And Pompon Blanc Parfait.

I love your photo of Felicite Parmentier. I need to give it a second chance. Long ago I planted it on the north side of a house where it got absolutely no direct sunlight, and it grew tall but never bloomed.

Pompon Blanc Parfait is great, too.

Steve they say that Alba's are shade tolerant but a north facing location is pushing it. I have a couple that should be moved since they are in an area of maturing trees and only get about 4 hours of sun during the later part of the day.
They've stayed small and sparse blooms. Felicitie has great fragrance too!

What beautiful roses. I am always interested in roses that thrive in zone 5 or below. I am zone 6a, but try to stick to plants hardy to zone 5.

My current rose gardening mantra is "no more dead sticks" which I mutter while passing the sales on "body bag" roses at the big box stores.

Although this year the store stock is mostly knockouts. I understand the appeal, but the colors and form aren't for me. I have Radler's coral colored Carefree Celebration and like it. It blooms non stop in a tough part of the garden. It had its first bloom today, but the picture didn't come out. I'll try again this evening. I am keeping my eyes pealed for Kordes's Electric Blanket. I found some other blanket roses last year on sale around this time, but they didn't have the electric one.

Vicky,

Thanks for sharing your hard-earned experience with us as to what withstands cold climates. Although I think I may be a zone warmer than you (6b), I prefer to err on the side of cation and plant roses a zone below mine. These are great recommendation. I always love to look at your photos and arrangements; your blooms look so plush, like old Dutch paintings.

Andi...I've purchased and thrown away more roses than I care to think about.
Through a process of elimination I figured out what worked best for me.
Its more than just zone/climate...its time available to fuss with plants which
I don't have so if it needs pampering, forget it!
My roses get pruned in the spring, fed in June and maybe July and thats about it. So its survival of the fittest around here.

Thanks Mike!

Cottage Rose, whatever you are doing it seems to be working! Your roses are beautiful.

Vicky, I do the same. For each rose that was in the garden when I left NJ, I think I had planted three or four. I planted them, many died; but some went on to look glorious. I call it the "Darwinian" method of gardening. It allows me to focus on the parts of gardening I like rather than having to spray on some arbitrary schedule. I'm so happy to know I'm not the only person who views and practices rose gardening that way!

Steve - Think there are more of us Darwinian approach to gardening people here than you'd believe. I don't recollect hardly anyone here who's one of those uppity-"You-have-to-go-organic-or-you'll-burn-in-hell" type people here, which is why we're all here and not someplace else (although I do haunt someplace else every once in a while). I'm like you, I have no idea on how many roses I've had to dig up & toss out.. this past winter wasn't as bad as my first winter when I lost almost everything due to ignorance (I was planting roses like trees.. too high up out of the ground, so they froze). Spring 09 I think I dug up over 40 roses that croaked, Spring '10, I think less than 25. So my batting average has gotten better! But I have learned to ignore zone numbers on roses.. I've got roses good to zone 7 that overwintered fine, I had zone 4 roses that croaked immediately. All I know for 100% fact is that if you can get own-root, DO IT as I did not lose not ONE of my own-root roses, even with some of the harshest conditions we had here, the rose being broken down to the ground, etc etc etc.

And we're Darwinian for different reasons too. Some of my practices are "organic," but only because I don't have time to spray insecticides and fertilize with commercial fertilizer. I have a full-time job and a big garden. The roses can either live under those conditions or die.

Nurseries matter too, I think, especially when they change hands. I have some spectacular roses from Edmund's in my garden, but all four from my latest order two years ago are icky. They looked fine when they arrived and they're planted in different parts of my garden, so I can't blame their bad health on growing conditions, but they just are never going to be spectacular. All of my S&W Greenhouse roses look pretty bad too -- every single one. They eventually will have to go to make room for something that grows better.

I agree Zuzu....I think a lot of bad roses boils down to simply bad clones and/or roses infected with RMV.
Own root, grafted...makes no difference in my experience.

I think there are certain advantages and disadvantages where own-root vs. grafted roses are concerned. The reason many grafted roses die over winter in cold climates is because they have a vulnerable bud union (the graft) that is exposed to conditions it can't tolerate, like desicating winds or cold temperatures below its hardiness tolerance. This is especially true if the bud union is planted above ground in cold climates, rather than the two inches below the surface level that is often recommended.

By definition, own-root roses don't have this same problem because there is no vulnerable bud union. The canes on a rose grown on its own roots may certainly die back, but without the plant dying. The roots simply send up new canes when spring comes, that are "true" to the cultivar (because they are the cultivar).

Some of the very best, most prolific performers in my garden were grown on their own roots. For example, I purchased my Bouquet Parfait hybrid musks (shown here) from Heirloom Roses several years ago as tiny little spits of a thing that were only a few inches tall, and they are now over twelve feet tall with huge arching canes that produce hundreds of blooms at once -- and repeat! But other own-root roses that I purchased, like J&P's "New Generation" release of The Disneyland Rose, never got above a couple of feet tall, while grafted versions of Disney that I saw in nurseries were easily twice as tall.

Mike, that photo of Bouquet Parfait gets me every time. What a great shot of what must be a very pleasing (if large) shrub rose!

...

I believe that budding was adopted as a technique precisely because there are a lot of rose cultivars that produce root systems that are a lot less vigorous than those of a good rootstock. In such cases, a budded rose is likely to grow bigger and faster and have more foliage than an own root plant, provided the plant doesn't freeze to death. But I prefer own-root plants when they grow vigorously on their own roots.

I'm trying to decide whether I would benefit from Fortuniana rootstock here in zone 7. The ground temperature a few feet down is maybe 65F. Maybe less. Nigh-time temps dip below 50F through most of the summer. And while we have been known to have 95F temps in February, the temperature usually doesn't reach that level most days in July and August. Where soil gets sunlight, it rarely freezes more than about 3 inches deep in mid winter. I know where it is warmer than it is here, Fortuniana rootstock can be superior to Dr. Huey or Multiflora. And in zone 6 Fortuniana is probably not a good choice. Any ideas?

(Zuzu, wouldn't it be convenient to collect comments about rootstocks in one place? ... I find myself asking the same questions over and over. Like "Why does anyone use Manetii as a rootstock?" And "do I remember correctly that Zuzu said pocket gophers hate multiflora rootstock?" and so on.)

CR: You have the same taste in roses that I do...what great taste! And I like the idea of morning glories on Constance Spry. I'm going to try it, if the squirrels will let me. They always seem to go for MG seedlings, the little varmints.

Thanks Roseprose!

New: I'm having very good luck with Austin rose James Galway being cane hardy for me. That says a lot in my area. It's quite a prolific bloomer as well. Mine is about 5 ft. tall and has long arching canes, sort of fountain shaped.
I will post pics soon. In the mean time here's the pic and info from Austins website

James Galway (Auscrystal)

Category English Roses
(English Rose Collection)
Bred By David Austin
Color Lovely warm pink at the centre shading to pale pink at the edges.
Flower Type Double/Full Bloom
Size Medium Shrub
Short Climber

Hardiness Hardy
Fragrance Old Rose.
Medium
Repeating Good
Special Characteristics Strong, almost thornless, arching growth. Tightly arranged petals.

A superb, large shrub with long, slightly arching, almost thornless growth - typical of our 'Leander' group. The colour is a lovely warm pink at the centre, shading to pale pink at the edges.

This is a tough, disease-free rose that is excellent for the back of a mixed border and can be trained into a wonderful short cimber. The flowers are large and full, with many petals arranged in a neat formation.

There is a delicious Old Rose fragrance.

Hi Vicki (et.al) I am just posting here because I was whining about little luck with roses in my climate (W. of Mil, WI) and Zuzu linked me to this forum. Now I don't want to lose it and if I post it makes it easy to get back to. I am verying interested in learning more and will be back when I have time to fully digest what is written here. So far, I'm just happy to see some having success up here in north country. I have some roses but also many sticks. Good forum.

me too, thanks Zuzu, wonderful forum!!

Vicky's incredibly gorgeous photographs sure help to make it wonderful, don't they?

JaeRae there are indeed hardy easy to grow roses out there!
I would recommend you look into Rusgosas which are by far
the most carefree and disease resistant.
I have some information on my website as well that you might find helpful.
Good luck and don't give up on roses yet!

JaeRae - If I can grow roses, ANYONE can grow roses! I had not as many losses this past year as it could have been.. we had about a zone 4 winter (I'm traditionally a zone 5) and I lost maybe 20-30 roses total out of the 100+ I put in, which, considering I'm such a beginner, not bad at all! Trick is to mulch mulch mulch, bury deep, and mulch some more. The ones I didn't lose had over a foot of mulch plus had been buried about 2-3" below the bud union.. and I'm talking about grandifloras, floribundas, & hybrid teas.. not rugosas (actually, I lost an Austrian Copper!).

It *can* be done! You can do it, we can help. Well, everyone but me.. I'd probably steer ya wrong.