Rose 鈥楩lower Carpet Amber鈥 is fragrant and attracts butterflies!
Three easy roses to grow for beginners
Roses used to be picky divas. However, rose breeders have bred diseases out of this garden classic. Here are three easy-to-grow roses for beginners, including ground cover roses鈥攁 fuss-free alternative to ubiquitous Knock Outs. Put away the sprays, stop the fancy pruning, and savor these carefree roses year after year!
For background, roses were traditionally very demanding and prone to many diseases, requiring much tender loving care. Many of today鈥檚 roses are disease-resistant without sacrificing the unrivaled beauty and form that makes a rose a rose. Even better, many of these roses also have improved hardiness and extended bloom times.
Flower Carpet Ground Cover Roses
Enter the , the world鈥檚 number one ground cover rose. Unlike a Knock-out rose bush, the ground cover rose is versatile and compact鈥攁bout 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide. Flower Carpet roses are incredibly adaptable鈥攑lant in any season (spring, summer, or fall) in Zones 4 to 11.
Flower Carpet ground cover roses are especially known for a lengthy, prolific bloom from spring to late autumn鈥10 months in warmer climates. This rose is dripping in blossoms鈥攗p to 2,000 flowers per plant!
You can plant these ground cover roses in beds or borders, and they also grow fabulously in containers. Their dense, glossy, green leaves look wonderful before the colorful roses bloom. Planted en masse, they are useful on slopes to control erosion (no mowing!), as hedges around driveways (less edging!), as ground cover along sidewalks (instead of thirsty turf), and along walkways to soften up hardscape.
The foliage is resistant to common rose diseases (such as mildew and black spot), which means not only no spraying for you鈥攂ut also no chemicals or pesticides for your garden. This plant also has a unique double root system (with deep roots as well as soil-surface ones), so it can also tolerate high heat, drought, and humidity. Surface roots take up available surface water, while deeper roots access lower-level water in drought conditions.
Finally, there鈥檚 no fancy pruning. A simple cut-back (by one-third) with hedge shears or even electric trimmers each spring, good mulching, fertilizer, and watering is all it takes to keep them blooming all summer! Pruning is optional. If you do not have time or resources to do it, the roses will still flower profusely on a slightly larger bush.
It鈥檚 not surprising that Flower Carpet roses have received over 25 Gold and International Rose Awards. It鈥檚 hard to pick a favorite color!
NEW FOR 2024: A new Flower Carpet Fragrant Shrub Rose is coming out! It鈥檚 from the same rose breeder as Flower Carpet Ground Cover Roses (Noack Rosen in Germany). These large-bloomed, beautifully fragrant roses have a glorious old-world look but also all the benefits of modern disease resistance. !
Knock Out Roses
Everyone knows the popular Knock Out庐 Rose, the traditional large shrub rose that grows about 4 feet tall and blooms in late spring and summer. As with most shrubs, Knock Out Roses look best as a border or along a fence, wall, or foundation. If you plant within a garden landscape, plant in groups of three.
Knock Out Roses really do their best with 6 to 8 hours of full sun every day if you want constant flowers. They grow in Zones 5 to 10, so they鈥檙e a little more hardy in cold climates. This is important because other roses (such as tea roses) would be lost to cold winters, no matter how much mulch was used.
Knock Outs are disease-resistant, stand up to heat and humidity, and do not contract the myriad of diseases spawned by hot climates. We鈥檝e grown these roses in places from the Gulf Coast to Wisconsin. No spraying and no dusting.
They also claim to have 鈥渘o pruning,鈥 but if left unpruned, Knock Out roses can reach 8 feet tall. This is not beneficial, and the flowers will be less bold and healthy. It鈥檚 really best to prune these shrubs, but don鈥檛 start until their second season; cut back in early spring by as much as one-half after the last threat of frost has passed.
Note: This rose does lose its leaves in winter, unlike the Flower Carpet庐 leaves, which change to a purple bronze color and remain on the plant until late in winter, leaving as little as two months of bare canes.
As with the original Knock Out Rose, there is a Double Knock Out Rose that has full double flowers. They鈥檙e prettier, though smaller in size. While Knock Outs庐 aren鈥檛 supposed to need deadheading, we think that the 鈥淒ouble鈥 version really looks best with some deadheading. It鈥檚 up to you! .
David Austin Climbing Roses
Then, there are some superb climbing roses. Unlike many climbing roses, the English Rose Climbers by David Austin庐 repeat-flowering blooms with exceptional continuity and are clothed in blooms from the ground upward. As a group, they don鈥檛 grow too tall, making them easy to manage and the perfect height for appreciating the beauty and fragrance of their blooms.
Rose growers love David Austin roses. He and his family have bred the most beautiful, rich scents of old varieties into modern roses. When he started, very few modern roses had any fragrance.
An English climbing rose called 鈥楾he Generous Gardener鈥 is one of the most fragrant. Its glowing pale pink flowers and the scent of Old Rose, musk, and myrrh make it suitable for Zones 4 to 11 and climb to 15 feet鈥攑erfect for a wall, fence, large arch, or pergola.
Another beautiful rose is the romantic 鈥楥laire Austin鈥, a medium climber that grows to about 12 feet and has gorgeous, creamy white flowers. It鈥檚 also fragrant, with strong myrrh and dashes of meadowsweet, vanilla, and heliotrope scents. It鈥檚 perfect against the side of your home or near the doorway, taking up little room on the ground. .
Bare-Root or Container Roses?
The above easy-to-grow roses come in two types: (1) bare-root and (2) container-grown. There are pros and cons to which type you buy:
(1) Bare-root roses. Bare-root roses are not in soil (hence, 鈥渂are鈥) and are packed to prevent the roots from drying out. Bare-root plants are usually good quality, having a wider root spread than container plants, and they are often of good value. They should be planted as soon as received or, if ground conditions are unsuitable, unpacked and kept in a container of slightly moist compost and planted as soon as conditions allow.
Plant bare-root roses in late autumn at leaf fall and from late winter to early spring before growth resumes. Avoid planting in the middle of winter, when the ground is frozen.
Soak bare-root roses in a bucket of warm water overnight. Then, dig a hole 18 inches wide and deep. Mix in compost if your soil is hard and compacted. In the center of the hole, make a 12-inch-high cone of dirt. Spread the rose roots over the cone. Hold the rose in place with one hand and fill in the hole with the other. Firm soil and water well.
(2) Container-grown roses. These are roses that have been grown in containers for a whole growing season or more. They can be more costly, but then again, they are available year-round. You can plant them all year round, provided the ground is neither frozen nor very dry. If you live in southern regions, container roses are a great choice because your ground and air temperatures are warmer.
Dig a hole 18 inches wide and the depth of the rose pot. Remove the plant from the pot, place it in the center of the hole, spread the roots, and fill in with soil. Water well and firm the soil with the back of a shovel or your hands to eliminate air pockets. Scatter slow-release fertilizer formulated for roses around the plants and scratch in with a cultivator.
5 Rose Tips That Really Work
- Plant lavender at the base of rose bushes, especially the larger shrubs. The rose scent attracts deer, but lavender muddies the rose aroma.
- Dump coffee grounds and used tea leaves around bushes. Both acidify the soil slightly, which roses love.
- Burying banana skins or even the entire black, mushy banana at the base of bushes provides magnesium, an element that plants crave.
- Scratch 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts into the soil around a rose. The salts intensify flower colors.
- Use rabbit food as fertilizer. The pet food is composed of alfalfa meal, which supplies roses with a growth stimulant, nitrogen, and trace elements. Scratch in 陆 cups of pellets around each rose and water well.
We just love all of these carefree roses and hope that you do, too! Whether you鈥檙e looking for a more compact groundcover rose, a shrub, or a climber, you have choices to fit your garden and landscape needs.
All the roses mentioned in the article are fantastic bloomers and don鈥檛 need any spraying, so you can practically forget about them. Yes, you鈥檒l soon be able to say, 鈥淓verything鈥檚 coming up roses!鈥
See the 蜜桃恋人鈥檚 complete Rose Growing Guide for excellent planting and rose care tips.
Doreen G. Howard
ADVERTISEMENT
I have never grown roses. What would be a good one to start with? My Gram used to have a fragrant pink rose that grew over her garden gate. I'm not sure what it was. Thanks
My plant grows but will not bloom. What can I do to bring blooms?
Beth, you don't say where you live. Bougainvillea needs plenty of heat during the day and mild nights to bloom. It's tropical plant. If you live in a cooler climate, plant it in a large container, place it in full sun facing south and mulch the soil in the container with white pebbles or turkey grit (crushed oyster shells). The white mulch gathers heat and reflects it upward to the plant leaves, plus heating the soil. You could even try an aluminum foil mulch!
I have tried several varieties and cannot get any roses to survive. I have one this spring that by mid June is finally getting her leaves. Maybe at least one rose by September? arrgh !!!!!
You live in a tough climate for many plants. I thought mine was cold! Have you considered containers? Plant in at least a 16-inch diameter pot and put the rose bush outside after night temperatures stay above 30F. A south exposure will give you more heat, as will mulching the container with white pebbles or turkey grit, which is crushed oyster shells. You can store pots in the basement after they drop their leaves in fall. No light needed, as the bush will go dormant. Water the container every 3-4 weeks to keep the roots hydrated. I do this with a number of perennials that die in my winter, like bananas, hibiscus and a fig tree.
My wife loves roses, so we bought a knockout rose a couple of years ago. We had heard they will bloom all summer, but ours have only bloomed in the spring and then all we get are bushes for the rest of the summer. Is there something we can do to get them to rebloom? We are in zone 7b in South Carolina.
I too live in SC and have found that a banana peel layed at the base of the roses a couple times a year does the trick and keeps them blooming all summer long. However don't put banana peels on your bushes late in the summer, if you do they will try to bloom too late in the season and they will be frost damaged. Good luck Jeff Davis, Sr.
I'm in Rockton, IL, and I've stopped growing any roses, even species roses, because of the damage from Japanese Beetles. They eat the leaves and buds; I've tried Neem oil, hand-picking, traps --nothing has worked. Do you have any advice for dealing with them?
The beetles are so bad this year, I put on a pair of gloves and pinch them right on my sweet corn. I used to grab them and throw them in a bucket of soapy water. I spray the corn with the garden hose, then pinch them. If they are wet, they don't fly away.
I live a few miles away from you and have the same problem with Japanese beetles. I, too, tried neem with little luck. I tried the milky spores for the lawn to kill the grubs and traps. They worked, but all the beetles from the neighboring land still flocked to my abundant garden full of food they like. So, I've accepted that the roses bloom and look wonderful until the end of July, and then the plants start looking tattered. I still get blooms and plenty of color, too. Sometimes we just have accept what Mother Nature dishes out, like the April Fool's snow we had and the cold long spring that went immediately to summer. Maybe that weather pattern will slow down the beetles this year! We can hope.
