Gardening with Roses Alaskan Style

Gardening with Roses, Alaskan Style

"My garden labors soon will cease
to imbibe in a fragrance from West or East,
and a tired body will soon repose,
as near it dare to an English rose,
to savor for a moment a sweet perfume,
that scents the air of this garden room."

To me, with few exceptions a rose that is not fragrant is not really a rose. Our garden is basically zone 3-4. Alas, many of the more fragrant roses would not survive our winters, so we must compromise, especially with climbing roses.

Therefore to satisfy our passion for growing roses we grow 2 types of roses: Those that are hardy for Alaska and can be left outside in the the winter, and those that need to be over-wintered in a greenhouse.

Hardy Roses:
Five Great Hardy Roses
Fertilizing
Winter Care

Not-Hardy Roses:
Five Fragrant Hybrid Teas
English Roses

Five Great Hardy Roses:
1.   Hansa - The first rose we purchased was the crimson Rugosa, Hansa. It remains our favorite winter hardy rose because it smells so sweet, its clove-like scent reminds me of a French perfume I bought my wife in Bordeaux. Hansa requires little attention, and is very hardy to boot. One can smell a large Hansa shrub from a few feet away.

2.    Prairie Dawn - is a Parkland rose with coral pink flowers that are scented. Our first Prairie Dawn was planted in the rose circle and quickly became its focal point, but after a few years it took over the circle, suckering like mad. We moved this rose(now a large shrub measuring about 6 feet high and 4 feet wide), to a better spot by the gate. We liked the rose so much, we planted two more Prairie Dawns either side of the gray arbor.

3.   Martin Frobisher - is an Canadian Explorer rose. Like most of our plants this rose has been moved at least once. It now resides in the front yard where it is annually munched on by moose, but this just seems to make it stronger. It is about 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide, plus like Prairie Dawn it is suckering madly. This rose was the cover child of the book, Rosa Rugosa by Suzanne Forester. It has wonderful blooms that are pink and slightly fragrant.

4.   Lillian Gibson - This rose has its origin from rosa blanda the Labrador Rose so it is very hardy. We have two Lillian Gibsons growing either side of the mirror arbor often accompanied by purple hesperis. The rose sends up long red canes and apparently the only thing it dislikes is a rabbit or two. Fortunately our garden is rabbit-free. Lilian has clusters of small semi double flowers.

5.   Scotch Rose - The Scotch rose is our first rose to bloom, and although it blooms only once it is covered with white flowers that possess a strong, sweet, alluring fragrance. After blooming this rose is covered in dark hips, a wonderful display in itself. Our scotch rose was the first plant in our original white garden, and now it too has greatly outgrown its space. We plan on moving it this spring to a corner of the garden.

Martin Frobisher

Here are links where you can purchase hardy roses:
http://www.kedemrose.com
http://highcountryroses.com

Fertilizing - In the spring you can give your roses a little extra lift by applying an alfalfa tea or compost tea to their roots. The alfalfa aids photosynthesis due to it containing a chemical called Triacontinol(this chemical can also be applied in spray form under the name, Ultraboost available from Primary Products online). You can make alfalfa tea using alfalfa pellets or alfalfa meal about 2 cups per 30 gallon trash can. To make compost tea you can use mature compost in a burlap sack.

Winter Care - For marginally hardy roses and not-hardy roses here are some tried and true tips for overwintering roses.

Reduce Fertilizing - Any time you are getting roses ready for winter the first step is to reduce fertilizing. We stop fertilizing in mid August.

Burying - For a few years we dug up tender roses that were planted in the rose circle and buried them in a 2 foot hole under the compost pile. The roses in pots were over-wintered this way as well. We would bury the roses in late September to early October just before the first predicted snowfall. Within a few years we were burying over 65 roses annually.

This method proved very successful, albeit very labor intensive. Moreover, in the spring the roses could not be dug up until the ground thawed, usually around mid-May. Since the roses got off to a late start we would not see the first flush of blooms until the end of July. Also, when digging up the roses one has to be extra careful not to break the canes in doing so. By tying each rose in a bundle helped to somewhat alleviate this problem, and by having pieces of string sticking out of the ground each rose could be found more easily.

A better method of burying roses is to put bags of leaves in a hole then cover the hole with a board, then soil, then a tarp on top. When you are ready to bury the roses, open up the bags of leaves and cover the roses with the leaves. This is much easier than using soil. Next put the board over the hole and cover it with the soil which you had put aside on the tarp. Finally put the tarp on top and secure it with a few large rocks. This method creates a t cellar.

Covering - By far the most effective method we have tried is to cut the bottom off a bucket and place it around the rose, then fill in the bucket with DRY sawdust. We keep a trash can of the sawdust in readiness. Next cover the bucket with a strong black plastic garbage bag and secure it with Duct tape. You may have to trim back the rose a little to make it fit. We recommend waiting until the rose is mostly dormant before doing this. Alternatively, you can use large pots or even maybe try a trash can for a very large shrub. We got this idea from an article in the American Rose magazine

Mounding Soil/Leaves - One way to provide extra winter protection for roses is to mound up soil or leaves around the rose bush. We have had little success with this method.

The Minnesota Tip Method - This method entails partially digging up the rose and tipping it on its side, then covering it with cardboard and soil or leaves. Again, I did not have much success with this method either.

Five Fragrant Hybrid Teas - Although these roses are not hardy in Alaska they are still worth growing if you have a way of over wintering them.

If one is going to grow hybrid teas or floribunda roses then they had better be fragrant. We grow my favorite hybrid teas in large pots, moving them to prime locations when in bloom, such as near to a bench or on the deck where their fragrance and beauty can be easily enjoyed. Here are some worthwhile hybrid teas to seek out:

1. Fragrant Cloud - What must be the most fragrant rose in existence is the hybrid tea, Fragrant Cloud. Officially Fragrant Cloud possesses a citrus fragrance, but to me, this rose smells like pears. For the most part all the roses discussed below are very fragrant.

2. New Zealand - On a visit a few years ago to see the roses of fellow Alaska Rose Society member, Chuck Decker, I was introduced to some beautiful hybrid teas. Chuck over-winters his roses in his crawl space and then puts them on his deck every spring all 250 of them, which is quite a devotion to duty. One of the roses that caught my eye was New Zealand. New Zealand is a pink and very fragrant.

3. Barbra Streisand - This rose hybridized by Weeks roses has a multitude of fragrant pink blooms. The fragrance is just what you expect a rose should smell like.

4. Just Joey - has large ruffled apricot blooms. Although not as fragrant as the other hybrids teas this rose is worth it just for the fantastic flowers.

5. Stainless Steel - is an improvement on Sterling Silver with its huge silver lavender blooms.

Here are links to where you can purchase the roses mentioned above:

http://www.weeksroses.com/
http://www.jacksonandperkins.com/

http://www.edmundsroses.com/

English Roses

David Austin is to roses

what Mozart is to music,
Michelangelo is to art, and
Sir Alex Ferguson is to football

David Austin roses or English roses as they are often called are usually very fragrant and repeat blooming. My all time favorite is Gertrude Jekyll, a pink rose with a delicious old fashioned rose fragrance. To me Gertrude Jekyll has everything a rose should have. This favorite is closely followed by Golden Celebration which has large yellow blooms. This rose too possesses a wonderful fragrance. Jude the Obscure is a David Austin rose that has a fragrance described as guava and white wine. In my garden the only drawback to this immensely fragrant rose is that the flowers don’t always open fully. The Technical Director at David Austin nursery, Michael Marriott commented on this by saying that is why the rose is obscure. A few other favorite Austins include: the peach colored Evelyn. The rose below is Eglantyne.

Eglantyne

The myrrh scent of many of David Austin’ creations is unique to David Austin roses although recent crosses of Austin roses by other hybridizers have produced similar scented varieties. Ambridge rose is myrrh scented and a wonderful apricot color, Sharifa Asma is shell pink and also emits a delightful myrrh scent. The rose that emits the strongest myrrh scent in my option is Saint Cecilia.

Saint Cecilia is a very light pink with cupped shaped flowers. Saint Cecilia needs spraying to keep Powdery Mildew at bay. Perhaps a better choice might be the more recent Austin rose, Sceptered’ Isle.

The deep crimson Austin roses, William Shakespeare 2000, Falstaff and LD Braithwaite will really catch your attention. Alas, LD Braithwaite has very little fragrance.

Golden Celebration with Mecanopsis

It really holds true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery because there are now many Austin look alikes.

Pat Austin

The Centennial Rose garden in downtown Anchorage includes a raised bed of David Austin roses. These roses were made possible by a generous donation directly from the David Austin Nursery itself. Over 30 Austin roses have been planted in groups of 3 of each variety. Most of these roses are dug up each year and overwintered in a greenhouse. Some of the roses will be left in the raised beds to test them to see how hardy they are here in Alaska, especially the Mayflower, Gertrude Jekyll, and Winchester Cathedral. It is planned that the Austin roses will be featured in all the 4 raised beds when completed.

Evelyn with hesperis

To purchase English roses go to http://wwwdavidaustinroses.com/american/

Gardening, Alaska Style
Home


English Delphiniums,
Alaska Style
Home