Low Maintenance Roses for the Non-Rosarian

My roses are blooming!

All of my roses are worker roses. That means they give back more than I put into them. The high maintenance prima donnas, though wondrously beautiful, long ago lost my affections in the heat and humidity of my climate, and I never replaced them when black fungus or other diseases took them down.

I rarely spray my roses, usually just once a year with a sulfur-rotenone solution, and I fertilize them two, maybe three times through all of spring and summer. It's not quite neglect, but close. Good roses deserve better. My plebeian roses won't win prizes, but they do contribute long-lasting color and delicate scent to the garden. 

My favorites?

Rosa rugosa var. alba is a species rose that actually does better when somewhat neglected. It has shiny, healthy leaves and single white blossoms that are delicate as tissue paper. I have read that the scent varies from rose to rose, because they grow from seed and you never know exactly what you'll get. Mine has a wonderful smell that carries in the air. I also love that it produces attractive rose hips. The hips are edible and are high in vitamin C. One warning: This heirloom shrub, nicknamed the hedgehog rose, has fierce thorns and shouldn't be planted close to a path. 

Zephirine Drouhin is a thornless climber planted on the rose arch by my patio. It has fluffy pink flowers and a sweet smell. It also is an old-fashioned rose that needs little attention, though it does get more black spot than my other roses.Knockout roses grow in the foreground and zephirine drouhin on the rose arch in this view near the patio. The tree in the background is japanese maple.

I have a number of knockout roses, both pink and red ones. Last year these landscape shrubs bloomed continuously for ten months and were disease free. What more do I need to say? They have become the staple rose of big box stores and many nurseries for a reason. This is definitely the rose for the non-rosarian.Knockout roses grow next to the patio.

Rosa mutabilis is a china rose that performs reliably year after year, blooming from spring to frost. The single blooms open to a honey yellow, then change to shades of pink and copper as they age. In full bloom, all of these colors are present at the same time for a spectacular effect. This old shrub rose is also called the butterfly rose, as the blooms resemble butterflies.

Another rose that does well in my garden is the Penelope rose. It's an old hybrid musk rose with creamy, romantic blossoms blushed with pink. It's a shrub with a bit of a sprawling habit and blooms all summer. It also produces rose hips in the fall.Top to bottom on left: Zephirine Druhin; Rosa rugosa var. alba; Red knockout; Penelope. Top to bottom on right: Penelope; Rosa mutabilis buds; Pink knockout; Rosa mutabilis

I admire the fabulous roses that grow in the gardens of those with more passion and time to devote than I have. But my worker roses do a good job for me, and I thank them.

The Garden Speaks in Colors

The garden speaks to us in colors — green, white, blue, yellow, and pink — and draws our emotions into itself. Traditionally, colors say something to us, and maybe that is why we respond so strongly to the arrival of spring. The garden is hushed in winter, but its voice sings out with the new season. 

Many shades of green push through gray branches and brown soil to announce rebirth and renewal. One can stand in the garden and feel the optimism of spring, the soothing reassurance that life endures.

This April view from the patio features the fresh green foliage of roses, weeping Japanese maple, and daylily.
Clockwise from top left: leaves of dogwood, cornus florida; variegated hydrangea, macrophylla Variegata; Japanese painted fern, Athyrium niponicum var. pictum; hosta 'Francis Williams'

The purity of spring impresses us, its newness untouched by disease or wear or damages of time. White shines in the garden, fresh and clean. In the garden I am young and my soul eternal.

The blossoms of Philadelphus coronarius, sweet mock orange or English dogwood, light up this area adjacent to the lady garden.Clockwise from top: Rosa rugosa var. alba; Viburnum macrocephalum; closer view of Philadelphus coronarius; Azalea, snow white

The garden speaks of peace, too, with images of blue. Cares are light in this place, and for a time they fly away and leave our hearts at rest.

The daffodils ars spent, but blue phlox divaricata still blooms in the front garden.Clockwise from top left: Mr. Bluebird stands guard at his home near the lady garden; Oregon grape, mahonia aquifolium; Hosta sieboldiana elegans; a lizard with a touch of blue lives in this planter on my patio.

All the golden hues of the garden, the yellows and oranges, represent energy, comfort and pure joy. Smile, for there is much to smile about in the garden.

For many years this lone tulip has returned each spring to the front garden. I am always happy to see it, for most tulips don't survive in my climate.
Clockwise from top left: Pansies are still blooming; golden oak pollen covers this yellow sedum; variegated leaves of Cherokee Red dogwood; foliage of caryopteris 'Jason'

And then there is pink, a color that speaks of friendship. Is a garden complete, if there is no one with which to share it? Come with me, my friend. Let us walk together and listen to what the garden has to say.This very old urn belonged to my parents. Behind it is dianthus 'Bath's Pink'.
Clockwise from top left: pink fringe-like flowers of lorapetalum; Azalea 'George Lindley Tabor'; unknown flower growing in the lady garden; Rosa mutabilis

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