Painless Roses
Recently a customer in line at a garden center asked me if roses are easy to grow. She may as well have asked if children are easy to rear. The short answer is: It depends on the rose, and it depends on the gardener. And it depends on your definition of easy.
The good news is there are hundreds upon hundreds of roses that are easy to grow, by anyone’s standards. It’s a matter of what you expect from a rose—form, fragrance, color, repeat bloom, or all of these things. It pays to do your homework before selecting a rose, unless you don’t mind wasting money and space.
Hybrid teas, which were first bred in the 1800s, are among the most popular and well-known classes of roses. Gardeners treasure them for their long stems and single flowers, which make them custom-made for vases. They have a reputation for being prima donnas, requiring excessive tending like spraying for pests and disease and heavy fertilizing. Old roses, also called antiques or heirlooms, existed before hybrids. They are praised for being cold-hardy, disease-resistant and much more fragrant than modern roses. Rose “rustlers” scan fields and old graveyards for these easygoing, prolific bloomers, which flourish with little or no care. (Not really thieves, most of these rose-lovers take only cuttings for propagation).
Many newer hybrid tea roses are bred for disease-resistance. But don’t confuse disease-resistance with disease-free. No plant is immune from attack. And roses may perform well in some regions but not others.
Black spot, powdery mildew and mosaic virus are common diseases, and Japanese beetles, aphids and leafcutters are frequent pests. Use soaker hoses or water at ground level to keep leaves dry and discourage diseases. A site that receives morning sun will keep foliage dry; full sun is usually best. Allow 3 or 4 feet between plants for good air circulation. Situate them away from vegetable gardens and fruit trees, which invite insects. Roses like organic soils. Prepare beds carefully and amend with compost.
An outstanding, carefree rose is the “rugosa” species. It’s referred to as a shrub rose, though all roses are shrubs. Rugosas are also called beach roses, and indeed are tough enough to withstand drought and even salt spray. They tolerate poor soils and are winter-hardy throughout North Carolina. Rugosas have a dense, rounded form and grow up to 6 feet high and wide, but they can withstand heavy pruning to keep them in bounds. In fall, they have lovely yellowish to bronze foliage and produce beautiful orange-red hips resembling miniature apples, which is no coincidence. Apple trees are in the rose family, and their fruits are actually hips. Like their apple cousins, rose hips are edible and nutritious.