Regional Growing Guide: Northern California Coastal & Inland Valleys
Mild, rainy winters are a signature of this region, which stretches from Seattle to San Francisco, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Cascade and Sierra ranges. Fall through spring, the northernmost parts may see more rain than sun. The experts advise a two-prong approach: select the many disease-resistant roses now available; and drench the soil and spray the canes and emerging buds in early spring with a generous dose of compost tea. Gardeners will be rewarded with a first flush of blooms in late spring, followed by waves of perfect buds and flowers all summer, and a final round of flowering in October and November.
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Rose Classification Primer
In some gardeners' minds, roses have a reputation for being fussy plants that require special handling. However, reputations are not always earned. There are many roses that thrive with minimal care and will reward you with gorgeous blooms.
What's more, there's a rose for just about every garden situation. Climbing roses can frame a doorway or tumble over a picket fence. Low-growing types can be used as a hillside ground cover. A hedge of shrub roses creates a beautiful privacy screen. Miniature roses can be used to edge a walkway, much like you would use annual flowers but without the yearly planting. Roses also fit beautifully into any garden style, as much at home in a rambling cottage garden as in a formal rose planting. The key to success is choosing the correct rose variety.
There are literally thousands of rose varieties. You may have noticed rose descriptions usually come with a classification, such as "hybrid tea" or "floribunda." What's the difference among these classes? How should you decide what to plant? The time to learn about rose classification is BEFORE you go shopping. Otherwise, you may be lured into buying a particular variety based on looks, only to learn too late that it's too tall, too short, or otherwise inappropriate. Here is a brief summary of some popular rose classes.
Hybrid tea roses
These beauties are often featured as single specimens or in a traditional rose cutting garden. The flowers are usually borne singly, one to a stem rather than in clusters, on upright bushes. If you want flowers for cutting, these are your roses.
Floribundas
These roses have the large, showy blossoms of the hybrid teas, but bloom in clusters rather than singly. The bushy shrubs are most striking in mass plantings. They tend to be somewhat hardier and more disease resistant than hybrid teas.
Grandifloras
Grandifloras are crosses between a floribunda and a hybrid tea. The flower is shaped like the classic hybrid tea rose, but the flowers are borne in clusters at the top of tall stems. Flower size is usually larger than a floribunda. Grandifloras tend to be relatively large shrubs, growing to a height of up to six feet.
Shrub roses
An odd name for a classification, since all roses are technically shrubs, the shrub rose classification is used as somewhat of a catch-all for varieties that don't fit well into the other classes. As a rule, shrub roses tend to be relatively hardy, adaptable, disease-resistant, and easy to grow. Their compact growth habit means that little pruning is required. They tend to bloom over a long season, with blooms at times almost covering the plant. Old varieties of shrub roses tend to be large and rambling, while newer varieties tend to be more compact. Low-growing landscape or groundcover roses are sometimes put into this category.
Climbing roses
The term "climbing rose" is somewhat of a misnomer. Roses don't climb in the sense that vines such as English ivy or morning glory climb, adhering to or twining around a support. Climbing roses are simply rose varieties that tend to produce long, arching canes. Left untouched, climbing roses will form large, unwieldy shrubs. To get them to "climb," you must tie them to a support or manually weave them through a lattice. Flowers are usually borne in clusters.
If you've hesitated to grow roses because of their reputation as high-maintenance, you owe it to yourself to try some of the more adaptable and disease-resistant AARS winning roses. Considering the great beauty of their blooms, combined with the fact that there are literally thousands of varieties available in a huge range colors, sizes, fragrances, and forms, it's no wonder that roses are such a popular garden plant!