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.