Rugosa roses, what more can be said about this lovely old fashioned rose? They are sweetly scented, easy to maintain and require no spraying or pruning (at least in my experience), and as a bonus they bloom for a very long time. Even after the bloom has passed great orange red rose hips remain for wildlife to snack upon.
This lovely rugosa rose is growing in mother's front yard in Maine. Feeling as I feel, that gardens are meant to be shared, remind us of others, and provide a connection to the past and future, I just had to have a rugosa in my garden. For the past four years I have been propagating just about everything I can get my hands on. Cuttings are my preferred method. Confident in my abilities to successfully propagate this rose, I stole a few cuttings. As a backup my sister (Dawn) also dug up a few rugosa suckers from her yard for me to handcarry back to Tennessee on the airplane (along with a suitcase of other plants-more on them later).
Once safely back in Tennessee, I stuck the cuttings in some rooting hormone and put them in a small pot of good potting soil mixed with perlite and peat moss. Failure! All the cuttings rotted away and did not develop roots. I find some roses to be difficult to root and this was one of them. I am sure I did something just not quite right and the trauma of traveling the great blue sky could not have helped either.
All was not lost though. I still had the tiny potted rugosa suckers my sister had dug up for me. Picking the sunniest spot I could, preparing the soil and planting the little guys, I was very optimistic of success. As all gardeners are every time they plant something. I fertilized, I watered, I watched. You know what? I failed again. The rugosas slowly petered away within the month. I was helpless to prevent their demise.
The little roses apparently did not like the heat and humidity down here in sunny Tennessee. It makes sense really when you know a little something about rugosas (which I really don't). I am only used to them growing in Maine along roadsides and near beaches as hedgerows. Areas where they get lots of wind, not much moisture, grow in rocky but generally good soil, and get a period of chilling in the winter with not so many heat days as we have here. Maine's growing season is a measly four months on average for goodness sakes! How could I ever expect my rugosas to survive our 6-7 months long growing season and many days over 100 degrees! Maine never gets temperatures over 90 degrees (I am sure my mother will dispute this vehemently). But trust me, any southerner who travels to Maine in the summertime is in nirvana-air conditioner not required. Though to be fair, it has seemed like it is slowly getting hotter in Maine. Nothing that could compare to the temperatures I experienced in Iraq so no whining from me. So for now, I understand rugosa is great rose-for the NORTH.
Anyhow, for now I will let rugosas visit me in pictures only and cherish the memory of them while growing up in Maine. I can also visit mom and see hers in the summer (the only time I like to come to Maine). Wonder why? Is it to get away from the Tennessee heat or to get to the cooler and beautiful Maine? I will not answer the question and instead let you guess or decide why you would want to visit Maine in the summertime or any other time.
in the garden....
This lovely rugosa rose is growing in mother's front yard in Maine. Feeling as I feel, that gardens are meant to be shared, remind us of others, and provide a connection to the past and future, I just had to have a rugosa in my garden. For the past four years I have been propagating just about everything I can get my hands on. Cuttings are my preferred method. Confident in my abilities to successfully propagate this rose, I stole a few cuttings. As a backup my sister (Dawn) also dug up a few rugosa suckers from her yard for me to handcarry back to Tennessee on the airplane (along with a suitcase of other plants-more on them later).
Once safely back in Tennessee, I stuck the cuttings in some rooting hormone and put them in a small pot of good potting soil mixed with perlite and peat moss. Failure! All the cuttings rotted away and did not develop roots. I find some roses to be difficult to root and this was one of them. I am sure I did something just not quite right and the trauma of traveling the great blue sky could not have helped either.
All was not lost though. I still had the tiny potted rugosa suckers my sister had dug up for me. Picking the sunniest spot I could, preparing the soil and planting the little guys, I was very optimistic of success. As all gardeners are every time they plant something. I fertilized, I watered, I watched. You know what? I failed again. The rugosas slowly petered away within the month. I was helpless to prevent their demise.
The little roses apparently did not like the heat and humidity down here in sunny Tennessee. It makes sense really when you know a little something about rugosas (which I really don't). I am only used to them growing in Maine along roadsides and near beaches as hedgerows. Areas where they get lots of wind, not much moisture, grow in rocky but generally good soil, and get a period of chilling in the winter with not so many heat days as we have here. Maine's growing season is a measly four months on average for goodness sakes! How could I ever expect my rugosas to survive our 6-7 months long growing season and many days over 100 degrees! Maine never gets temperatures over 90 degrees (I am sure my mother will dispute this vehemently). But trust me, any southerner who travels to Maine in the summertime is in nirvana-air conditioner not required. Though to be fair, it has seemed like it is slowly getting hotter in Maine. Nothing that could compare to the temperatures I experienced in Iraq so no whining from me. So for now, I understand rugosa is great rose-for the NORTH.
Anyhow, for now I will let rugosas visit me in pictures only and cherish the memory of them while growing up in Maine. I can also visit mom and see hers in the summer (the only time I like to come to Maine). Wonder why? Is it to get away from the Tennessee heat or to get to the cooler and beautiful Maine? I will not answer the question and instead let you guess or decide why you would want to visit Maine in the summertime or any other time.
in the garden....