I'll add Martin Frobisher. He's tall and vigourous with masses of blooms pretty much all summer long. Only trouble is that if you don't deadhead constantly, his blooms get that "wet kleenex" look. :) Very little dieback in the winter.

Another of my favourites is Hawkeye Belle, a Buck rose. She does suffer a fair bit of dieback but rebounds nicely. So far the number of blooms have been disappointing, but they're beautiful nonetheless.

Hansa is also a tough, tough rose that blooms all summer long and into the fall.

Gary, you're right about Champlain. I do give it winter protection but it still dies back almost to the ground. Every year, i think "That's it for him" but he grows rapidly and blooms beautifully all summer. Last year his best show was in September. :)

marciaz3, I agree Champlain is a terrific rose that should be grown more often. Sometimes I shovel some snow on this rose in the winter to protect some of the canes, it seems to help.

Martin Frobisher is an excellent rose as well, did you know it was the first explorer rose introduced by agriculture Canada way back in 1968?

I think i read that about Martin. He's usually a tough guy but even he had a lot of dieback last spring. We had a mostly mild winter but the times that it was really cold, there was little snow.

Champlain in July

Martin in August:

Thanks for the pictures, next year I'm going to try the explorer rose Quadra. I was told by U.S gardener on the rose forum that this is her favorite rose and has done better than her other roses. This rose is red and have lots of petals in it's flowers much like a quarted old garden rose, and it blooms all summer.

w0w fabulous information and some great pics...thnx huh
..... from down to0on t0wn way ; )

This little known rose impresses me every passing year - I grow it for the shiny foliage that hangs on after other roses have all lost their leaves. It is disease resistant, fragrant, and blooms for an extended period - very hardy and has supple, red canes so its OK to bend over for winter protection if you think it's necessary.

METIS

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rosecavalier, thanks for the pick of Metis. It's a beautiful rose. I've read about this rose in the 2008 Prairie Garden Annual featuring roses. This book is a must have for prairie garden enthusiasts. Get it here: http://www.theprairiegarden.ca/2008.html

The breeder is renown prairie rose hybridizer Robert Simonette. The book mentions metis.

The cornhill Nursery carries this rose: http://www.cornhillnursery.com/retail/roses/vigorous/metis.html

It's parentage includes Therese Bugnet. How is Metis different from Therese? My Therese suckers and is quite large.

rosecavalier, what an amazing colour. Thank you for posting the pic.
It just went to number one on my wishlist.

Helen

Edmonton 83 - I agree with you on the quality of "Prairie Gardener - 2008" - especially the sections on the prairie rose hybridizers. I am going to reread the book - if I remember, there wasn't much said about Robert Simonet (influenced Felicitas Svejda alot), and George Bugnet (breeder of world known Therese Bugnet) - both breeders were important pioneers in Canadian rose breeding.

If you look at the cover page of Prairie Gardener, there is a photo of Hazeldean - if you can imagine this rose with blush edges, that's what "Prairie Peace" looks like, a wonderful descendant of Hazeldean. This rose is extremely vigorous, fragrant and hardy (after all, it was bred just outside of Rocky Mountain House) by Robert Erskine. If I had just one rose to grow, this would be it. Most photos I've seen to date don't do it justice - perhaps a reader of this post could send one in. On a warm summer midmorning, the feathery petals hang/flutter elegantly accompanied by a powerful spinosissima fragrance - an experience no other rose has given me.

According to HMF, the breeder of Metis is Bert Harp - do you know if this is correct?

Coming back to Metis and how it compares to Therese Bugnet, in my garden Metis grows almost as large, but not as fast and the canes are more lax. It does sucker, the smaller leaves last much longer and are more reddish and shiny with the same red stems - you have to be more patient with Metis but will be rewarded. "Metis" is a good name for this resilient rose.

In this poor photo, Metis is located over the three urns water feature (in center left of photo) - photo is a few years old and Metis is now getting large now- at least 8 ft tall by 4 ft wide.

Helen - Good luck - I grow Metis on the east side of my house.

I've included a link to Robert Erskine roses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Robert Erskine Roses

I am officially in zone 5 but I live in a very windy place where we have had -35 C nights in past winters. My toughest rose by far is a dog rose (a variety with small white flowers) that is at least 15 feet tall and grows up a cedar tree. It has never been protected and has never had the slightest winter injury.
So, even in zone 3, the dog rose is a possibility for "wilder" areas of the garden. I say "wilder" because the plant is very vigorous and only blooms in early summer (even if if it is then competely covered with blooms). It is also very thorny, that is how it climbs on its own up trees.

Sorry for the late response rosecavalier, I haven't been on this site now for several weeks. From what I've read Robert Simonette is the breeder of Metis.

Rochefleurie, I have heard of rosa canina, the Dog Rose, but I think it's only hardy to zone 4 or 5.

I have 2 Hazeldean roses and trying a Ballerina to see if it will winter and I also have Theresa Bugnet which was run over with a Bob cat while cleaning my driveway. But I know it will be back They don't come much tougher than that rose.

beegood, how did your Hazeldean roses perform this past summer? I know this rose only blooms once, what other attributes does it have? Flower fragrance?, How well do blooms stand up to heat/rain/ do the blooms last? Ie hips (do they persist into winter), how is the bark color, foliage, fall colors? Does this rose sucker? How long is the bloom?
This rose is becoming harder and harder to find, I think hybridizer Paul G. Olsen mentioned that the St. Albert Botanical garden in St. Albert, Alberta has a few plants.

My Hazeldeans did pretty well altho I did not give them too much attention. The flowers did have fragrance but I don't think they lasted very long. It was a bad summer for me personally so a lot of things got negelcted. Hope to be better this year. If you live close to Edmonton you could probably try to take some cuttings. Haven't noticed if they have suckered. Doesn't that nursery in Saskatchewan carry them any more?

The fellow in Sask that used to have them is Dieter Martin in Langham . I have his # if you want it

has anyone heard of Artic Flame? I think it is newer. I am in Alaska and it is so harsh. I would love to grow roses but don't want to just throw my money away. Another I heard of was called Joseph's coat. It is a climber. I have little experience with roses but have lots of peonies. Anyone want to compare the two for care and hardiness?
thank you

Hi dahliadigger...I have both, and for me, the peonies are definitely easier care. But the hardy roses aren't that bad if you can accept that there will be some dieback some years, some breakage from too much snow, the moose will prune them, and many of them eventually sucker a lot, so need vigilance to keep them looking nice and from taking over. There is a local grower in Wasilla who grows beautiful hardy roses. I have Foxi Pavement, Kilwinning, Julia Bugnet, Mary Queen of Scots, Polestar, Wasagaming, Purple Pavement, Haidee, and Lac La Nonne from him. They all do very well here.

I also have Rosa Glauca, Blanc double de Coubert, Morden Centennial, and F.J. Grootendorst. The first 2 grow and bloom amazingly, the second two so-so, depending on the year.

I also have a couple of Rose de l'Hay that have been growing for several years. Very fragrant with a big bloom in the spring and less flowers all year but always some flowers. No die back even in the coldest winters. Also Have Blanc de Coubert which is also very fragrant heavy first bloom and lighter the rest of the year. Both are about 5' high. De l'Hay seems to be a magnet for thrips so always spraying

I can't spray too much as I also have a bee-hive in my yard.So anything I grow has to retty well bug free or just deal with it.

Dahliadigger- how cold does it get where you are?
Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty below zero?

You can grow teas, I do in Minn where twenty below is normal and I have seen forty below three times in the past years.

You will have to trim them down every fall.
Then You can either put a cover over them, car covers work great, as does landscape fabric, and put a layer of leaves over that at least a foot deep, sixteen to twenty works better.
Or you can bury them, then you do not have to trim them down as low or at all if you have a large space, then put the cover over the ground A. foot of leaves should be plenty.

You will lose roses, I have never spoken to a rose grower who has not up north, but cold climate ones like
Arctic Flame improve the odds.
I have one old variety I did not think would last one year but it is now eight years old.

One item-- do not uncover them in the spring too early, I lost more that way than any other.

I put a border around my roses made of rail road ties, and also will at times put a wall of straw or meadow hay bales to block the wind from the North.
When I cover with leaves I put a wire fence two to four inches outside the ties. It keeps them where I want them.
The natural insulating barrier of the ties plus the insulating, I use oak leaves more than any other, effect of the leaves has also helped improve survival rate.
I have had critters but they simply stored peanuts I put out for the squirrels under the bales.
No damage.

RpR, it's not just about the minimum temp, but how long we keep those temps. I've tried the burying technique...I know that there are some here with microclimates, especially if their rose bed is near the foundation of the house, that can make this work consistently. For the rest of us up here, it is really hit or miss and not worth the expense (of the roses we tried and lost) and the effort. Most people with tea roses here keep them in garages or other places where they can control the climate somewhat. When you live in a place where sometimes your sewer and water systems freeze, tender plants don't stand a chance.

I really miss being able to grow teas up here.I do have a really old rugosa by the end of the driveway that lives through everything-even had a truck plow thru it on an icey night without a problem.It gets salt and sand or whatever the highway dept. does and still lives and I don,t do a thing to it.It is not invasive because of the crap it has to go through.

I personally have at about 5000ft elev in SW Montana:
1)William Baffin - reachingabout 10' now after 10 years, up and over an archway, with Clematis "Bluebird" threatening to take it over each summer! Low care, rarely dead to cut out, no spray, annual feeding of composted manure and annual Bayer Tree and Shrub application.
2) Adelaide Hoodless: Never much die back but i cut it back pretty hard becasue it is a flopper otherwise - 3-4 ft H & W, a nice recurrent red.
3) Champlain: Took them all out last year - one of the prettiest hardy everblooming reds but two years of dieback followed by recurrent bouts of powdery mildew means they can't stay in my postage stamp size of a garden...
4) Flower Girl: a floribunda with minimal dieback and pretty clusters of baby pink single flowers. to 2 ft. No disease issues.
5) David Austin's Gertrude Jeckyll: Dies back some years but rebounds well to 3-3.5ft and the fragrance from these large mauve blossoms is out of this world!!!!
6) Rosa glauca - red leaf rose to 8 ft H That foliage, those hips!!!!
7) Austrian Copper - a bugger with black spot but needed the orange in that spot - it will go when I expand the grape arbor!
8) John Franklin - a lovely red with the sweetest form in bud and flower, nice clean foliage and overall shape.

I don't grow any of the rugosa hybrids that have the matte foliage such as hansa and Belle Poitevin - the flowers are gorgeous but they are particularly resentful of our alkaline soils, even with heavy ammending.

That is my current inventory but I have grown others in this area: a quick list...Bonica - lt pink,Graham Thomas - a DA yellow, Henry Kelsey - red climber, Knock out - red, any of the Morden series, Winnipeg Parks - rosy pink with good foliage, Therese Bugnet - nice pink but sometime chlorotic...

Looking to try Starry Night as I don't currently have a white and maybe add another DA or 2! happy rose growing to all!

i just planted floribunda gene boerner and sunsprite in my front bed.

please does anyone in zone 3 in edmonton have any success in keeping them in ground try the winter?

any tips or advice appreciated

thank you

thru the winter i mean..

Plant them deeper than normal and cover the crown with something. Cutting it back late in the year would make the task easier.