Rose Foliage? I Must Be Mad!

I have been surprised with my growing interest in the leaves on the roses I grow.  Of course the first thing that draws us to roses are the beautiful flowers.  Then after some time of tending the plants these beautiful flowers grow on, I began to pay more attention to the plant's form and architecture.  Now I find myself looking deeper into the rose and noticing beauty and differences in the foliage of the roses I grow.  This fall I have found myself taking pictures of rose leaves.  They can change color and give a display in union with the trees.  And have you ever noticed the different textures these leaves can have.  Below are a few pictures of Moore's Striped Rugosa with its crinkly leaves in typical rugosa fashion.  

I currently only grow two hybrid rugosas (Moore's Striped Rugosa and Linda Campbell).  The more familiar I become with the class (which frankly very few are grown in Oklahoma) the more I am drawn to them.  Both show a true hybrid leaf that is somewhere between the more crinkled rugosas and the smooth leaves of the modern roses they have been crossed with.

Below is my Climbing Rainbow's End sporting some gorgeously colored fall foliage.  The smooth shiny leaves are just about as different from the rugosa leaves above as they could be.  Both offer nice color to the garden even after the flowers quit blooming.

The final picture shows some bright red leaves on the young growth of Lavender Lassie.  As new growth I think the sugar content must have been high and caused the richer color than normal.

If you find yourself uninterested in this post - don't worry.  It will always be the flower that draws us to roses.  However, if you find yourself more and more interested in things like plant structure, leaves, thorns, and who knows what else - don't worry.  You have just fallen hopelessly in love with the whole rose.

Today we are treated to a fully opened blossom of Moore's Striped Rugosa.  This rose is the third striped rose in our current garden.  I have grown several others over the years.  Compared to Twister's precise petal formation and Scentimental's rounded and cupped blooms, Moore's Striped Rugosa's flowers are loose and carefree in form but no less beautiful.

Stripes for the 4th of July!

Striped roses were not created to celebrate the Fourth of July but there couldn't be a better time for these roses.  I currently grow three varieties Twister (three plants), Scentimential, and Moore's Striped Rugosa.  Here are a few pictures to celebrate the Fourth!

Twister is a wonderful "climbing miniature" rose.  It grows to a height of four feet and is more upright than spreading.  Ralph Moore called these "climbing," because he had a group of miniature roses which had miniature flowers and leaves but grew much taller.  So, as a marketing strategy, he called them "climbing."

Modern striped roses go back to Ralph Moore's work with the hybrid perpetual/bourbon,  Ferdinand Pichard, and can be found in every modern class of rose now.  Twister's flowers (above) are filled with petals and are very fragrant.  It also is one of the roses I can always find a flower on when I go out in the yard.  Twister's vigorous, upright growth is always healthy and this is one rose I will not go without growing in my garden.

This is Scentimental, a floribunda rose bred by Tom Carruth in 1997, with large loose flowers and a wonderful spicy fragrance.  I'm withholding judgement for now because I love its flowers and it blooms regularly, but it has a bit of a problem with blackspot.  It is also shorter than I expected, but I will give it some time to grow up.  If not then it may have a different use than I had been thinking.  

As you probably have noticed from the above pictures, part of the fun of striped roses is that from flower to flower they will move from one color being dominant to the other.  Scentimental's flowers are red and white striped, however, sometimes the white can be pink.

Here is my first bloom and photo of Moore's Striped Rugosa as it begins to open.  This was just this afternoon, July 2nd, wanting to make a statement before the Fourth.  For some reason I am really drawn to its crinkly rugosa foliage.  I have also noticed, putting this post together, that I find mostly white roses with red strips to be most attractive.  How could you not like this rose? 

Just one more picture of Twister because it is such a photogenic rose.

2011's New Roses Update (2-3 months after planting)

My last post on St. Swithun received a few comments about how big it was in just its second season.  That got me thinking that I should update this year's new roses a couple of times over the growing season.  I will start you out with a flower because there aren't very many in this entry.  You may wonder why I use the tomato cages.  It is simple, we have two Siberian Huskies who would unintentionally crush them before they got a good start.  Last year I had to cut a couple of cages up in order to remove them because the rose had grown up so much that I couldn't remove the cage without damaging the rose.

This is Siren's Keep, a shrub rose from Paul Barden.  As you can see, the color is a bit faded by our long 100+ degree days.  Still the flower has held up better than Tradescant, its grandparent's flowers which burn in the extreme heat.  So many of the Austin roses can't stand up to our summer sun and heat, so this is a hopeful sign to me. 

This is Linda Campbell a last minute addition to my Spring orders after reading Professor Roush's blog entry about the Ralph Moore Hybrid Rugosa.  If he was that excited about it I had to give it a try.  She was added to my order of Moore's Striped Rugosa which was still a couple of weeks from being ready to ship.  She looks happy and has sent out two new canes. 

Here is Moore's Striped Rugosa.  I am enjoying the crinkly rugosa leaves which are new to my gardening.  I have enjoyed seeing these leaves on plants but have never grown any rugosas until this Spring.

This young plant is from a cutting of Dublin Bay I took last year from my mother's plant.  I have always had high hopes for Dublin Bay but her plant never really turned into what I thought it would.  Maybe this one will do better.

This sprawling young plant is DayDream.  It has such a spreading habit which is one of the reasons I think of it as a Hybrid Musk.  It has sent out the longest growth of this year's new roses.

Here is another picture of Siren's Keep.  I am looking forward to seeing this one in the Fall when the sunlight is not quite so intense. 

I'm calling this one Lena's Gift.  Lena is a member of the church and she saw this rose while checking out at K Mart and just had to buy one for me and one for her.  Like so many miniature roses set up for impulse buys, it bore no name and had three very young plants in a small pot.  I separated the three plants, planted one at home and the other two at the Prague Rose Garden.  It has small pink/magenta flowers with 10-15 petals.  If you know what this rose might be, please, do tell.

This is Winsome, also a pink/magenta miniature rose but with larger fuller flowers.  I grew Winsome 20 years ago and it was a tall vigorous plant and was always in bloom.  We moved and I didn't replace it until this spring.

Here is Jude the Obscure.  I have always been drawn to pictures of this rose but have not grown it until now.  It is really taking off and I think this time next year will have built up to a good size. 

Last is the English Rose Charles Rennie Mackintosh and maybe the one I am most looking forward to.  It has the reverse breeding of St. Swithun so I am curious to figure out what similarities and differences the two have with each other.

Look for an update on all of these roses in another three months. 

2011's New Roses



       This Spring I am adding 5 new roses to our garden.  This brings our total number of varieties to 45 with us having multiple plants of several varieties.  For those of you who have not yet gone crazy with roses, this probably sounds like a lot.  For those of you who are rosarians you are probably wondering, "When is he going to really get started?"  The truth is that I am really trying to hit a happy medium.  I know my propensity to take a good thing too far, so this is me operating with restraint.  Oh, I am on a wait list for one other rose, Moore's Striped Rugosa, but my focus in the garden this year is to master the art of rooting rose cuttings and to bring the garden to maturity ( this will only be our third Summer in Prague).

L-R: DayDream, Siren's Keep, Jude the Obscure, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Winsome

         Let me tell you a little about these roses.  First, I order my roses from small owner operated Nurseries such as Burlington Roses, Heirloom Garden Roses, Rogue Valley Roses, Roses Unlimited, & Hartwood Roses.  The last of these, Hartwood, I have yet to use but feel certain that I will soon.  Theses nurseries specialize in producing roses that grow on their own root systems (which is different than most roses you will run across at Home Depot or even most local nurseries).  You will notice that they come much smaller but I am convinced will outpace and out live roses that are grafted onto a different rootstock.  So with a little help from my favorite rose website (helpmefind.com) let me introduce you to my 5 new roses.

DayDream  I first saw DayDream at the Oklahoma City Rose Gardens.  It is a beautiful disease free bush that I would describe as a lavender version of Ballerina.  Blooms are lavender to magenta.  Mild, sweet fragrance.  Small to medium, single blooms with 10 to 12 petals, in large cluster bloom form.  Continuous (perpetual) bloom throughout the season.   Habit:  Bushy, compact, rounded, spreading.  Semi-glossy, medium green foliage.  It is listed with a height of 2' and 3' wide but it was at least 5' x 5' in the OKC garden.  I personally think this rose most natuarally fits in the Hybrid Musk class even if it is a bit stiffer than most in the class.

Siren's Keep is a rose bred by Paul Barden and I have been on the wait list for this one for almost a year.  This will be the fifth of his roses for me to grow.  It is a shrub rose with both English and miniature roses in its background.  Here is how it is described on hmf.  Deep pink, fuchsia / magenta center.  Strong, old rose, tea fragrance.  30 to 45 petals.  Average diameter 4".  Medium-large, full (30-45 petals), cluster-flowered, in small clusters, cupped, old-fashioned bloom form.  Prolific, blooms in flushes throughout the season.  Medium, pointed buds.

Jude the Obscure is an English Rose whose unique color and form have brought it much attention.  I once hear the color described as "parchment" and to me this seems accurate.  Additional information includes apricot, cream shading, lighter reverse.  Strong fragrance.  Full (55 to 70 petals) borne mostly solitary but sometimes in small clusters, globular bloom form.  Blooms in flushes throughout the season.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh  is another English Rose with pink lilac blend color.  Mild fragrance.  Average diameter 3".  Very double ( 60-100 petals), cupped, old-fashioned bloom form.  Occasional repeat later in the season.  Charles has the reverse breeding of one of my favorite roses, St. Swithun and a similar bloom form but with more of a lilac color.  I have often wanted to grow this rose but have not until this year.

 Winsome is described as a miniature mauve or purple blend.  Little to no fragrance.  30 to 36 petals.  Average diameter 1.75".  Large, full (26-40 petals), classic hybrid tea, exhibition, reflexed bloom form.  Blooms in flushes throughout the season.  Medium, long sepals buds.  I grew this rose years ago and in my experience it was 2 1/2 feet tall with very beautiful blooms.

They are all going in the ground this evening.