The Garden Sampler
A Newsletter for Hardy Northern Gardeners
PO Box 7, Peru, VT 05152
Cold Climate Gardening:
Rugosa Roses for Difficult Sites
By DOROTHY READ
The rose articles is published are northen garden peru
Growing roses in the North can be the best of times or the worst of times, depending on what roses you choose. Challenging
and discouraging if you picked the wrong class of rose to grow; heaven on earth if you chose wisely.
If you started out with a hybrid of Rosa rugosa, you are most probably a very happy gardener.
Say rugosa to some gardeners and you get an immediate grimace. Many people are only familiar with the species and not the
multitude of her offspring. Although at first blush she may appear to be quite common in the rose caste system, I believe the
species belongs in every northern rose garden. Its early blossoms, saturated with the most beautiful perfume, are a
much-needed reward for a long winter. She is extremely hardy, and resistant to both disease and insect attack. Walk anywhere
near a blooming rugosa and the air is filled with a deep, rich, spicy scent. Plant a hedge of them, and you must have a
garden party. You can fuss or neglect as much as you like; you'll still have roses in spring and fall, and lovely bright
orange hips in winter (or until the birds or you pick them).
A garden without the species? Never. But this wonderful grande dame has many, many offspring that you should consider also
for your garden, some quite different from the original in appearance, but retaining the best qualities.
Rugosas grow quickly and thickly. They generally have a distinctive crinkled foliage that remains healthy and happy
throughout the summer and well past frosts. Most of them also repeat bloom, some almost continuously, and most retain the
lovely fragrance of their ancestry. Best of all, there are dozens of varieties which grow throughout New England, including
the seashore and cityscapes, and even into USDA Zone 2! Now that's hardy.
Most rugosas are very resistant to black spot and powdery mildew, two common problems in northern gardens, and they do not
need to be sprayed for these diseases. In fact, rugosas do not like to be sprayed with anything, so it is essential you save
your homemade concoctions for other roses. If you have any foliage problems, you probably need to thin out your shrubs with a
good pruning. In the spring, remove any dead wood and any wood that is growing into the shrub or into another cane. Try to
keep the plant vase shaped with plenty of room for air and sunlight to circulate.
This class of roses cultivated for over a thousand years originally was introduced to Europe from the far east in the
eighteenth century. The modern hybrids have come primarily from breeding programs in Germany, Canada, Holland, Sweden, and
France. Much of the Canadian work was done in Ottawa with Dr. Felicitas
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