Yes, its cabin fever!
I start drinking vodka and eating too much chocolate and get a bit silly.

SO ANYWAY...good luck with your pursuit of hardy roses Geof...there are some out there
I'm sure you will be happy with. I highly recommend getting Rugosa Polareis and Rambler Lillian Gibson
from Suzy Verrier at North Creek Farm if shes still offering them. She also has other hardy roses you might want to try.
Shes written some rose books too.
http://northcreekfarm.org/

P.S. I just looked and she does have them.

Thanks for checking for me - I will definitely check out her site. If they can handle coastal Maine, they should be good for NW Wisconsin.

Northcreek looks like such a lovely place, I love all they are doing! That would be a gem of a place to visit.

or live

Yes! I thought the same thing, I'd never want to leave. Hmmm....or I should turn this piece of land into something similar

Excellent idea!

I've been very pleased with the roses from North Creek.
Well this is such a good topic....hope more people will chime in.

I just wanted to thank you all for your advice this winter. I now have my first blooming rose, and buds on all of the others (I bought 8 roses)

Morden Blush

That's beautiful! Congratulations!

Gorgeous photo! Which other cultivars did you get? Where did you purchase your new roses?

Geoff, my neighbor has William Baffin completely covering his garage here in 4a. No protection or mulch whatsoever. I posted a photo of it here on ATP. (Sorry, on my phone now rather than computer or I would provide a link.) My daughter and I also have Nearly Wild, a shrub rose. I did grow Therese Bugnet, Belinda's Dream and Bonica prior to the bad Japanese beetle invasion several years ago. I also grow Flower Carpet Coral, though it is not rated for here and it does very well. I do nothing to my roses for the winter other than putting a heap of compost around the base each fall. There is sometimes a little cane dieback, but not bad.
And I might have missed mention of it in this thread, but you can research the Minnesota tip method of winter protection. I know several people who do this and can grow pretty much any kind of rose here.

I think that the MN tip method is a lot of work for us, plus I could just as easily grow a rose that's zone hardy- yes it means I have to stick to winter hardy types- species types work great for us. I have own root Rosa glauca, and rosa foetida bicolor on its own roots- true they don't bloom continue but at least I'm not giving staff a heart attack when I rip up the roses and cover them.


I can just imagine what they'd do if I tried that with the houses roses.... lol.



I recommend high country roses they are really cool. great biz too.

Somehow, now that I have roses blooming in my garden, I feel like a "real" gardener.

I went for the super hardy, easy to grow roses.
I put in two of the Morden Blush, and two Blanc Double de Courbert - both of which I purchased from Jungs Seed, before I was steered away from them. They all look very healthy right now, though the root development was much less than the four I purchased from Spring Valley Roses, which is a Mom & Pop rose nursery 20 miles from here.

From Spring Valley I got Belle Poitevine, John Davis, Therese Bugnet and Music Box. All of which have buds.

The roses are scattered around the yard in different beds. And I probably didn't give a couple of them enough room. I may have to move some peonies.

I don't know why I got so many pink roses. I'll be looking at red and yellow ones for next year. And I think I will go to North Creek for those - I really liked their site.

Jeanie - I remember reading about the MN tipping - it sounded like more work that I want to commit to them right now, but if I continue to add roses, I may have to try it. I am an extremely enthusiastic spring gardener, but a really bad fall gardener, so anything that needs special attention in the fall, I steer away from.

try Austrian copper rose they are red and yellow and do really well in zone 4, high country roses has um.

I don't do the tip method either, but just thought I should mention it. As I said, I throw a couple shovels of compost in a mound at the base for winter protection...no fancy schmancy stuff here. Therese Bugnet is pretty and does get quite large. Nice rose. I have heard varying reports on the Canadian roses, except I know for sure Baffin is hardy beyond belief. If you looked at the photo of my neighbor's garage, that is only 3 rose plants on a triple garage. He does nothing but prune them after they bloom, and then they bloom again.
I always wanted some red roses, but haven't found one that worked yet. The Knock Outs do not work for me at all.

Jeanie - I went back and forth between William Baffin and John Davis - not quite sure why I decided on the John Davis, but I have it training up the side of a wooden fence, and hope I can run it across the top. The photo you posted of the W.B. is pretty amazing. I don't have structure that big in the sun - I have a pretty shady yard, so I am only going to be able to find room for so many roses, with out giving up my veg garden or my dahlia beds.

I understand not having a lot of sun. Most of my yard is part shade to full shade. I hope you have great success with your roses!

species roses will grow in part shade they may not flower as well but they will grow. Also there are many many other choices for a shady yard other than roses.

Alex, yes I have many gardens and plants in the shade. There are a few things that really need full sun though. I do have Nearly Wild in less than full sun and it does just fine.