Note- Time Stamp is wrong on some of these photos. Purely an operator malfunction!
“Morden Centennial” is a rose out of Canada, so I was not surprised that there was no dieback through this past winter. No disease either, though the leaf holes and damage come courtesy of the wicked Sawfly which lays its eggs on the back of the leaves and turns them into lace. We are spraying this weekly with both Insect soap and Neem. We hope to limit the damage. I have observed that the more matte the leaves are, the more the pests like them. The smaller groundcover type roses with shiny leaves seem more resistant.
For example, here is the small ground cover rose”Oso Easy Double Pink”.
Note the lustrous undamaged leaves. No mildew, no blackspot. A gentle, charming little thing!
Another nice little Oso Easy rose is “Italian Ice”.
Both of these roses fit nicely into small flower beds.
“Sunshine Happy Trails” is another modern repeat flowering rose . It is another groundcover rose, and has good foliage. It is hardy here in 5b.
This next rose is “Lemon Zest”. It is more vulnerable to Sawflies, but I have not seen disease. Yellow and gray- The rose and santolina compliment each other.
Beautiful in color, but a little feeble, is Coral Knock Out. It dies back in winter, and is a Sawfly favorite. We are going to spray it weekly and keep it, for the color is stunning.
Beautiful wine colored blossoms and beloved by sawflies to the point of disfigurement is “Hope For Humanity”. If we cannot spray the problem away, we will discard the rose.
I cannot recommend this rose.
Last of all, and without a photo, since I did not have my camera the day it bloomed is the rose “At Last” . It came from White Flower Farm, and how seductive it looked in their photos. It cost $ 35 dollars, is on its own roots, and was planted in May. It has turned out to be an eyesore. It does not grow. Its stems collapse onto the ground. A sad little thing that is going to meet my shovel the next time I see it, and will be thrown up into the puckerbrush and the barberries.
When “Pretty Pink Polly” and “The Fairy ” bloom, I will post photos. They are small pink and double with fine foliage The later is legendary, and has never been surpassed.
How happy we in New Hampshire should be that we can still grow roses. That the Rose Rosette plague is still to our south-
Gardening On Granite 