Roses in Bags ... The Sequel

After I had some time to digest my rant from yesterday about abused roses in bags being sold to unsuspecting customers, I realized that I left out something really, really important ....


If the roses I showed at Big Lots are poor examples, what do good bare root roses look like?



I'll show you some photos so you can see for yourself.


Here are two bagged roses, bought from Home Depot last year.  The Grade #1 on the label means that each rose has 3 or more good-sized canes.  The grade designation has nothing to do with the health or condition of the rose.

This is what the roses looked like when I removed them from the package:

See how most of the roots had to be chopped off so the rose would fit into the colorful little plastic bag?

This is what a bare root rose is supposed to look like:

Healthy canes ... profuse roots ... this rose is beautiful.

Here was my entire order before I tied it.  12 roses, carefully bundled and wrapped in a large plastic bag so they wouldn't dry out.  What a contrast!

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to tell you that the bagged roses and the Canadian roses are budded onto different rootstocks. 

The bagged roses are on Dr. Huey, the most prevalent rootstock out there, which grows well in the rose production fields in Texas and California, but is lousy in the acid, clay soil here in Virginia.  You all would recognize Dr. Huey ...  he's that dark red, once blooming rose that you get when your rose's graft dies?  (I once heard it called the most popular rose in America ... and not in a good way.)

The other roses are budded onto Rosa multiflora, which is much better suited for my area.  It has a finer root structure, which is why the photos above look like a rats nest.

If you're want to buy budded roses, I highly recommend the following Canadian nurseries.  There's no problem shipping to the US, their prices are very reasonable, customer service is good, and I've already shown you the quality you can expect to receive.

Palatine Roses

http://www.palatineroses.com/

Pickering Nursery

http://www.pickeringnurseries.com/

Got Questions?  I'll be happy to answer them.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)

Just Say No to Roses in Bags!

While I was out running errands earlier today, I stopped into Big Lots to pick up a couple of things.  Right inside the front door, on an end cap of summer-related items, I saw this:

There is so much wrong with this picture ... I hardly know where to begin.

It's WAY too early in the year to be buying and/or planting bare root roses in this neck of the woods.  Planting season here begins at the end of March.

Who knows how long these little guys have been inside of a dark box. What would normally be healthy new growth is blanched and stretching to reach the light.  This display was not there when I was in the store last week ... and roses should never be inside the building in the first place. 

Almost all of their roots are chopped off so they'll fit inside these skinny little plastic bags.  It's a very efficient (in other words, cheap) way to package and transport roses, but a bad way to prepare them for someone's garden.

There were familiar names like Queen Elizabeth, Miss All American Beauty, Joseph's Coat, Peace, Chrysler Imperial, and others.  One may even get the notion to buy some and 'save' them from their torture.  After all, Grandma grew them ...

JUST SAY NO!

Imagine this scenario ....

A beginning rose gardener decides to take a chance and buy some $3 roses.  The roses struggle and fail to thrive.  The gardener shoulders the blame, figuring that the roses aren't growing well because of something he/she must be doing wrong. 

Where he/she went wrong was by buying roses that are probably not healthy in the first place.  All the ground preparation, fertilizer, fungicide, and care in the world won't make a healthy rose out of an unhealthy, damaged rose.

Don't be tempted by what appears to be a bargain.

A $3 rose is NOT a bargain.

Roses are a long-term investment in your garden.  Buy healthy stock from someone who guarantees the quality of their product. 

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)

Maymont Flower and Garden Show, 2010

I spent the most wonderful day yesterday with my friend Gale at the Maymont Flower and Garden Show (at the Convention Center in downtown Richmond)  I always go to this show on Friday, because of the crowds that come on Saturday and Sunday.  Friday is much more relaxed, and there's room to appreciate the exhibits and visit the vendors.

As Gale and I entered the main hall, we were immediately hit with the powerful scent of hyacinths from this exhibit just inside the front door.  What a wonderful relief it is to see some springtime, after all the snow and ice we've been dealing with all winter.

This little lady was nearby.  She didn't appear to be concerned that she was bathing in a large hall amid crowds of people.

Ashland Berry Farm, which also specializes in water gardens, had these as part of their display.  I love most things Tiki, so I was immediately drawn to them.  The water-spitting caterpillar-thing was really cute.

When Gale and I saw this display, we immediately called it the Man Cave.

The scale of this swing arbor is very similar to my Arcade.  I can see a simplified version of the top treatment making an appearance in Hartwood in the very near future.

This little garden shed was precious.  I love the colors.  If you have to have a shed, you might as well make it cute.

This little vignette, with the bench sitting on salvaged baluster legs, was in the same exhibit.  The idea is cute, but I wouldn't sit on it because it didn't look all that sturdy.

As we exited that exhibit, we turned and saw this

Our jaws dropped.  This tree house is perfect in every way.  It's exactly the right mix of junky and classic ... chippy and lived in.  We both agreed that we would lift it out of the show and place it in our yards without any changes.  (She would have to battle her HOA to do it, though.  Living in the country as I do, there'd be no problem like that here.)

Look at the details.  The stained glass on the porch, the brackets, the windows, the pressed tin roof.

I photographed this little beauty from all angles, with a flash and without, so I wouldn't miss any part of it.  It gave me so many ideas that I can use as I remodel the cottage by the barn.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)

A Friday Flowers "Tea" Party

I love Tea roses.  These beauties are not to be confused with the florist-style hybrid tea roses that many people call 'tea roses'.  True tea roses are healthy, vigorous, floriforous shrubs that command attention (and space) in the garden.

Madame Lombard

1878

"Angel's Camp Tea"

Found Rose

Burbank

1900

"Puerto Rico"

Found Rose

Tea roses build a twiggy structure that will eventually form a round bush, usually a bit wider than it is tall.  Many of them can get quite large and they dislike hard pruning, so give them some room.

Cels Multiflore

1836

"Fredericksburg Cemetery"

Found Rose

Comtesse Riza du Parc

1876

"Sawyer Plot Tea"

Found Rose

Tea roses thrive in hot weather ... blooming through the heat of summer, instead of sulking like modern hybrid teas can do. 

Homere

1858

Isabella Sprunt

1855

Madame Antoine Mari

1901

Madame Joseph Schwartz

1880

Aren't the colors beautiful?  They're warm and gentle ... never garish or loud.

"Bryan Freidel Pink Tea"

Found Rose

Mrs. B. R. Cant

1901

Mrs. Dudley Cross

1907

"Odee Pink"

Found Rose

Depending on the variety, the colors can be quite variable.  Sometimes they're darker, sometimes lighter.  None is more variable than "Smith's Parish", a Found Rose that was discovered in Bermuda.  It can have flowers that are white, or pink, or red, or any combination of the three.

"Smith's Parish"

Found Rose

As you might expect, since these beauties need heat to grow and bloom their best, they can be quite winter tender.  Most of them are not reliably hardy where it gets colder than here in USDA Zone 7 ... and some of them are iffy here unless planted in a protected spot.  I lost four tea roses last winter (Huntington Tea, Bon Silene, Isabella Sprunt, and Mrs. Dudley Cross)  because I had mistakenly planted them in a frost pocket.

Rubens

1859

"Westside Road Cream Tea"

Found Rose

Safrano

1839

If you live in a place where the climate is warm enough, and you have a bit of garden space to devote to a beautiful, tough rose, think about Tea roses.  Do you have room in your garden for a rose that can do this:

Safrano

Beautiful!

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)

Greetings From the Greenhouse.

Our unseasonably cold weather continues, adding to my HUGE case of cabin fever. Working in the greenhouse is a great way to feel better. The temperature outside is 38 degrees, and the wind is howling. In the greenhouse this afternoon, it was ...

Even though we still have a full foot of snow in the front yard, winter is beginning to wane.  Days are longer, the sun is higher in the sky, and the plants in the greenhouse are taking notice. 

When I make my weekly assessment of the cuttings, I see more and more of this:

The cuttings that have already rooted are growing new leaves .... and are showing signs of becoming real roses.

I'm repotting the rooted cuttings, taking them from their small 2-inch clear pots to 3 1/2" deep pots.  This gives them plenty of room to grow nice, strong root systems.

This is what it's all about.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)