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Pick the Best Roses for Your Garden

a special rose for a special day

Image by Marlis1 via Flickr

Roses have long been a favorite among all types of gardeners, and roses continue to enjoy great popularity today. In addition to their beauty as cut flowers and in bouquets, roses are among the most useful and attractive flowers to grace the landscape of any home.

As a matter of fact, the exterior of any home can be made more graceful and more inviting through the use of wonderful landscape roses. Choosing the right ones, and ensuring that they compliment the overall style of the home, is very important to the overall success of the landscape.

There are literally hundreds of types of roses that you can grow in your garden. With such a selection to choose from, it can be extremely difficult to choose the rose that’s right for you. To make this task a bit easier, We’ve outlined a few important factors you should consider.

Climate

Choosing the right roses for your particular climate zone is essential. In order for roses to grow healthy and bloom generously, they must be able to adjust to your climate.If you live in an area that is prone to cold winters, you would certainly want a rose that could survive during the off season.

If your climate is mild you have many more choses to consider. Choosing the best rose varieties for your specific climate should mean fewer pesticides, fewer disease issues and an overall healthier garden. Continue reading Pick the Best Roses for Your Garden


Growing and Showing Old Garden Roses

By Kathleen Gresham

To recreate the sort of garden beloved by our ancestors, include the old garden roses.  The old roses date back for centuries, are hardier than some modern hybrids, and include a large variety of colors and scents.  

What classifies a rose as an old garden rose?  According to the American Rose Society, old garden roses are antique rose varieties that were introduced before 1867.  

Old roses grow well in poor conditions and are the easiest type of rose to care for. If planted in rich soil that drains well, they will continue to bloom for many years. They prefer a light feeding schedule and require a bit of patience.  They bloom only when they are ready to bloom.

Famous Old Garden Rose Varieties

Among the best known of the old garden roses are Mary Queen of Scots, the Sweetheart Rose, the American Beauty, Awakening, and Belle Amore.

Old garden roses with the traditional appearance include

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The Meaning of Roses

By Melanie Tommasello

Renoir painting of cabbage roses

Image via Wikipedia

 

There are few flowers that hold the allure and enchantment of a rose. They grow wild in almost all parts of the world and have been hybridized and cultivated to an overwhelming 7,500 varieties.

They grow in short or tall bushes, climb walls, fences, and terraces, and appear in long-stemmed bouquets. Old World roses bloom prolifically at the beginning of the summer, while varieties that descend from China frequently bloom well into the autumn.

A rose can come in practically any color, from the ever-popular red rose to all shades of white, pink, yellow, peach, orange, green, lavender, and even hues that approach black and blue. They have an equally diverse composition: the blooms can be small or large, tight or open, and consist of five or many petals.

Even the fragrance differs widely amongst the species, from heady musk and damask scents to lighter fruit and sweet smells.

The Popularity and Meaning of Roses

With such a wide selection, it is no wonder that roses are the most popular flowers to give as gifts, both in bouquets and as solitary flowers. It is curious, however, that so few people know about the complex history and meaning of roses.

The oldest fossilized remains of roses date to 35 million years ago, and they are featured in the early artwork of Greeks, Romans, Persians, Asians, Indians, and Egyptians. It is said that Nebuchadnezzar included roses in his famous Hanging Gardens and Cleopatra strew rose petals at the feet of her love, Marc Antonius.

Continue reading The Meaning of Roses


Rose Classification

Many different rose classification schemes are used worldwide. The most popular is the one proposed by the American Rose Society and the World Federation of Roses. [...]