Unusual Rose Choices - Make the Neighbors Beg for More

Double Delight must be ordered early,
because the supplies keep getting sold out.

My high school classmate wanted to know how to find a family favorite, an antique rose named Seven Sisters. I found it quickly through the Net and advised her, "Order online, because that is the only way to get the roses you want."

A nearby nursery will probably have KnockOuts, because they are so popular right now, but only in the numbers they care to order. The same is true of hybrid tea roses, the favorite ones selling out fast.

I am listing a few names to get people thinking about what they want to plant.

Double Delight is varied in color and also fragrant. Treated well, the rose really produces blooms. In New Ulm, I dedicated one planting area to Double Delight, daffodils,and garlic chives, with wood mulch over the entire planter. I had about six of the rose bushes in one area, and everyone enjoyed the display.

 Barbra Streisand

Mixing up colors is fun, so Barbra Streisand adds a distinct shift toward lavender and purple. Big Purple is another possibility. I planted Streisand in the fence garden, and the rose is always quick to bloom.

 Paradise

As one friend warned me, "Roses should not be planted under a maple tree." I suggested the pertinent facts to Mrs. Ichabod, but she wanted 20 $5 roses planted there. Our Army Ranger neighbor pruned the maple, decimating it like it was an enemy regiment. All the roses have done well there, getting early morning and mid-morning sun. Paradise blooms again as soon as I cut blooms.

Digging in roses where shallow rose roots dominate the surface - that is not an experience I wish to repeat. However, it worked well, because of previous loads of mushroom compost, red wiggler earthworms, and shredded wood mulch.

Fragrant Cloud is beautiful in form, powerfully fragrant,
and difficult to define in color.

The two most fragrant roses I have grown are Mr. Lincoln and Fragrant Cloud. Stinkin' Lincoln is even stronger in scent than Fragrant Cloud. The old favorite is Mr. Lincoln, which is large fast growing, needing a lot of elbow room. Fragrant Cloud is closer to normal in growth, offering many potent blooms through the summer. The color is not so normal. One magazine called it "brick," and it is brickish but not the common dull color of bricks. When I see the buds forming, there is a red that does not want to be pure red, a color so distinct it should be called fragrant-cloudish. FC is shorter in stem length, ideal for picking the best blooms for individual bud vases.

 Orange is a difficult flavor to reproduce,
a difficult color in roses.
Easy Does It roses start with the orange range of colors,
produce furiously, and have strong stems for cutting.

Floribundas are known for abundant flowers, and Easy Does It delivers plenty of them.

Best and lasting blooms in the vase:

• Veterans' Honor
• Tropicana
• Falling in Love

Fragrance:

• Mr. Lincoln
• Fragrant Cloud
• Double Delight

Color or contrast in the garden:

• Easy Does It
• Pope John Paul II
• Paradise

Easy care pinks, but not everyone's choice:

• Queen Elizabeth
• Pink KnockOut
• Pink Peace
• Bride's Dream

California Dreamin' offers a
palette of soft colors.