The arbor will be about five to six feet wide and probably three feet deep. I have a second entrance to the garden, so if the rose gets a little sprawling by August, that's okay :)

Mickie

I know New Dawn is cold hardier, but do you like the fragrance and flowers?

The fragrance won't knock you out, the blossoms are soft pink and have a nice form. It has VERY good repeat bloom. VERY good disease resistance. Black spot doesn't seem to be a problem with her.

But if fragrance is real important, Zephrine Drouhin may be a better choice (and she'll play with Joe).

Mickie

In the middle of the kitchen garden, I'm hoping to put an 8' round bed with a few white Marie Bugnet roses and red bee balm with purple centers. I also plan to put in some lavender and other herbs with some violets and alpine strawberries around the edges. All cold hardy and perennials, with annual veggies and flowers in the beds around the perimeter.

Ianna and Woodyoak- Thank you for the recommendations. I'm going to check the roses you mentioned right now :)

That sounds like a faerie tale garden! Can't wait to see the progress!

Mickie

"Many of our rose friends have asked us to indicate the hardiness zone for the varieties we list on our website. We have not applied zones because we believe it is not of value for the majority of rose varieties. To our way of thinking the hardiness zone should identify the coldest zone the plant can survive in without suffering significant winterkill to it’s branches, which excludes from zone 5 and colder all Hybrid Teas, Floribundas and many other varieties. Unfortunately most roses require care and protection to achieve their full potential in colder areas and restricting oneself to varieties that are identified as being winter-hardy in zone 5 and colder excludes many varieties that have been grown successfully here for many years.

As such we offer these general guidelines:

Winter protection for roses in zone 6 and colder

Types that need no protection - we consider these to be reliably winter-hardy in zones 6, 5, and 4 under normal conditions.

Polyanthas, Explorer Climbers, Ramblers, most Shrub Roses, Rugosas, Albas, Cerntifolias, Damasks, Gallicas, Hybrid Foetida & Moyessi, Hybrid Musks, Hybrid Spinossimas, Mosses, and most species varieties.

ALL other varieties should be protected for winter.

*There are undoubtedly specific varieties within the less winter hardy categories (Hybrid Teas etc.) that can be grown without winter protection but, individual experiences notwithstanding one is best to provide protection when in doubt.

Protecting roses for winter doesn’t need to be complicated, or involve purchasing special materials. Simply hill the plants up with a mound of soil about 10" deep over top of the union. You can use rose collars or cones to keep the soil from washing away. This provides ample protection for the winter. Remove the remaining mound in early spring, when buds are swelling on deciduous trees and shrubs."

Ianna- Thanks for the information. I'm trying to get away from roses that need a lot of extra attention in the fall, but I do have a few hybrid teas that are worth the trouble. I'm thinking of trying more rugosas, gallicas and eventually albas and damasks. I got a couple of Fantin Latours last year that I hope do well. They're too small to bloom yet, but they're so pretty in the pictures!

Roseberri- Thank you for the link. You said you have a lot of wind, where are you in zone 5b? Lady Godiva is a pretty rose and good to know about the thorns on New Dawn.

Mickie- Thanks for the kind words...it does sound a little bit like a fairy garden :)

I guess I've been thinking about my magical/fairy garden for my nieces and nephews that it's influencing my other designs, too. (It's now called the magical/fairy garden, so the nephews don't think it too girly for them to enjoy.)

I'm familiar with Guelph's course offerings - because I had been interested in signing up but because of time issues I decided to hold off. I do work in a University btw - you'd be surprised how many established folks continue to take up courses to better their businesses. Pickering Nurseries have been around for a long time and so I've every confidence in their product and advise.

Lavender: the good thing is - all you do have to do is hill the graph union well and so whatever rose you happen to get, it will survive winter.

One of the reasons I don't grow a lot of roses - aside from the pest and disease issue - is that I can't be bothered with all the winter protection fuss, so I only grow things that survive on their own. There are more than enough of those to satisfy my needs so I tend to encourage people to investigate whether they can also find an easy-care option that satisfies them.

Woodyoak- Thank you for the picture, it's so nice to see what a rose looks like in "real life" not just on the nursery sites :)

Good to know about the thorns, but as long as I keep it trimmed back (and wear really heavy gloves when I do it) would it be okay for the arbor into the kitchen garden? I like the color and the fact that it does well for you without a lot of extra protection. I've seen that it's hardy to zone 4, so with a little work, it should be fine.

Ianna

Could you swag it into the kitchen garden? All we did was set up four 4x4 posts, two on each side of the alley path, and ran plasic chains from the arbour to the posts.

June 1 2008:

June 28 2009:

ianna - youre right about the shower of blooms and pairing with a clematis. We have Jackmani Superba growing into ours - we don't prune the clematis back (too hard to seperate it from the rose...) This view is from outside the gate looking in to where Randy was pruning (which is why there's a stepladder in the picture.) The clematis starts blooming just as the rose is nearing the end of its big flush of blooms. ND would probably go well with many different clematises - which ones have you used/seen it with?

The other thing that works nicely with ours is double Rose of Sharons. We have one that is at the end of the swag on the house side and, on the other side, the neighbour has a big double deep pink one that spills over the top of the fence and looks like the rose swag on that side has deep pink roses too! Here is what our RofS looks like with the end of the swag on Aug 23 2009:

What about William Lobb? I saw this on the Old Garden Roses and Beyond website and it's zone 5, thorny and only blooms once...but it's supposed to do well on pillars and arbors. Also, it's purple and looks like a gallica! I love purple :)

Any climber will work well against a post. In my case I had trained mine to wrap around the post on it's way to the very top. I didn't need to swag them as their branches draped down from the top all so gracefully.

For as long as you like the flower then go ahead and experiment with it. The only thing I have concerns about one time flowerers is that when the blooms are so one time only and then you are left with no blooms. However, I understand William Lobb is more of a shrub than a climber.
It still needs to be trained against a trellis but I am guessing this won't be as tall as a climber.

After all the great reviews and pictures, I had to get New Dawn and the purple clematis. This means more work (and another arbor over my small seating area in the kitchen garden, but it will be beautiful!

For the arbor into the kitchen garden, I'm going to zone push and try Lavender Lassie. Great name (LOL) also love the color and it's supposed to do well on smaller arches. I'm so excited for spring, but then I think of all the work...but I'm still excited. It's going to look great and it'll be so pretty to go out and pick lettuce, herbs and salad veggies with such pretty roses and clematis :)

Also plan to put three snow pavement roses in the round center bed of the kitchen garden (instead of the Marie Bugnet). They're both supposed to be less interesting to deer, but I love the lavender touch on the snow pavement. I'll add in three red bee balm with purple centers (already ordered them) and some other herbs. Around the edge I'm planning to put alpine strawberries and violets. Finally, one thing I already have...which will look very nice there and it's the older kind that smells good!

In fact since we've been discussing this vine, I am going to see how I can set up one in my front yard.

I'm glad you're going to put in some vines...clematis only or roses too? I also saw a clematis "etoile violette" that is very pretty.

Thanks for the ideas on the arbor. I ordered my roses today! Can't wait until nice weather to start gardening again!!!

Well for now, just the roses and the clematis. I've actually added a third (annual) vine before which too works. However sometimes 3 is a crowd.

Apart from rose climbers, I've actually been thinking of what to grow over a trellis of mine and I'm concidering getting a green grape vine.

So now, get back to your homework.

Eventually, I hope to put a grape arbor in the backyard to provide shade over a table and chairs. I think the St. Theresa grape would be a good choice with our short, but hot summers.

Now, back to homework :)

I put 1 small own root in last summer and it spit out 1 flower cluster on it's first year for me.

Melissa1977

Carol- Thank you. I'll be looking at those this weekend :)

Melissa- Darlow's Enigma would be beautiful. I'm thinking of trying to find room for it by the lilac hedge. It gets big, but it sounds beautiful and cold hardy. Where do you have yours?

Here's my little baby.

Melissa1977

I hope you post more pics this year...I'm still trying to find a good place to put at least one Darlow's Enigma.