Rugosa Roses - Fragrant, Tough and Handsome Shrub Roses

By Alan Summers

Rugosa Roses are some of the toughest and most handsome shrub roses available. They are fragrant, black spot and mildew resistant and are vigorous growers - blooming recurrently throughout the season. Rugosa Roses can be distinguished from other roses by their tough, textured, deeply veined foliage and erect spiny stems. In contrast to their foliage, the blooms of the Rugosa Roses appears very fragile, almost like silk that has been crinkled.

Rugosas prefer light, sandy soil in full sun to partial shade, making them especially suited for seashore planting. Rugosa Roses tolerate both salt and drought. Rugosas require no spraying for disease and little fertilization. Unlike other roses, deer never touch Rugosas. In autumn Rugosas have beautiful, orange-red hips, rich in vitamin C, which attract wildlife and are useful for jelly. Rugosa Roses are ideal for hedges and planted in masses for erosion control, especially in sand dunes.

Originally from China, Japan and Korea, Rugosa Roses come in a variety of sizes and colors - white, several shades of pink and red to almost purple. This week we are featuring the most disease resistant Rugosa of them all - a rose with single, pastel pink blooms on a neat compact plant - Fru Dagmar Hastrup.

Fru Dagmar Hastrup - The Most Sought After Rugosa Rose

Created in Denmark in 1914, Fru Dagmar Hastrup is loved for its abundance of cherry red hips in the fall and its elegant pink blooms that emit a sweet clove-like fragrance. Its blooms will reach two to three inches across and repeat exceptionally well throughout the season and it has the unusual ability to display hips and blooms concurrently. The rich, green foliage will turn maroon and then gold in the fall. Fru Dagmar will reach only four feet tall and wide. A lovely addition to any garden.

Planting and Care

• For best results plant in spring or fall.

• Prefers a light, sandy soil in full sun to partial shade. Remarkably tolerant of shade and heavy clay soil.

• Fertilize with Rose-Tone.

• Deer resistant.

• Hardy in Zones 3-9. Click here to learn more about Rugosa Roses on the Carroll Gardens website.
  

Alan Summers, president of Carroll Gardens, Inc., has over 30 years experience in gardening and landscape design. He has made Carroll Gardens one of America’s preeminent nurseries, having introduced more than 20 new perennials and woody shrubs over the years and reintroduced numerous “lost” cultivars back to American gardeners.

Carroll Gardens publishes a weekly online newsletter written by Alan. It contains valuable gardening advice and tips and answers to customer questions.

Every Saturday, Alan hosts a call-in gardening forum on WCBM radio - 680 AM. For those outside of the WCBM listening area, they can listen to radio show via the internet.

Visit CarrollGardens.com to learn more about Carroll Gardens, the weekly newsletter and the radio show.

Try to Visit http://www.rose.myzury.com

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Choosing the Right Roses

By Steve Welker

There are an extremely large number of rose varieties available at this time, most of these varieties are suitable to raise in your home garden. With so many different types to choose from deciding which roses to grow can seem more like a difficult task than a part of the fun of growing roses. By keeping just a few important factors in mind you can simplify this task and put the fun back into selecting your roses.

Color

How will a particular color of rose look in your garden, be sure to look at other peoples gardens and in magazines to see how different color arrangements work together. For some people the color of the roses will not be a very important consideration for others it will be one of the most important. Either way you will need to be sure that the color will complement the other colors in your garden and not clash with what you already have in place.

Size

Size will also be an important factor, how will the roses look in your garden once they have grown to their full height. Can your garden aesthetically support twenty-foot roses or will you need to stick with a species that only grows to about eight feet high. You will need to measure your garden before you start looking for roses. You will need to know the width and height of your garden to aid in selecting the proper roses. Your roses will need adequate room to grow and will need enough exposure to sunlight and air to thrive. If you have limited space you might want to consider growing miniature roses instead. Miniature roses require much less space and our easy to care for and maintain.

Climate

While characteristics that deal with the visual appeal of roses like the height and color are important the most important considerations are the ones that deal with how well the roses will be able to thrive. The climate that the rose needs for proper growth is one of these, if the climate the rose needs does not match with your local climate these roses will never grow very well. For example if you live in an area that has long cold winters you will need to select varieties of roses that can tolerate cold weather.

Maintenance

How much time do you want to spend maintaining your roses? Do you live in your garden or are you a busy individual that only has small amounts of time to devote to their garden. Some roses require very high levels of maintenance, while these roses are quiet beautiful and would be a stunning addition to any garden you have to have the time and dedication to make them thrive. If you select a high maintenance rose and do not devote the necessary time to them you will be very disappointed with the results. There are roses on the market today known as "Modern Roses"; these are beautiful plants with a great fragrance and long lasting blooms. However they are also prone to disease and very high maintenance.

On the other hand you have "Old Garden Roses" these plants may not be quite as beautiful as the modern roses but they have been specially bred to be very disease prune and to only require minimal maintenance and care. They usually bloom for several months at a time and also have a very strong and pleasant scent. This strong scent can cause problems for people with allergies to fragrances. If that could be an issue for you should consider "shrub roses", these are also long blooming plants with a strong resistance to disease without the strong fragrance.

If this is your first time attempting to raise roses you might want to consider "landscape roses", they are very easy to care for and disease resistant. Landscape roses will add a great deal of beauty to any garden. If you have trellises around your home you might want to consider one of the varieties of climbing roses. These are very similar to landscape roses except that they grow upward like a vine.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Growing Roses at http://www.rose-gardening.us

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