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Home » Gardening Guides » Roses » Featured Plants » Easy Roses for 2008 (Part 1)

Easy Roses for 2008 (Part 1)

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Tammy Clayton

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Photo Credit: Courtesy of Bailey Nurseries Inc.

Apricot-colored blooms adorn All The Rage Easy Elegance® Rose.

For most of us there’s just no time for the special treatment many roses require. For others, the climate means you’ll be fighting powdery mildew and black spot every season. And chances are that if your roses have fabulous, huge flowers, they won’t be found on any “easy keeper” list. If you’re searching for a gorgeous rose that’s a bit easier, look to the shrub roses.

The fact is, shrub or landscape roses actually give you far more bloom power than teas and floribundas. Most landscape roses are superbly disease-resistant and (in my experience) don’t require any spraying or pampering – they just keep blooming from late spring until frost. If these sound like your kind of roses, read on. Here’s what’s new on the easy-keeper rose scene for the 2008 season.

Easy Elegance® Roses

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Photo Credit: Courtesy of Bailey Nurseries Inc.

Its rich pink color and tons of petals set My Girl Easy Elegance® Rose apart from other landscape roses.

● All The Rage: This beauty puts on an ever-blooming color show with tight buds of coral that unfurl to show off a glowing yellow center surrounded by apricot petals. As blossoms age, petals turn lipstick pink before dropping. This naturally rounded, own-root shrub reaches 2½-4 feet tall and has proved very clean and disease-resistant. Blooms are semidouble, measuring 3½-4 inches wide, with a 10-12 petal count. Plant in full sun in USDA hardiness zones 4-9.

● My Girl: Rich pink blooms measuring 2-3 inches wide pop open in clusters of up to 30 buds per stem! Fat and heavily petaled (with a count of 28-30 per flower), the round, ruffled blooms are so thick, it’s hard to find the center. This compact shrub is grown on its own root and blooms recurrently (not continuously) throughout the season. It features gorgeous medium green leaves that are reportedly highly resistant to black spot with no defoliation. My Girl matures at 3-4 feet tall, has an upright habit and is hardy in zones 4-9.

Tips

If you’re nervous about growing roses, consider trying Bailey Nurseries Inc.’s Easy Elegance® Roses. The nursery is so convinced that anyone can succeed with these selections, it’s guaranteeing them for 2 years! Beginning in 2008, Bailey Nurseries will refund the purchase price of any Easy Elegance® Rose that doesn’t thrive and flourish – just remember to keep the receipt.
Roses usually do well and bloom nicely with as little as 4-6 hours of sun a day. But for really awesome bloom power, plant roses where they’ll get at least 8 hours of sun during the growing season.

Facts

The mature size you see listed on plant tags and in catalogs are only a guideline. When the mature size of a shrub is listed as a range (like 2½-4 feet tall), cooler areas with shorter growing seasons (USDA hardiness zones 4 and 5) can expect plants on the smaller end. In hotter regions (zones 8 and 9), plants can reach or exceed their full potential. From time to time, an exceedingly happy plant can grow far larger than expected – it all depends on weather and care.
Rose blooms are measured by width and petal count. The more petals, the showier the blossom.

Faqs

Q: Why are scented tea roses so difficult to grow compared with landscape-type roses?
A: Some roses are difficult to grow because they’re often grafted onto different rootstock. Any plant that’s grafted needs more TLC than one growing on its own roots. While grafting works great, and the two fused plants can live and flourish, it helps to know how to deal with all the issues that can arise. For example, grafted roses have a weakened immune system, so to speak, making them more susceptible to pests and disease. Landscape or shrub roses are almost always grown on their own root, making them easy to grow and enjoy.

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