Rose Overload!

The past two weeks have been a blur!  As soon as spring weather arrived, I spent every available bit of time for weeks, working in the garden and getting the roses ready for their big show in May and June.  I try to do what I can to have the garden look its best when visitors come.  Whenever I'm outside, I have my iPhone in my pocket ... which is really handy for taking photos.  

Here is a selection of roses that have been photo-worthy so far this year ... in alphabetical order, because that's how they end up being arranged in my blog photo file.  This post is a long one.  Settle in, and ENJOY!!  (Highlighted rose names are links to take you to the rose's description page on Help Me Find, the best rose reference site on the web.)

'Alchymist'

  

'Alida Lovett', Hybrid Wichurana rambler. 1917.

'Annie Laurie', Floribunda, 2001.

"Arcata Pink Globe", Hybrid Setigera rambler, found rose.

'Augustine Girault', Hybrid Wichurana rambler, 1907.

'Baby Betsy McCall', Miniature, 1960.

'Climbing American Beauty', Hybrid Wichurana rambler, 1909.

'Coral Creeper', Hybrid Wichurana, 1938.

"Dennis's Not-Anemone Rambler", Hybrid Setigera Rambler, history unknown.

'Fabvier', China rose, bef. 1829.

'Garisenda', Hybrid Wichurana, 1911.

'Ghislaine de Feligonde', Hybrid Multiflora, 1916.

'Glenn Dale', Hybrid Wichurana, 1927.

'Gold Coin', Miniature, 1967.

'Golden Arctic', Large-flowered Climber, 1954.

'Golden Glow', Hybrid Wichurana, 1937.

'Grace Seward', Miniature, 1991.

'Green Ice', Miniature, 1971.

"Green Mount Red", Noisette, found rose.

Detail of front yard Hybrid Tea garden.  The pink rose in the front is 'Mme. Joseph Bonnaire'.

'Janna', Miniature, 1970.

'Mary Guthrie', Polyantha, 1929.

'Mary Washington', Noisette, bef. 1890.

Detail of Miniature Garden with Ramblers on the fence.

Detail of the Miniature Garden with Ramblers on the fence.

Detail of Miniature Garden with Ramblers on the fence.

'Moonlight', Hybrid Musk, 1913.

'Mrs. Robinson', Floribunda, 2008.

'New Dawn', Large-flowered climber, 1930.

'Orfeo', Large-flowered Climber, 1963.

'Paul's Himalayan Musk Rambler', Rambler, 1916.

'Pink Pillar', Large-flowered Climber, 1940.

'Robin Hood', Hybrid Musk, 1927, and 'Maid Marion', Hybrid Musk, 1930.

Unknown China with Virginia provenance, grown from cuttings from Sacramento City Cemetery rose garden.

"Setzer's Noisette", Noisette, found rose, said to have been taken cross-country from Virginia in the 19th Century.

'Shailer's Provence, Hybrid China, 1799.

'Shailer's Provence', Hybrid China, 1799.

'Silver Moon', Hybrid Wichurana, 1910.

"Single Pink China", China rose, found rose, thought to be a sport of 'Old Blush'.

'Verdun', Polyantha, 1918.

'White Quill', Mini-flora, 2003.

I can honestly say that my roses have never looked better.  My efforts to attend to things before they become a huge problem (like weeds and blackspot) are really making a difference.  Our rainy, cool spring helped, too.

In case this wasn't enough for you, there's still more to come.  Stay tuned!

Rare Roses ... Ferdinand Roussel

My main objective when I started collecting roses ten years ago was to provide a place to preserve rare roses.  One of the stars in the garden right now is 'Ferdinand Roussel', a rambler bred by Barbier & Co. in France in 1902.  This rose grows on my Rambler Fence, beside the gate, and it is in full bloom right now.

I was outside with my camera earlier today, because I realized that I don't have a decent photo of this once-blooming rose in my files. 

There also was not a photo in the listing for this rose on Help Me Find  (the best and most comprehensive rose reference site!)  Now there are three, because I uploaded them to the site a few minutes ago.

I am trying to do all I can to make sure that I have at least one good photo of each rose I grow.  With once bloomers, there is only a short window of opportunity to do this ... or I have to wait to try again next year.

Now that I have these photos of 'Ferdinand Roussel', I can cross one more off my list ... not that I actually HAVE a list, you understand.

The Rambler Fence Approaching Full Bloom

Open Garden Visitors yesterday were greeted by this sight as they walked down the driveway past our house toward the rose gardens in the back of the property.

The roses you see are:

1.  'Alexandre Girault'

2.  A heap of 'Auguste Roussel', 'New Dawn', and 'Ferdinand Roussel'

3.  'Jean Guichard' blending with 'Leontine Gervais'

4.  'Albertine', beside 'Rene Andre' and a root sucker of "Peggy Martin"

5.  'Paul Transon'

6.  'Aviateur Bleriot'

7.  'Alberic Barbier'

8.  'Silver Moon'

9.  'American Pillar' climbing into a cedar tree

(The name of each rose is a link to its description page on Help Me Find, a great rose reference site.

The Rambler Fence is a total mess this year, but it's a glorious mess with roses the size of haystacks.   I didn't take the time to thin or train any of them this winter like I usually do ... and it is still a spectacular sight, with thousands of flowers and buds.

I won't torture you by mentioning the fragrance (which is lovely, BTW).

How to Prune and Train Ramblers ... starring Albertine

When I tell folks that rambler roses can grow to be more than 20 feet across by the end of their third year, I usually see a look of fear spread across their faces.  With this post, I hope to show you that these roses are well within the reach of most gardeners ... and are a beautiful asset to the garden.

This is 'Albertine', a Hybrid Wichurana rambler introduced in France by Barbier & Company in 1921.  She will be our demonstration rose for this lesson.

Ramblers are once-blooming roses, which bloom profusely in the late spring on canes produced during the previous year.  New canes, which are long and flexible, grow from the base of the rose each year (called 'basal canes').  If left unpruned, a Rambler will grow into a large mound and spread across the ground.  Pruning them is very straight-forward, and can be accomplished on a large rose in about an hour. 

I find it best to do this in winter, when the canes are leafless and it's easy to see what I'm doing.  It feels good to get outside on a mild winter day and accomplish something in the garden.  (Temperatures here in Virginia have been in the upper 50's for the past two days ... perfect pruning weather!)

The older canes on 'Albertine' are those that are already attached to the fence.  The new canes produced during the growing season are the ones arching away from the fence.

The goal is to prune out old, excess canes and spindly, unproductive growth, keeping ten or twelve canes, and attaching them to the fence in a fan-shaped pattern. 

My ramblers each grow with a clematis in them, so I have the quick extra step of cutting off and removing the tangled, dead clematis stems.

This is what 'Albertine' looks like from the back of the fence.  Throughout the season, she sends shoots through the fence, seemingly heading for the neighbor's house.  Most of this growth will be removed.  Sometimes I will retain a particularly nice cane from the back of the fence, if I can maneuver it through the fence to the front side.

It is important to remove any canes that are dead or broken.

I cut out old, woody, unproductive canes, stepping back from time to time to get a good overview of my progress.  While I'm working, I keep my goal in mind ... retaining the long younger, flexible canes that will flower best in the spring. 

Don't be afraid to cut!  'Albertine' lost about half of herself while I was sorting canes and cutting.  Alberic Barbier, another rambler I pruned today, lost at least 3/4 of his canes.  He was REALLY overgrown, because I hadn't pruned him at all last year, and I only pruned lightly the year before. 

When in doubt, cut it out, is my motto.  If you cut a cane that you regret, arrange those that remain and you can cover up your mistake.  Ramblers are vigorous growers, and they recover quickly from hard pruning.

The old canes are gone, leaving the flexible new canes in the front.

The back of the fence is all tidy ...

... and the canes that remain are ready to be arranged and attached to the fence.

At this stage, I look at what I have left to see which canes will naturally go right or left, high or low.

I fine-tune my selections, and I sometimes discover that a cane is too stiff or pointing the wrong direction to go where I want it to go.  The cane marked below is healthy and I would love to have kept it, but there was no way I could have bent it enough to attach it to the fence without breaking it.

One by one, I attach the canes to the fence in a fan shape, as horizontally as I can get them without bending or breaking them. 

When rose canes are trained to at least a 45 degree angle, they produce more flowering laterals, which means that you will get more flowers. (Canes that are trained vertically will only bloom on the ends.)  The photo below shows one cane last spring, with its flowering laterals.  Look how many buds there are!

When we planted these roses, we stapled a single strand of fence wire between the boards of our fence to make it easier to attach the roses to the fence.  That's why it looks like the canes are floating between the fence boards.

Want to see the result?  I left 'Albertine' with ten healthy, flexible canes (five per side), attached to the wire.

Here is the pay off ... a well-tended rambler that produces maximum flowers on a healthy plant ... and, the way I do it, it only takes an hour or so per year to achieve.  (I'm using Leontine Gervais for this example, since these are such a good photos to show how many flowers ramblers produce.)

I make no secret of the fact that Ramblers are one of my favorite classes of roses.  Their flowers are beautiful and fragrant, their leaves are resistant to disease, they grow despite drought and neglect, and they are a powerful presence in the garden.

This is the upper part of the Rambler Fence in 2009.  The roses, left to right, are Alberic Barbier, Paul Transon, and Aviateur Bleriot. 

If you have any questions about Ramblers (or anything about roses, for that matter), send me an email or leave a comment.

'Albertine' wants to thank you for coming, and she hopes you will consider adding a Rambler or two to your garden.