Roses for your garden in 2009

By Marianne C. Ophardt, Special to the Herald

KENNEWICK -- Last fall, I was at a trade show in Portland where new rose varieties were on display.

I was completely blown away by Cinco de Mayo, the newest All American Rose selection for 2009. The marketers call its color a blend of "smoked lavender and rusty red orange." It immediately brought to mind the fine red wines grown in our region and would be perfect for use in winery landscapes or gardens of wine connoisseurs.

Cinco de Mayo is a floribunda with a clean rounded habit, fast repeat bloom and great disease resistance. It requires little care. It also has very shiny deep green leaves that set off the multicolored blossoms perfectly. The flowers have a distinctive golden delicious apple fragrance. Cinco de Mayo would work well in the garden or used as a hedge in the landscape.

This unique rose, hybridized by Tom Carruth, is being introduced by Weeks Roses in California.

If you are gardener who likes to look before you leap, you can see this new rose growing in the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden Rose Garden in the 2009 All American Rose Selection display.

Another fine "wine" rose selection that both wine connoisseurs and rose fanciers may want for their gardens is Burgundy Iceberg, new to the Jackson & Perkins catalog. This floribunda rose produces abundant deep violet-burgundy flower clusters. The semi-double flowers are extraordinary with deep burgundy red stamens in the center, lots of deep purple petals that are a lighter color underneath and the sweet fragrance of honey.

The plant has a rounded bushy form with shiny green leaves and nearly thornless stems. It grows from 3 to 5 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet in width. While new to the J & P catalog, it was first introduced in 2007 by Weeks Roses.

Burgundy Iceberg was bred in Australia and is able to handle climate extremes, including heat. However, the flowers are their darkest in cool weather.

For those rose lovers looking for a rose needing minimal attention, you may want to consider Carefree Spirit another AARS winner for 2009.

Carefree Spirit is a landscape shrub rose with a mounding habit. It has open a deep red with white twinkling eyes. The flowers turn pink as they age and fade. The shiny green leaves are very disease resistant.

Pink Promise is the only hybrid tea rose receiving an AARS award in 2009. It has large, pink, highly fragrant blooms along with good disease resistance. This pink beauty has been selected by the National Breast Cancer Foundation to officially represent a "continual blooming promise of compassion and awareness." A percentage of the sale of every Pink Promise rose will go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for education and the early detection of breast cancer.

For the last two years I've been experimenting with growing roses in wine barrel planters. One of my favorite roses is The Fairy.

It's a polyantha rose and grows into a compact 2- to 3-foot-spread rose bush that spills over the side of the barrel. It's larger than most miniature roses, but smaller than the typical shrub rose. The tiny light pink flowers are produced continually in profusion from summer through fall. The equally small leaves are shiny green.

My The Fairy is 2 years old and it has completely taken over my wine barrel. It's adorable and saves me from planting new plants every year. It's supposedly very hardy (USDA Zone 4), so I have hopes it has made it through this crazy frigid and snowy winter in its planter.

Introduced in 1932, The Fairy is certainly not a new rose, but it and other hardy shrub and groundcover roses are becoming popular for use in containers and smaller gardens that don't have room for larger rose bushes. Much newer are several sports of The Fairy.

In 1993, Lovely Fairy was introduced out of Holland. Like its predecessor, it produces an abundance of tiny 1-inch flowers and has excellent disease resistance along with good winter hardiness. One difference is that the flowers are a deep pink. Crystal Fairy is even newer. It's a white-flowered sport introduced in 2001. Fairy Queen, yet another sport, bears dark pink to red roses.

* Marianne C. Ophardt is a horticulturist for the Washington State University Extension Office in Benton County.

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Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009

Roses for your garden in 2009

By Marianne C. Ophardt, Special to the Herald