High Elevation Gardening Web Log "Blog"

The rose garden began in 2003 with a large donation of roses from Bill Brechan, the late County Extension Director, in honor of his wife, Ivy. Hattie Braun also supplemented some hardy roses, selected from Warner's Nursery. The site had been tilled and prepared with good deep soil, so it was easy to plant and water. Bill Brechan, Terry Schick, and Hattie Braun instructed the Master Gardener and hospice volunteers on planting techniques, and approximately 25 were planted. I came to help and learn more about rose care in the high country. My experience is from Oregon, where roses are easily grown.

The roses were planted in a couple of circles and surrounding plants were added, germander, thyme, native geraniums, and lavender to ward off the local deer. Some additional plants were donated by a hospice patient who could no longer care for her garden, lamb's ear, snow in summer, yarrow, and Dutch and bearded iris. In 2005, a granite birdbath was installed, larkspur seeds were scattered, and the iris were divided.

In 2006 after a couple of years of powdery mildew, severe aphid problems, and difficulty pruning due to the bushes' growth, Hattie Braun, Laura Davis, Karen Kent, and I decided to reorganize the garden. After some heated discussion, in the late spring and early summer we spread out the roses, moving many to other parts of the garden, helped by Marion Lopez and other master gardeners.

Marion had suggested severe pruning with the moves, and things looked grim at first. We added globe blue spruce, barberry, and moved some of our iris and had one of our most beautiful rose seasons. The roses were happier with room to grow, improved air circulation, and more direct sunlight.

In 2007 we added more carpet roses to the south end of the garden, but generally left things alone and the garden was beautiful. For improved sunlight, this year we moved a couple of large roses, and Warner's Nursery added a Hawthorn tree to the garden.

We have over 45 varieties of roses in the garden including floribunda, climbers, shrub, hybrid tea, miniature, rugosa and carpet roses. Some do better than others. We haven't had success with any grandiflora roses for more than one season. Hybrid tea roses, although beautiful, have also not done well due to their lack of hardiness and disease resistance. We have had success with a shrub hybrid tea called Sophia Renaissance that is not hardy at this elevation. The shrub roses are beautiful every year and some like the Robusta, Carefree Delight, Copper Rose and Sally Holmes are quite large. The beauty of the floribundas is usually dependent on the monsoon season. Since I love to cook, my particular favorite rose is Julia Child, a buttery yellow rose. Others that do well are Europeana, Iceberg, Knockout and Nearly Wild.

The garden has always been blessed with a large, sunny area. The roses that always look good are usually open, disease-resistant antique roses. Two especially good breeds are Canadian Roses (William Baffin, John Cabot) along with roses developed by Dr. Griffin Buck, an Iowa State University rose hybridizer who developed a number of excellent winter-hardy and disease-resistant roses.

Most of our new roses have been purchased from High Country Gardens, Santa Fe, NM, (www.highcountrygardens.com) and High Country Roses, Jenson, UT, (www.highcountryroses.com). A good rose to use for filling in an area is the native Wood's Rose which can be found locally. The flowers are small and short lived, but it has roots that spread by rhizomes and will fill in a rocky area quickly.

Growing beautiful roses has been relatively easy, which is a surprise to me, our gardeners, and others in Flagstaff. Just have good soil, pick the right rose and put it in a sunny area. Lastly, if you like to grow in containers you must protect the pot with an outside thick layer of pine needles or straw to prevent freezing and thawing.

Loni Shapiro is a Master Gardener volunteer. Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer, is coordinating editor for the Master Gardener Column. He can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For more information about the Master Gardener Program, call Hattie Braun, Coordinator of the Master Gardener Program, at 774-1868 ext.17 or visit our Web Site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.