The best way to prepare your prized roses is to make sure the plant stops growing and becomes fully dormant before the onset of the coldest weather. I’ve found you can encourage this in two ways:

- Stop fertilizing six weeks before the first frost. I never fertilize my roses after August 1st ( I’m in Zone 5 – the Chicago area ).

- Let rose hips develop. Instead of cutting off or deadheading the spent flowers from late fall bloom, let the flowers go to seed. Most plants slow down their vegetative growth while their seeds mature.

You want to protect your rose not just from the cold, but from drying winds and from fluctuating temperatures, which can cause plants to freeze and thaw and refreeze, and thaw…a vicious cycle for plants.

Winterized Rose - Courtesy of the University of Illinois Extension

4 Easy Steps to Winterize Roses:

1. Make sure that your plants are well-watered. Fall rains usually do the job, but some seasons where the weather has been dry, water deeply to a depth of about 18 inches after the first frost, but before the ground freezes.

2. In early to mid fall, when the nights are getting regularly frosty, mound several spadefuls of soil over the base of the plant, extending the soil up at least a foot above the bud union. (Before I do this I remove all fallen leaves and debris from within and around the plant)

Don’t worry about the canes above the mound, you’ll be cutting those back in the spring. Get the soil from somewhere else, not around your roses. Sometimes I go buy a bag at the local garden center to do the job if I don’t have enough elsewhere in the yard.

3. When the ground is thoroughly frozen, cover the mound with a thick layer of mulch, such as straw, leaves or compost.

This helps ensure the ground remains frozen. If any leaves remain on the plant, you can remove them. Leaves can harbor disease and dry out the plant. Wire mesh or tied newspaper can keep the protective material in place. You can buy styrofoam or plastic cones, but I’ve never been a big fan of those.

4. When the ground begins to thaw in the spring, gently start removing the soil from the base of the plant.

I usually wait until I see the yellow blooms of the forsythia before I unwrap my roses. You don’t want to start too early – a sudden cold snap can be brutal. Remove the soil slowly and carefully so you don’t break off new buds.

Winterizing Tree Roses and Climbers:

These types of roses need special protection since they are more upright and thus more exposed to wind and cold. If the rose is tied to a trellis and the canes are not very flexible, untie the canes and wrap them with insulating material (like you’d wrap pipes to keep them from freezing). Then retie them back to the trellis to protect them.

Dig up tree roses (or move the potted ones) and store them for winter in a cool garage or basement. Or dig up only one side of the tree roses’ roots so that it can lie on its side. Then secure with stakes and cover the whole thing with soil and mulch.

I intended to make a “top 10″ list of my favorite roses with fragrance but discovered I was having a hard time narrowing it down. So I came up with my favorite “top 12″ fragrant easy care roses and listed them by color. I’ll do my best to describe them here.

RED FRAGRANT ROSES –

Mister Lincoln: An oldie but still a goodie and the bestselling red rose of all-time. This handsome rose has been standing proud in many gardens since it was first bred in 1964. One of the best red hybrid tea roses characterized by velvety red petals, classic form, and a very strong traditional rose fragrance.

Lasting Love: This red hybrid tea rose features unusual shimmering blooms and a powerful rose fragrance. Very large flowers (6″) are a dusky deep red with a deep pink glimmer. New growth is burgundy red. More vigorous than most other red hybrid tea roses.

WHITE FRAGRANT ROSES –

Secret’s Out!: A pure white hybrid tea rose with cuplike 4″ – 6″ blossoms with a strong, spicy fragrance. A prolific bloomer throughout the season. Good disease resistance and makes great cut flowers.

Madame Hardy: This old fashioned garden rose bred in 1832 is a real photogenic charmer. It flowers only once per season, but the sheer abundance and heady (almost lemony) fragrance of the very double, pure white blooms more than compensate.

PINK FRAGRANT ROSES –

Falling in Love: This beautiful hybrid tea rose exhibits sturdy stems carrying large, classically formed blooms of warm pink with a cream reverse. The full flowers have a strong rosy fruit fragrance.

Elle: Combining a strong spicy, citrus fragrance with a high-centered classic rose bud. Elle is a hybrid tea that produces shell pink flowers with deep yellowish undertones. The dark glossy foliage contrasts nicely to the soft, non-fading flowers, and offers above average disease tolerance to mildew and blackspot.

PURPLE / LAVENDER FRAGRANT ROSES -

Barbra Streisand: An avid rose lover, Barbra was very choosy when it came to picking a rose that would bear her name. She certainly chose well since this hybrid tea rose with large hardy lavender blossoms can nearly overpower you with its strong sweet ( rose & citrus blossom) scent. Vigorous grower great for cutting.

Burgundy Iceberg: The Burgundy Iceberg floribunda rose is one hardy, exceptionally disease-resistant compact shrub with abundant blossoms. The purple-magenta blooms have a light to medium rose fragance. Looks super planted next to apricot colored flowers.

YELLOW FRAGRANT ROSES -

Sun Sprinkles: This bright yellow miniature rose has a pleasing spicy, musky scent. With excellent disease resistance, Sun Sprinkles is a great choice for limited space gardens or containers. The cheery flowers are long-lasting with glossy, dark-green foliage. Grows to about 2 ft. tall.

Sunsprite: A yellow floribunda rose, Sunsprite has bright yellow flower clusters that are intensely fragrant with a scent of licorice or spicy sweet. Another nice feature is the disease resistance of this rose. Yellow roses are generally not this hardy – this is a good and easy care floribunda.

CORAL / ORANGE / APRICOT FRAGRANT ROSES -

Honey Perfume: This apricot floribunda definitely suits the name. Growing to about 3 1/2 feet high Honey Perfume exhibits a great spicy scent and very good resistance to disease, including rust and powdery mildew. Looks great by itself or planted as a low hedge.

Fragrant Cloud: This hybrid tea rose has a wonderfully strong, deliciously fruity fragrance and gorgeous coral-pink-orange blooms. A real stand out in the rose garden. This is the most fragrant rose in my yard – receiving many compliments!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It is thought that a connection may exist between fragrance and other rose attributes:

* Darker colored roses are generally more fragrant than lighter colored ones.

* The red and pink varieties are more closely associated with the classic rose scent.

* Heavily petaled roses usually have a stronger or more intense scent than those with fewer petals.

* Orange or coral roses are often associated with a fruity scent.

* The yellow and white rose aromas are often compared to the fragrance of violets and nasturtiums and lemony scents.

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'Love and Peace' Hybrid Tea Rose

These beauties are the classic type of rose – a single, exquisite flower on each long stem – excellent for cutting and putting on display. I’m not going to lie to you – they do need more attention than say a “knock out” rose or hardy shrub rose.

Hybrid Tea Roses are not reliably winter hardy in my area (Zone 5 – Chicago suburbs) so they require winter protection. Also, they need good cultural practices to keep them healthy. That being said, they are so worth the effort! Don’t be afraid to plant them in your garden. The pluses so outweigh the minuses with these gorgeous members of the rose family.

Here are some recommended hardier than average Hybrid Tea Roses (all have been selected by the AARS All-America Rose Selections for their high marks in disease resistance, flower production, color, and fragrance):

Elle – Shell Pink
Strong fragrance combined with high centered classic rose buds. Soft but non-fading color contrasts nicely with the dark shiny foliage. Above-average disease tolerance to mildews and black spot. More compact, fits well in small gardens or even large containers. AARS winner 2006.

Love and Peace – Golden yellow edged with pink
Gorgeous offspring of the legendary “Peace” rose. Love & Peace will mesmerize garden enthusiasts with its fruity scent and looks. The high center, spiral formed blooms of Love & Peace open to reveal five-inch, breath-taking large flowers of golden yellow edged with pink. This classic upright, disease-resistant, hybrid tea grows to 4-5 feet by 3 feet. AARS winner 2002.

Midas Touch – Bright yellow
Brilliant, golden yellow blooms that remain unfading right up to petal drop and seem to be showier because they are always borne on top of the plant. Vigorous, free branching, with shiny dark green foliage that really sets off the flowers. Striking color, disease resistance, and a hardiness that most roses this color don’t enjoy. AARS winner 1994.

'Opening Night' Hybrid Tea Rose

Tahitian Sunset – Peachy apricot pink with strong yellow base
Tahitian Sunset offers a little slice of paradise to your garden. This brightly-hued hybrid tea features splendid blossoms starting from high-centered orange-yellow buds that open fully to a peachy apricot-pink with yellow highlights. The vigorous plant produces 14-16 inch stems with large blooms up to five inches in diameter. With its complex color, delightful licorice fragrance, and semi-glossy foliage, this perfectly formed rose makes a strong focal point. AARS winner 2006.

Whisper – Creamy white
One of the most stunning white roses introduced in the past decade. Whisper enchants the viewer with classically formed flowers of creamy white with dark green, semi-glossy leaves. Very resistant to disease this sophisticated rose is almost never out of bloom and produces long-lasting flowers. Slight musk fragrance. AARS winner 2003.

Helpful Hints For Cut Roses:

* For the flowers to last the longest, it’s best to cut them in the morning. The buds should be just beginning to open at the tips.

* Cut the rose stem just above a five-leaflet leaf (“five”) near the center of the stem, leaving at least two “fives” on the plant.

* Immediately immerse the cut stems in warm water mixed with floral preservative.

* You can place the vase of flowers in the refrigerator for 4 hours to harden them (trick of florists – for longer lasting cut flowers)

* Take roses out of refrigerator and put on display. Enjoy!

Even if you have a large yard with plenty of room, containers of roses make lovely patio plants and bring the garden (and fragrance) closer to the house. They add color and beauty to any sunny spot. Almost any rose can be raised as a container plant, but I suggest to choose smaller shrub roses or better yet miniature roses for the best results.

Here are some of my favorite miniature roses for container planting: (they look great planted separately or mixed with other flowers AND don’t you just love the names of the minis!)

* Cupcake (light pink mini rose)

* Winsome (lavender-purple-magenta)

Notes: I recommend that you put wheeled pot trolleys under your containers – so much easier to move them around. Make sure the pots you use have good drainage because roses don’t like wet feet.

Zephirine Drouhin - Thornless Climber

One of the reasons some gardeners never grow roses is because they don’t want to have to deal with the thorns (actually the true name for these is “prickles” but most people commonly refer to them as “thorns”)
but now that problem is taken care of by the breeding of thornless or nearly thornless roses. A lot of people think the flowers are hard enough to take care of without having your skin punctured every time you pick a flower or try to prune a rose bush. True rose lovers think that enduring a few bad skin pricks or scratches is nothing when it comes to experiencing the beauty of roses.

If you are a person who detests thorns, take a look at some of the newer thornless (or almost thornless) easy care roses before you give up on roses altogether. Plus, these thornless roses are great to use to teach children how to grow and appreciate roses. They are also much easier for senior citizens to handle, and people who are prone to infections who must avoid broken skin.

Here are some of my suggestions for easy care “thornless” roses:

“Zephirine Drouhin” is an old-fashioned thornless climbing rose. It features deep, rose-pink, semi-double flowers and glossy medium grass green foliage. A very fragrant rose these beautiful climbers grow up to twelve feet and higher. It is in bloom for the entire season from May to the fall. You can train this lovely rose bush to grow on a trellis, archway, or along the rails of a veranda, porch or deck.

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“Pacific Serenade” is a deep yellow miniature thornless rose. Growing to only 3 ft. this is an excellent choice for growing in containers or for young gardeners. This rose is disease resistant, remains upright, fragrant, and will produce blooms in clusters for lots of color.

“J.P. Connell” is a creamy white, virtually thornless shrub rose which grows to 3 ft. high, but spreads to about 5 ft.wide. The dark green foliage is abundant and disease resistant. This rose has its own root. The advantage of own root roses is that once established they are very resilient. Hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 3, this is a good choice for us northern gardeners.

“Tea Clipper” features rich apricot colored blooms on this upright shrub rose. The flowers are large (similar to peonies) and have a lovely fragrance which can be described as a mix of tea, myrrh and fruit, although sometimes it is pure citrus in scent. It is almost completely without thorns and is particularly healthy.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
Abraham Lincoln

William Baffin Climbing Rose

The Explorer Series of roses are a good choice, especially for those of us in cold climates. Developed at Canada’s Agricultural Research Stations, these hardy modern climbing roses are very winter hardy and disease resistant. They have a heavy bloom time in early summer followed by scattered blooms through the season. They don’t need much fuss or winter protection – very easy care.

My favorite Explorer Series climbing roses:

1.) Rosa ‘William Baffin’ - This is one of the hardiest climbing roses you will ever find! It bears semi-double, deep pink flowers in abundance in late June, with recurrent bloom well into fall. This gorgeous climber is also exceptionally vigorous and disease resistant. I’ve grown this charmer for over 15 years now and it looks better each and every year. Grows 8 – 10 ft. tall.

2.) Rosa ‘John Davis’ - This climbing rose features clusters of loosely double blooms of medium pink with yellow stamens. A wonderful spicy fragrance and thornless canes are some of the outstanding characteristics of this strong climber. Very winter hardy. Grows 6 – 8 ft. tall.

3.) Rosa ‘Quadra’ - This Explorer Series rose is classified as a shrub rose or climbing rose since it is easily trained to climb due to its spreading habit. The large full blooms have curled inner petals that are shorter like an heirloom rose. The rich deep red blooms mature to lighter red. Quadra’s cut flowers are wonderful with a good fragrance. Grows to about 6 ft.

Quadra Rose

Pruning roses is primarily done to remove dead, damaged, or diseased wood; increase air circulation; keep the shrub from becoming a tangled mess; shape the plant; and encourage the growth of flowering wood.

The majority of pruning is done in the spring – I’ve found that to be the most successful. Many rose growers suggest waiting until the forsythias start to bloom as a good signal for the pruning season to begin.

The goal of spring pruning is to produce an open centered plant. This allows air and light to penetrate more easily. This routine maintenance helps prevent rose diseases and results in healthier, stronger plants. It’s definitely worth the effort!

Basic pruning fundamentals that apply to all roses include: (I’ll go into more detail on pruning various types of roses in upcoming posts)

- Use clean, sharp pruners.

- Cut at a 45-degree angle about 1/4 inch above outward-facing bud. The cut should slant away from the bud.

- Entirely remove all dead or dying canes. These can be identified as canes/branches that are shriveled, dark brown, or black in color.

- After making cuts, it is suggested to seal the ends of the cuts to prevent the entry of cane borers. White glue works well.

- Remove all thin, weak canes that are smaller than a pencil in diameter.

- If roses are grafted and there is sucker growth, remove it. The best way is to dig down to the root where the sucker is originating and tear it off where it emerges.

Carefree Sunshine

Here are my recommended “Top Five Roses for Beginners”:

1. ‘Knock Out’ Roses - These hardy and prolific shrub roses are show-stoppers all season long. They now come in seven different colors ranging from red-pinks to coral-yellows. Developed to withstand the hot, humid summers and cold, blustery winters of the Midwest. The best-selling roses of all time.

2. ‘Flower Carpet’ Roses - Compact and ever-blooming this series was started in Germany in the 1990′s. These are considered groundcover roses and are very popular with landscapers due to their easy to maintain attributes. Available in many different color variations.

3. ‘Carefree’ Roses - These beloved shrub roses are very disease resistant. They grow 3 – 5 ft. high and are easy to please. I have ‘Carefree Beauty’ (rosy pink) and ‘Carefree Sunshine’ (sunny yellow) thriving in my rose garden.

4. Rugosa Shrub Roses - Known for their extreme hardiness, their alluring spicy scent and attractive foliage. They are grown on their own roots and do not need winter protection. One of my favorites is ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’ with her pure white blooms that absolutely glow. Elegant and easy to grow!

5. ‘Oso Easy’ Shrub Roses - These gorgeous charmers are new to the landscape rose scene. They are tested to be very resistant to black spot and powdery mildew – the most common rose diseases. They are also self-cleaning and ever-blooming. Winning rave reviews! I just purchased ‘Oso Easy Peachy Cream’. I love some of the other names too: ‘Cherry Pie’, ‘Honey Bun’, & ‘Strawberry Crush’ among them. I’m getting hungry just typing them! ; )

This classification has many subclasses including Alba, Bourbon, Gallica, Hybrid Perpetual, Portland, Damask, and the species roses to name a few! Most of these roses bloom only once during the growing season. They have always been popular for their rugged hardiness, the singular beauty of their flowers, the intensity of their fragrance, and their romantic history.

Ballerina Antique Shrub Rose

In general, the species and antique roses need less care than modern roses do. In fact, they seem to thrive on neglect. Some are very vigorous plants that can take over a small garden…so choose carefully and read the label completely. Occasional pruning will keep them in bounds. Prune them in June after they are done blooming. These roses only require regular watering (an inch a week – more during hot, dry spells) and an occasional application of fertilizer to keep them healthy.

One of my favorites in this category is the Ballerina Antique Shrub Rose. It’s a tough, fuss-free rose introduced in 1937. The petite pink blooms look like a cross between a rose and a hydrangea.