with you ... along with some of my favorite photos from 2010.

Bella Donna

A Year in My Rose Garden

January/February. On those few nice winter days we get, work on my ramblers and climbers. Remove old canes that are woody and flowered out, and rearrange the remaining canes on their structures to make room for new basal canes in the coming season. Evaluate once-blooming Old Garden Roses, reducing their height by up to one-half, and removing bloomed-out canes, if necessary.

Banshee

March. Prune repeat-blooming roses when the forsythia is blooming. Pull winter weeds, reapply mulch, test irrigation system.

"Portland from Glendora"

April. Begin fungicide spray program as soon as roses leaf out, for best success at blackspot prevention. Mix fungicide according to label directions, and spray at the recommended interval. (I use Bayer Advanced Disease Control every 14 days) Fertilize roses as soon as the soil warms and the roses are growing vigorously.

Innocence

May. Enjoy the roses, because there are new ones every day! Continue fungicide spray program. Remember to water the roses if there hasn’t been sufficient rain. Modern roses will benefit from an application of organic fertilizer toward the end of the month.

The Rose Field

June. Most of the roses should be blooming really well this month. Japanese Beetles will arrive at the end of the month, just as the roses are finishing their first flush of bloom. (I hand pick beetles, or just ignore them)

"Arcata Pink Globe"

July/August. Modern roses are usually resting in the heat of summer. Chinas, Teas, and Polyanthas continue their show. Be sure the roses are getting enough water. Pull weeds, or spray herbicide, as necessary. Spray fungicide every two weeks.

Zephirine Drouhin

September. Enjoy the beginning of the fall flush of flowers. Apply organic fertilizer. Continue fungicide spray program.

Crepuscule

October. Fall flush continues, especially for the Polyanthas. I usually need one last fungicide application in the middle of the month.

White Pet

November. The roses are beginning to sleep for the winter, as temperatures cool and daylight gets shorter. I don’t winter-protect my roses, but you can mound mulch or soil at the base of more-tender roses after a couple of hard freezes.

Marie Pavie

December. Enjoy the Holidays, and dream of the rose season to come. The cycle starts over again in January.

Saint Nicholas