Rosa glauca

Rosa glauca is a rose that has a reddish, bluish hue to it's leaves. It has red, purplish canes. The flowers are pink, with 5 petals.
I took this picture to show the size of the shrub. I am not sure what the white flowers in front of Rosa glauca is but it is about 4 ft tall. Rosa glauca blooms only in the spring.

Oneto Home Saffron

A found rose that is in the Sacramento City Cemetery. I bought it from there in April 2017. In my yard it is a small rose. It has a deep yellowish rose.
This is a rose that stays on the smaller side, so probably a good candidate for the front of a rose bed.

Mrs. B. R. Cant

A late comer to the tea party.  Bred in the United Kingdom in 1901. The flowers are petal packed. This rose is a bit heavy and needs support in an arrangement if you want to bring it into the house. It is fragrant and is worthwhile.
In my yard it has been somewhat of a slow grower compared to the other Tea roses that I planted around the same time. In my yard it is looking like the plant is trying to get big.

Malespina Red China

A rose that I picked up from the Sacramento City Cemetery Open Garden rose sale last April. This was one of the roses that was sold that is not in commerce.

So far it has been a small rose in my yard. It is believed to be similar to a rose called White Pearl in Red Dragon's Mouth, or Chi Long Han Zhu.

 In my yard,it remained evergreen. Mine is currently about a foot tall. It survived being transplanted a couple of months ago. It seems to be more red in my yard after it cooled down in the fall.

Chestnut Rose

"Chestnuts roasting over the open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose."

Wait, wrong season, wrong Chestnut. 

The Chestnut rose is a rose from China that has a spiny receptacle, the part that becomes the hip, that resembles a Chestnut husk. The Chestnut rose is slightly unusual, because the double form has the scientific name with just two parts, and the single form's scientific has three parts. The scientific names are Rosa roxburghii (sometimes shown with f. roxburghii after the first roxburghii) and Rosa roxburghii normalis. The leaves are made up of 7 to 9 leaflets, instead of the normal 5. There are normally two thorns sticking out below where the leaves and stems meet. 

I have seen examples of the Chestnut rose being allowed to grow untamed and huge, but I have also seen it kept trimmed and a manageable shrub. The bark of this rose can start to change color and even flake a little when it is older. There may be blooms during the summer and fall. 

Dr. Huey

A red once blooming commonly used as a rootstock. Other roses are grafted on to it and then it is cut off. It can produce suckers and over take the desired plant. Also it may be hardier than the other rose, so if the grafted froze Dr. Huey may be all that is left.

What is a rose's potential?

As I was mentioning to a co-worker, potential is a loaded word. So many different circumstances can change the potential.
So what is the potential of a rose? This could relate to size of bloom, size of plant, disease resistance, and to some extent hardiness.
The hardiness is mostly influenced by genetics, but an argument could be made that a healthy rose can be hardier than a sick rose.

That is a  yellow Lady Banks rose, climbing a tree, in Sacramento. As you can see in that climate it has the potential to get big.  There are a few yellow Lady Banks roses here in Oregon that I have seen. The part of Oregon that I am in, the Willamette valley, is colder than Sacramento, so the potential in this climate of the Lady Banks to get that big is reduced.
A rose could potentially have big flowers, but if the plant is sick, stressed, or it is hot out, the plant most likely will not produce blooms that are up to it's potential.
So what is the potential of a rose? There are several things that can influence the answer.

Rosa gallica officinalis

Also known as Apothecary's rose. A rose great for collectors. Also a rose that has history to it. It was believed that the flowers get more fragrant as they dry. (They don't.) The Apothecary's rose was used in medicinal purposes at one point.
This rose will sucker. It also had a mutation or a sport, that has stripes. The name of the sport is called Rosa Mundi.

Let's talk roses

I don't just want to ramble on about the roses that I grow, or just how to grow roses. While I am able to that may make for a boring read after a while. Please feel free to post any questions or even ideas of what you want to read about regarding roses in the comments section. I would love for you, the readers, to feel like this is interactive.
Just a few random roses.

Waiting for spring

While spring is a great time to see foliage of roses, (see Foliage, Foliage, Foliage everywhere) that isn't the only thing spring brings. This is 'Old Blush' waiting for enough warmth and light to open. This should open in about a week or so.

Crown Princess Margareta

Crown Princess Margareta is an English rose bred in 1990 and introduced in the USA in 2007. On the yellow side of apricot in color. I had it in Georgia, but do not have in Oregon. It had started to climb when I left Georgia.

Got hips?

Hips are the result of the successful pollination of the seeds of the rose. The hip swells and can turn colors, usually red or orange. An advantage of hips is they provide color in the fall and winter months. They can also be eaten by birds, and when chemicals aren't used, humans.

Hips hanging out on a rose

A pleasant surprise

This rose was sold as Cardinal de Richelieu. It was clearly not. I believe it belongs to the Gallica class, like Cardinal de Richelieu. It is also in the purple color, but nowhere near as dark as Cardinal de Richelieu.
This rose would grow straight up to about 8 feet,on thin canes then in the spring, the weight of the blooms would bend the canes over. The new growth would then shoot straight up and the cycle would repeat. It wound up building a 12 foot tall by 8 feet wide shrub. The rose also had suckers which caused it to spread out a little as well. I had this rose in Georgia, and wish that I had brought it to Oregon with me.

Smith's Parish

"Smith's Parish" was found on the island of Bermuda. It is classified as both a found rose and a Tea rose. Some people believe that this may be Fortune's Five Color rose, from circa 1844.
It can have the pink/red stripes on it. The flowers can also be just white, half white half red,or solid pink/red.  My version stayed usually white with the occasional streak.
I grew this rose in Georgia. I had it in the ground and also it a pot and found it did well both ways.

Raubritter

A once blooming rose that is great for rose collectors. Open cupped shape. A good plant for a big yard, where after the flowers fade the plant can fade into the background. Another rose that I grew in Georgia, but am not growing in Oregon. I didn't have to many disease issues, but the plant wasn't very vigorous for me. The plant didn't produce any hips, where the seeds are, for me. Hips can ripen to usually orange or red and provide color in the fall.

Not so!

There was a conversation today about roses. Person A told person B that they believe that roses are hard work. Person B replied that the house they have now had more than 60 roses and they hired someone to take care of them because they didn't have the time. Person B went on to state that among other things all of them have to be pruned low to get sturdy stems.
I replied that roses don't have to be hard work. I have more than 60 roses and generally don't break a sweat taking care of them.
True, I have not entered any of my roses in any shows, but I got the impression that neither is person B.
My routine rose maintenance is fairly simple. I mow the lawn and collect the clippings. I place said clippings around the roses, and throughout the rose bed. In the fall I collect leaves. I place the leaves around the roses and throughout the rose bed.. In the spring I prune out the dead canes, or pieces of dead canes. I water the roses when they need it. The roses will let you know when they need water. If you aren't sure you can take your finger and check for moisture level in the top couple of inches. I weed. I cut spent flowers, deadhead, I cut flowers to bring into work for my desk. Starting mid July to early August, I don't water more than once a week. Unless I am going to be moving a rose I don't prune it very hard.
Roses aren't hard work. Give them water when they need it and they will give you blooms. Allow the grass clippings and leaves to act as a mulch/compost and enjoy the results.
So take the chore out of roses kick back and enjoy them.

Old Blush, along with wild flowers

Abraham Darby

An English rose named after a person in the industrial revolution. 'Abraham Darby' was introduced in 1985 by David Austin. I really like this rose. For me it bloomed most of the summer without very much attention. It got to be about 5 feet tall, which for me is great because I didn't have to bend over too far to look at the flowers. I grew this rose in Georgia and didn't have too many issues with disease
 This picture is from several years ago, but I am looking on getting another one for here in Oregon.

Charles de Mills

Charles de Mills is a gallica, which is in the old garden rose group. It is believed to have been introduced pre 1780, but the history of this rose is just that, history. No background information. 

A rose that is great to grow in areas that get a winter, not so great in mild to no winter areas. It blooms in the spring. Here in Oregon it often blooms mid May.

It is the first old garden rose that I grew and it is my favorite rose. It also is really easy to propagate. It sends out suckers, which can be dug up.

Foliage, foliage, foliage everywhere

It is the beginning of spring. Rose leaves are coming out and this is probably the only time of the year that foliage will be the highlight of the rose. There is a great variety of foliage and colors in the spring.

Fortune's Double Yellow

Mrs. B. R. Cant

Lawrence of Arabia

Rosa rugosa

Old Blush

Licorice Tea and Monsieur Tillier

I can't, and won't, afford that! ... And you shouldn't either

I went to a nursery today hoping that they would have, ideally both, either 'Abraham Darby' or ' Midnight Blue'. They didn't have either one. They did have roses. One of the roses they did have cost $40.
Who can afford that?! And even if you can why would you?
There are lots of good roses out there for a lot less.  Here is one that I got for $15.

So what can one do to get cheaper roses? There is mail order nurseries. If you are looking for just one rose I would recommend using a mail order nursery that is close to you. A couple of benefits of using mail order roses are supporting small businesses, the owners are going to have a greater emphasis on making sure that they supply the correct and disease free varieties. A couple of down sides are the shipping cost and potential laws restricting where they can be shipped.
 A good website that you can search for roses and nuseries that carry them is Help Me Find. Some mail order nurseries are A Reverence For Roses, Burlington Roses,  Antique Rose Emporium,and Rogue Valley Roses. I do custom rooting, along with having some available roses as well. I can be contacted at allforroses1@gmail.com

Help Me Find:
www.helpmefind.com/roses
Rogue Valley Roses in Oregon:
  www.roguevalleyroses.com
Antique Rose Emporium in Texas:
www.weareroses.com
A Reverence For Roses in Florida:
www.areverenceforroses.com
Burlington Roses in California:
www.burlingtonroses.com

Mutabilis

A china rose that starts off yellowish and darkens to a pink. Single flower with 5 petals. Often there are flowers it different stages and different colors on it at the same time. This results in a awesome display of flowers. The new growth is red and then turns green.
My Mutabilis is a shrub, about 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide. However I have seen this rose grown different ways. I have seen people tie it to wires and train it as a climber up to the second story of their house. I have seen people train it as one trunk and allow it to branch like a tree. There are pictures of it being grown as a multiple trunked tree. I believe the styles of growing it are almost unlimited.

Licorice Tea

Licorice Tea, bred post 2000

Licorice Tea at dusk

Flowers and new growth

Tea roses are part of the old garden rose group. The dividing line between old and modern roses is any class that existed before 1867.
Tea roses held their own from the mid 1830s to the early 1900s. By then the Hybrid Tea ruled and the teas got forgotten about.
Licorice Tea was bred after 2000. It was bred by Paul Barden, in Oregon. The parents of Licorice Tea are Lilian Austin and Monsieur Tillier.
Licorice Tea is a light yellow. It is vigorous and in my yard grows long canes. I allow them to drape onto my other roses. I am sure it could be trained as a climber. Licorice Tea is one of the two Tea roses that were put into commerce by Paul Barden. 

Grafted versus own root

A rose is a rose, right?
Well not quite. Roses are sold as two different options. You can buy a rose own root, meaning that the rose is that type from the flowers to the roots. You can buy them grafted, meaning that one piece of rose a is stuck on to the roots of rose b.
An example of grafted roses would be this.

Grafted roses are also often in garden centers in pots. They usually have a big knob where the canes are coming out of, with a smooth section of cane below and then the roots.
An example of a own root rose could look like this.

Own root roses rarely have all their canes coming from one spot. Often they can have canes coming from multiple buds, and even from the roots.
So why buy one over the other? It is still just a rose right? Not so fast. An advantage of own root roses are that if the above ground part of the rose freezes and the roots are alive, they can send up more canes of that rose. A disadvantage of a grafted rose is that if it freezes and the roots are alive, you will end up with a different rose. For example, instead of the yellow rose blooming throughout the summer, you wind up with a spring only red rose.
An advantage of grafted roses are that they are bigger, meaning that they are less likely to be broken accidentally. An advantage of own root roses is that you don't have to worry about the rootstock trying to send up canes of it's own and robbing the desired plant of energy.
I prefer own root roses, however there are good and bad points to both.

Tea roses versus Hybrid Teas

Teas and Hybrid Teas, sound similar, right? So what is the big deal if you just drop the word Hybrid and shorten everything to Tea?
Tea roses are in the old garden roses group. One of the roses that is considered an early tea rose is 'Park's yellow tea scented China Rose' and is from 1824.  Another early tea, which sometimes lays claim to the " first" tea rose, is 'Adam' from 1838. There are claims that the name Tea rose came from either the scent of the flowers or that the roses were smuggled out of China/India in chests holding tea.
 Several Tea roses have what is called a weak neck, which often causes the flowers to nod. Not all tea roses have weak necks, but tall tea roses with weak necks have an advantage. When the plant is climbing on a tree or arbor, or is allowed to grow tall, the flowers are looking at you.

Safrano from 1839

Safrano, showing the type of flower opening that would soon become popular and sought after.

Hybrid Teas are the first class in which the modern garden roses would become a class. The "first" Hybrid Tea was ' La France' in 1867, which resulted from using a tea rose as the seed parent, or mom, and a hybrid perpetual as the pollen parent, or dad. ( In plants the cross is shown as mom X dad) Generally Hybrid Teas were bred with aim to have large pointed buds that opened in a neat spiral. For the most part roses from the florist are generally Hybrid Teas. Hybrid Teas are often pruned short every year and encouraged to produce stems to put in vases.

Sutter's Gold a Hybrid Tea from 1950

So what is the big deal? If you want stiff formal roses for vases then you want a Hybrid Tea. If you want a plant that looks natural looking down from above, or a loose floppy flower arrangement then you want Tea roses.