Category Archives: Roses

Get your motor running

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Sambucus Black Lace™ covered in ice.

Sambucus Black Lace™ elderberry covered in ice.

Brrr . . . it’s cold outside, isn’t it? Yesterday, I wore flip flops and a sleeveless shirt, and today, it’s jeans, a sweatshirt and wool socks. Good grief, it’s April 10, not January!

Frozen garden on April 10, 2013

Frozen garden on April 10, 2013

The weather this spring has been weird, but never fear, things will improve. If, like me, you already planted some of your annuals, you’ll want to cover them tonight unless replacement is your plan. I’ll cover my favorites, but I’m waiting for the rain/freezing rain to end. The ground is so warm it’s not sticking here in north central Oklahoma, but things could change. Below is the same view last April 9th. Weather is a funny thing.

Lower garden April 9, 2013. Remember how hot everything got in summer though.

Lower garden April 9, 2013. Remember how hot everything got in summer though.

Because I’m stalling on an article I’m not sure how to approach, I’ve been bidding on daylilies, my June favorites. Going through my photos of springs in former years is dangerous. To spread the love and warm you up, I’ll share photos of my garden last summer. We can’t change the weather, but we can change our attitudes, right? So, let’s return to last June and enjoy ourselves. Maybe I’ll tempt you to buy a few daylilies too.

Back garden with art and Rosa 'April Moon' and R. 'Cramoisi Supérieur'

Back garden with art and Rosa ‘April Moon’ and R. ‘Cramoisi Supérieur’

Wait, those are roses. Two that don’t need much care, and a favorite shot of the garden in early June. Rosa ‘April Moon’ is a Griffith Buck rose, and R. ‘Cramoisi Supérieur’ is an even older beauty. See, things will improve. How about a shot of the tiered beds from mid-June?

The tiered garden from the side.

The tiered garden from the side.

With daylilies and roses, you have so many choices in color, texture and form. Find ones that work well for you. For a walk on the dark side, try evening purple shades. Yes, daylilies eventually melt in our heat, but I’ve had great luck with Hemerocallis ‘Bela Lugosi,’ ‘Ninja Storm,’ and ‘Killer.’ Those dark purples have such funny names.

Hemerocallis 'Bella Lugosi' from the side.

Hemerocallis ‘Bella Lugosi’ from the side.

Or, how about ‘Brooklyn Twist?’ What a great plant it is. I am partial to the purples and reds in daylily love, but sometimes, you need other colors too.

H. 'A Green Desire' would be a good spacer between red and pink or apricot.

H. ‘A Green Desire’ would be a good spacer between red and pink or apricot.

Green daylilies are great neutrals to place between contrasting shades of pink and apricot for instance. They are also beautiful by themselves if they have great form like this one.

Hemerocallis 'Brooklyn Twist'

H. ‘Brooklyn Twist’

If you don’t like purple or red though, how about pink?

Hemerocallis 'South Sea Enchantment' is an older daylily, but old doesn't mean bad. It's a great one.

Hemerocallis ‘South Sea Enchantment’ is an older daylily, but old doesn’t mean bad. It’s a great one.

Pink daylilies that have a blue cast are very beautiful in the morning sun. By afternoon, though, they become more orange/pink in appearance. Daylilies are composed mostly of water so they change in color as the blooms age.

Hemerocallis 'Blue Pink Beauty' looks good against the fence and grass behind her.

Hemerocallis ‘Blue Pink Beauty’ looks good against the fence and grass behind her.

A special shout-out to the Guthrie Jonquil Club and the Logan County Master Gardeners. . . I loved talking meeting and talking with all of you. Here’s hoping I got your motors running. Now, go cover those plants.

 

Five beautiful, easy-to-grow roses for Oklahoma and the central south

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Oklahoma gardening is complicated. The climate is classified as part of the central south, USDA Zones 6a to 8a, but anyone who lives here would tell you there’s much more to the story. We are hills and plains, forested and bare. The sun scalds our land in summer, yet we have cold stretches in winter that try our souls.There are times I wish Oklahoma was the true south, all magnolias, camellias and mint juleps sipped upon the front porch. Then, I consider the high cost of all that humidity for my hair and rose foliage. Other times, I wish I lived near my friend, Layanee, so I could walk with her along a wintry path. I’d have snow cover to support rose roots to alleviate the heaving that surely comes every winter during our freeze/thaw cycles, but, then I shiver thinking about how cold it is.

Rosa 'White Meidiland,' a shrub rose from France, that is extremely easy to grow. It has arching canes that would respond well to the practice of pegging. Taken October 10, 2012

Rosa ‘White Meidiland,’ a shrub rose from France, that is extremely easy to grow. It has arching canes that would respond well to the practice of pegging. Taken October 10, 2012

At least we aren’t so cold from late October through December. We get most freezing termpatures in January, February and March once the sun retreats ever further into his lofty sky.

Our biggest enemy is summer heat. I’ve written extensively about heat, and how it compromises roses and rose blooms. Even with all of these challenges, there are still roses you can successfully grow here, and in April, May and June, they bring a certain magic to the landscape no other plant can.

My requirements to dig any hole for a rose in my garden are:

  1. Robust growth. No sissy roses get to live in the rural countryside. I gave up on Hybrid Teas a long time ago.
  2. Excellent disease resistance. I don’t spray.
  3. Hardiness for both cold and heat.
  4. Beautiful and bountiful flowers. What good is a rose if it rarely blooms?
  5. Scent. This is really icing on the rose cake, but it’s good icing.

Rosa ‘Darcey Bussell,’ one of the best David Austin, English roses out there hands down.

With those requirements in mind, here are my five top picks:

  1. Rosa‘Carefree Beauty’ I write regularly about this pink rose. It reminds me of a clear-eyed maiden. It never needs spraying and is rock solid. I wish I had more places to grow it. It is sweetly scented.

    At the center is 'Carefree Beauty' and the light pink to her left is 'Cl. Souvenir de la Malmaison.' Souvenir was a terrible rose for years, but suddenly in the last three, she has hit her stride. She is also one of my oldest roses in the garden. By contrast 'Carefree Beauty' is only ten or so.

    At the center is ‘Carefree Beauty’ and the light pink to her left is ‘Cl. Souvenir de la Malmaison.’ Souvenir was a terrible rose for years, but suddenly in the last three, she has hit her stride. She is also one of my oldest roses in the garden. By contrast ‘Carefree Beauty’ is only ten or so.

  2. R. ’Meicoublan,’ sold in the U.S. as White Meidiland. It is a shrub rose that blooms bright white and is difficult to photograph, but very beautiful in person. I haven’t noticed any scent. The arching canes are quite wonderful and would make it great for the practice of pegging.
  3. R. ’Darcey Bussell’ It’s difficult to find decent, disease-resistant red roses. I love ‘Sombruil’ and ‘Valentine,’ but both are plagued by blackspot. Darcey, however, is an English rose with some great genes. She grows in a lousy place on the east side of my house where she needs more sunshine, and while she gets some blackspot, she isn’t covered in the stuff. I’ve written more about David Austin roses for the south here.

    Rosa ‘Baronne Prevost,’ a classic Hybrid Perpetual

  4. R. ‘Baronne Prevost,’ a Hybrid Perpetual and thus an antique, is a survivor in the truest sense. It has graced my garden in this spot for over fifteen years. I planted it at the same time as many other roses in my original garden, and it is the only one left. Still, you say, it gets blackspot, and yes, you’re right. It does, but is not overcome by the disease. It also has complicated and beautiful blooms with a true rose scent.
  5. R. OSO Easy® Paprika is another rose that is super easy to grow. It’s a Proven Winners® plant, and while I do write for Proven Winners®, I liked this rose long before. The entire OSO Easy® line are very disease resistant.

    Oso Easy® Paprika rose

    Oso Easy® Paprika rose

Now, I’ve shared five of my favorites. There are so many more which are worthy. Which roses not only cheer your heart and garden, but also don’t need much extra care? I’d love to hear what works where you live.