Rose Expert Anyone?

Looking to make a hedge, think I'd like to alternate a pink rose with a yellow rose. I am in zone 9 and it is humid here so I need varieties that are resistant to BS.

There are other characteristics I'd favor (like medium to thick petal count, few thorns)---but resistant to BS would be key, along with growing to about 3-4' max.

Any suggestions? PLEASE!

Try posting this in the rose forum. There was recently a discussion about hedges roses over there.

:) Not a subscriber. And just a beginner rose person. But thank-you for the suggestion all the same.

Go for the rugosas...they are tough, disease resistant and come in a variety of colors and sizes.

doc, thank you so much!

The roses by type as in Rugosa have Lot's of thorns, can grow to 8 feet and the flowers you want must be chosen with care, but they are wonderful as a hedge, some really perfumed, come in double flowers and single, single have few petals, they all produce wonderful hips in autumn and winter, some large and bright red, to keep them as a hedge, you need to prune them hard back late winter if you dont want the hips for birds feed or colour, early spring if you like the hips, they require a good load of animal manure at planting, as do all roses, and fed each year in spring with say rose fertiliser, other than that they are the most decease resistant roses to grow, if you suffer from high humidity, when watering, dont soak the foliage too much as it encourages grey mold etc, but in your conditions, I would imagine that would apply to ant rose.
For the choices to be made, if you can, send away to growers for their rose catalogue as they give good pictures, best growing tips and always ask IF they will suit your growing conditions, you can buy either bare rooted plants to cut cost if you plan on a large hedge area, or pot grown but twice the cost if you need only a few plants, bare rooted plants need the planting area well prepared before your rose plants arrive as they have no soil around the roots and you should prune and soak them in a large bucket of water for a few hours before you plant them, if weather halts the planting, just dig a pit and stick the bare rooted ones in the soil as they will be fine for a week or so like that, just dont leave them to dry out before planting or decease can set in and the roots will shrivel up, bare rooted plants are normally dug up from the growing fields as you order them, I have used them and find then cheaper and easy if you care for them as stated, pot grown roses can be planted at any time but need lots of care in the pots till planted in the garden, you should receive planting instructions with both types. good luck. WeeNel.

WONDERFUL bits of advice weenel. I really appreciate your post!

tir na nog are you in florida? if so you may want to get roses grafted on fortuniana rootstock, that seem to do better in fl.

I'm in Texas.

I think for a pink rose I'm going to go with Archduke Charles, a Texas native. :)

i think that is a great choice. chinas, teas and noisettes are a good choice for your area.
I would stay away from harison's yellow (yellow rose of tx) for the yellow because of black spot.
3-4 ft max, bs resistance, few thorns, i'd go with a tea, maybe 1. lady hillingdon
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=3702

2) isabella sprunt
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=3417&tab=1

Oh len, thanks so much for links and comments on the rose I did choose! lol on the yellow rose of texas, GOOD advice there!

And, as mentioned although Rugosa are certainly the safest bets they do have hips that they drop, for being thorny that's an understatement the ones I'm familiar with tend to have stems that look like a cactus, having hundreds & hundreds of thorns per inch! They do tend to be extremely fragrant and vigourous to boot. I have a neighbor who loves Rogusa's and created a hedge, they thrive in our humid summers and she waters them each night with a sprinkler (that's a big no no for roses) and her Rugosa's are doing awesome.

The other types of roses to look for are ones with the "Earthkind" label. Earth Kind Roses have been through rigorous testing and evaluation by a team of horticultural experts and found to possess the high level of landscape performance and outstanding disease and insect tolerance/ resistance required to for Texas. Earth Kind Roses are among the most thoroughly tested, and environmentally responsible plants for the use in Texas landscapes and do very well in almost any soil type, from the well-drained acid sands of East Texas to the poorly aerated, highly alkaline clays of central and Southwest Texas. Earth Kind roses are certainly not immune to pest problems. However, their tolerance to pests is so great that they rarely require the use of chemical pesticides.

To see a list of Earthkind roses you can check out http://earthkindroses.tamu.edu/EKroses.html

of which if you like Pink Hybrid Teas, look at "Belinda's Dream". http://www.chambleeroses.com/xcart/product.php?productid=25&cat=4&page=1 which is a Hybrid Pink Tea rose that was invented by a Texan, for use in Texas, and reached Texas Superstar status.
Sorry, but no yellow roses make the "Earthkind" list, but there's a white!

This message was edited Apr 1, 2008 9:47 AM

Sorry, said similar as above.


This message was edited Apr 1, 2008 9:49 AM

Wow, thanks! You sure know your roses and your texas varieties! THANK YOU!