Roses – The Bitchy Gardener’s Plant Of The Day

~ Bitchy After 60

Now I’d love to say that I know the names of all these roses, but I don’t. The only one I know the name of is the climber because I specifically went looking for a climbing rose similar to the one my late Mother-in-Law grew in Ontario years ago. It also had to be hardy to survive whatever a Nova Scotian winter might throw at it.

So that is how I ended up with the Canadian-bred, John Franklin climbing rose. Every year it puts on a very lovely show; and other than me not getting to it in time with insecticidal soap to prevent its leaves from being eaten by some insect or another that loves to call my garden home, it poses no problems.

This bright trio, red, yellow and pink are my grocery-store roses, purchased literally at the grocery store from their May Mother’s Day stock. I was happy with my first purchase of a pink one; then, a couple of years later, I really couldn’t resist the yellow and red colours. 

Originally, in their Mother’s Day pots, they were miniature roses. And they were cheap! Now these cheap grocery-store roses grace the front of my house, at full size, under my dining room window. The pink one is a little behind this year, but it will catch up. I will get a second bloom if I deadhead them, so you know that I do. If you look close, you will notice that they have also been munched on before I had a chance to spray them. It’s like one day they are perfect and the next, they’ve been dinner. Oh well, better luck next year.

This white shrub is a no-name variety purchased from a hobby farmer. It is a hardy, almost wild rose and was one of the first shrubs to call my back garden home. It can get huge so every couple of years I give it a good cutback and it regrows beautifully. These wilder varieties are rarely bothered by insects. Check out these beautiful uneaten leaves.

What I like about all these roses is that they are easy. If they were finicky, like many roses are, they would never survive in my garden. I may love gardening, but I have no patience for drama queens.

Thank you for reading

Photos: Jenn Stone

Recent posts:

16 thoughts on “Roses – The Bitchy Gardener’s Plant Of The Day”

  5. I love roses (especially yellow ones) and I have 4. I have 3 miniatures which have stayed miniature but produce quite well. Then I have the climber – and it’s a complete beast. I’ve never known anything with such dangerous thorns – it’s pretty impossible to tie to the trellis! My wish list has on it 2 plants – a thornless climbing rose (like my friend had) and a thornless gooseberry!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Beautiful roses. A Borden rose is new to my garden with lovely compact blooms. The deer like the blooms so this year they’re protected with chicken wire (or maybe it should be called deer wire!).

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.