Roses grow wonderfully well in the Pacific Northwest, both in the humid western parts and in the drier regions. When it comes to selecting, the new gardener sees a bewildering array of possibilities. There are so many varieties and so many kinds that compete for the space allotted in the landscape. We are fortunate in this region to have the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park, and a gardener who visits Portland, Oregon, should take advantage of the opportunity to observe the best.
Roses are easy to plant, and if you place them in full sunlight in an area where air movement provides ventilation and in soil that is well drained and reasonably fertile, they will grow and bloom profusely. Most of the varieties that are adapted to the Pacific Northwest do best in full, all-day sunlight. Few of them do well in filtered shade, and those placed in deep shade will spend their lifetime trying to reach the light. Plant accordingly.
Roses are generally pruned in late winter in this region. Some light pruning can be done in November to keep the winter winds from whipping the plants about and loosening the roots. Along toward mid-February in the western half of this region or around mid-March in the eastern part, rose growers sharpen their shears and do the annual rose pruning. Most of the roses in this region develop flowers on new growth. Bush roses are usually pruned back to strong buds near the ground. Climbers and ramblers generally are pruned to remove some of the old canes while the newer canes are left to bear flowers. When training ramblers and climbers, provide as much horizontal training as possible to stimulate more flower production.
For more information about roses in your particular part of this region, contact the rose society in your state. Rose society members have learned by practice how to grow the best plants and how to make them flower to perfection. They are always willing to share their information. This chapter, which lists samplers of roses, is nowhere near complete. We have listed only a few in several categories, which will serve to launch you on your search for the best for your own garden.
Roses have a beauty of form, substance, and structure that lends itself to many different kinds of arrangements. Some are better than others for use as cut flowers; they will retain their beauty and/or fragrance longer when handled properly. As you begin your rose garden, and begin finding ever more fragrant or increasingly beautiful types to use in those special niches in your landscape, you can add to this list.
When cutting roses for use indoors or for showing, choose partially opened buds, cut them in early morning, and place them in a deep vase in cool water. Sometimes it helps to recut the stems under water. Various preservatives are suggested for keeping cut flowers fresh, but generally cool fresh water works best.
One of the newest of striped roses is the red-and-white hybrid tea variety ‘George Burns’ that was released in early 1996, just prior to the death of this noted comedian/actor. In the rose garden the stripes provide a comedy of their own, which you either like or prefer to see in someone else’s yard. Whatever your feelings about stripes on roses, know that they can add another bit of interest to your landscape. Here are a few to try.
Few roses will grow in less than six hours of sunlight; however, here are some that would be worth a try. These will tolerate dappled sunlight, bright shade, or whatever else you want to call a lack of full sunlight. Roses planted in less than ideal locations should be given a little extra care, perhaps a balanced fertilizer and a handful of bone meal at planting time, then make sure enough water is applied during the summer to keep them happy.
“All roses need at least six hours of sunlight a day. Other than that they can be planted almost anywhere there is good drainage. All roses need a good program of pruning and fertilization, even the heirloom roses. Not all roses need fungicides; some even are damaged by them. I never spray for insects!”—Jane Anders, Portland Rose Society and Oregon Master Gardener, Portland
All plants in the genus Rosa make fruit in the same way: they bloom, the flower is fertilized, and the ovaries containing the seeds swell. This is true of apples, peaches, plums, and roses. In roses the resulting fruit that contains the seeds is called a hip. Some roses grow small, usually red, hips that are often eaten by small animals during winter. Others though, grow large and showy hips that stand out long after the plants have shed their leaves and gone into dormancy. These are the kinds that give enough winter color to make them additionally valued as a landscape item. Here are a few you might want to consider.
With the wonderful array of sizes to which roses grow, it is no wonder that a list such as this would be developed. We don’t list very many in this category and you might notice that those listed are all miniature. For more miniatures that could fit this group, see the lists of miniature roses that come later in this chapter.
Roses are not really climbers insofar as they are able to support themselves by twining or holdfasts. But, many varieties grow long, pliant canes that can be trained onto supports. Plants that can be trained upward on a support of some sort give a vertical dimension to the landscape. You can place these plants upon a viewing trellis or along a fence that gives the garden visitor a better look at your plants, or they can also be used for screening or as dividers between garden rooms. For best bloom from your climbers, train them with as many horizontal runs as possible, for this is where the most flowers will be grown.
Climbers for the Pacific Northwest
Rose gardens west of the Cascades
Shrub roses that train like a climber
Floribunda roses have many of the same desirable characteristics as hybrid teas—vivid colors and general hardiness. They are a valuable resource to the gardener who grows them, giving landscape beauty plus supplying lovely cut flowers. Here are some of the best.
For the Pacific Northwest
Variety |
Color |
Class Act |
White |
Europeana |
Dark red |
Iceberg |
White |
Margaret Merril |
White |
Playboy |
Red blend |
Playgirl |
Medium pink |
Sexy Rexy |
Medium pink |
Showbiz |
Medium pink |
Sunsprite |
Dark yellow |
Trumpeter |
Orange |
For rose gardens west of the Cascades
At age ninety, Ruth loves roses and her entire front yard is a well-filled rose garden. She says. “Their beauty was meant to be shared with people. I enjoy all those I meet through my roses. My favorite rose, if one can have a favorite, is Pink Favorite. It just keeps going, it is disease resistant, and has lots of blooms.”—Ruth Donavon, Portland
(Authors’ note: During the writing of this book our friend Ruth joined other gardeners in heaven to show them how to grow roses.)
Ramblers do just that, and they pose a problem for those of us with small gardens, for they don’t seem to want to remain “in their place.” However, for the larger garden, or for the design that has definitive structures for training ramblers onto, they provide both interest and bloom, often in areas that no other flowering plant can satisfy. Pillars are a perfect accent for a place in the garden where height is needed. They create a vertical permanence and serve as the backbone of the design. Training to a pillar involves wrapping or braiding rose canes around the pillar with as many side shoots as possible growing in a horizontal plane to stimulate more blooms. Be as patient with ramblers as you are with climbers, for they both take several years to give their full potential.
Because so many new hybrids are brought to gardeners every year, it is a risk to try developing a list of these beauties because next year’s will be even better. However, we canvassed some of the leading growers to find what varieties they felt were worth keeping from year to year and came up with the following suggestions. Add to them yourself as you find varieties that catch your eye, or that you test and find work very well in your garden and its microclimate. After all, that is what lists are for.
For Pacific Northwest gardens
Variety |
Color |
Dainty Bess |
Light pink |
Fragrant Cloud |
Orange-red |
Just Joey |
Orange blend |
Keepsake |
Pink blend |
Mr. Lincoln |
Dark red |
New Zealand |
Light pink |
Olympiad |
Medium red |
Paradise |
Mauve |
Peace |
Yellow blend |
Precious Platinum |
Medium red |
Sheer Elegance |
Orange-pink |
For rose gardens west of the cascades
“If you are just starting a rose garden, you may want to study the types of roses that will meet the needs of your landscape plan. You will need to decide whether you want to have constant color in the landscape, a formal or informal garden with roses for cutting, a planting of different colors and styles, or a combination of cutting roses and landscape color. Roses can be used in nearly every part of the landscape as long as you have an open space with at least a half day of sunshine.”—Edmund’s Roses, Wilsonville, Oregon
A major reason for planting a rose is to enjoy its fragrance. Place your fragrant roses near the patio, deck, walkways—where on a warm summer evening you catch the aroma when you are nearby. The point is, if you are going to purchase a fragrant rose, don’t waste this elegant feature by placing it far away from wherever you or your garden guests will be. Here are some to try.
Just because you do not have a large enough garden for full-sized roses does not mean you can’t grow any. The miniatures, scaled down versions of their larger relatives, give you the option of fitting roses into the small garden. And they are well adapted to being grown in containers. You can have a perfect, small, continuous-blooming rose to place in the special garden niche. Here are a few for your consideration.
“It seemed like it might be worthwhile to do some groupings of roses other than the typical exhibition varieties to provide information to those folks who might have other landscaping schemes in mind, or just as a way of letting folks know that not all miniatures are Hybrid Tea in form.”—Jerry Justice, Justice Miniature Roses, Wilsonville, Oregon
Anyone who plants roses in the garden will soon know that most of them have thorns that can prick, gouge, and draw sharp comments from the hardiest of gardeners. So it is a relief to have available to us some varieties that have no thorns. Here are a few to check out.
These are generally vigorous plants, often ten feet tall, adorned with Hybrid Tea-type flowers, some with clusters of flowers, others with single-stemmed buds. Often the roses in this category are used for background, mass color, barrier, or simply to produce a lot of cut flowers. Here are some of the better ones for use in and around the Pacific Northwest, along with qualities that should be noted by the PNW gardener.
Audrey Hepburn (fragrant, disease resistant)
Caribbean (disease resistant)
Gold Medal (tender)
Lagerfeld (fragrant)
Love (disease resistant)
Prima Donna
Queen Elizabeth (disease resistant)
Tournament of Roses
“Some of the best roses can be found in the western part of the Pacific Northwest, in spite of the rainfall that is a part of the natural climate of this area. This dispels the commonly held myth that water on the leaves of roses is a major reason for foliage diseases. Humidity factors, ventilation, temperature, and sanitation are more important contributors to mildew and black spot.”—John Biewener, Portland Rose Society and Oregon Master Gardener
Once-blooming roses put all their flowering energy into one profuse blooming period, in late spring to early summer, for four to six weeks.
Heirloom roses that bloom once a year
“If you grow only repeat flowering roses, you are missing out on some wonderful old varieties of great beauty and fragrance that are not duplicated in repeat bloomers. After all, as I often point out to customers, many of us give garden space to camellias, azaleas, and rhododendrons that have only one spring blooming period, so why not try some once-blooming roses?”—Louise Clements, Heirloom Old Garden Roses, St. Paul, Oregon
Rugosa roses are the members of the rose family that perform dependably under some of the more trying conditions. They may not be the most beautiful, but they will be the most hardy. They are prickly relatives of the Floribundas, and the robust cousins of the Hybrid Teas. They are the roses that you would plant for dependable color, both of foliage and flower, and rely upon for hardiness during the toughest of winters in this region.
Variety |
Characteristics |
Belle Poitevine |
Sweet fragrance, large red hips, 5′ × 5′ |
Blanc Double de Coubert |
Hugely fragrant, excellent foliage, 5′ + |
Charles Albanel |
Heady fragrance, good repeater, 3-4′ |
Dart’s Dash |
Rich fragrance, continual bloom, 3′ × 3’ |
Delicata |
Heavily fragrant, shade tolerant, 3′ |
Martin Frobisher |
Prodigious clusters, shade tolerant, 5’ |
Purple Pavement |
Nice fragrance, red hips, 3-4′ |
Red Max Graf |
Very fragrant, groundcover, 3 × 10’ |
Robusta |
Killer thorns, shade tolerant, 6′ |
R. rugosa alba |
Heady fragrance, best edible rose, 6′ × 6 |
Roseraie de l’hay |
Rich fragrance, shade tolerant, 6′ |
Thérèse Bugnet |
Very fragrant, repeat bloomer, 6′ |
“Rugosa roses are practically the perfect edible landscape plant. They require little pruning, no spraying, and are drought tolerant, as well as being beautiful to look at. Most are fragrant and many are tasty to eat. Several are shade tolerant.”—Vern Nelson, PNW garden writer
In recent years, roses have been developed that spread their canes more in a horizontal mode than vertical. When planted in groups, their combined growth provides a perfect groundcover to cover slopes or to form traffic-proof areas.
Variety |
Color |
Blooming Carpet |
Rose pink |
Dewdrops |
White |
Flower Carpet |
Deep pink |
Gourmet Pheasant |
Light red |
Happenstance |
Light yellow |
Rosa rugosa ‘Red Max Graf’ |
Red |
Snow on the Heather |
White |
Suma |
Medium red |
Roses specifically bred for general landscape use are collectively labeled Shrub roses. The category encompasses a wide range of rose types which may be spreading or upright, have the ability to survive cold winters with no special protection, and provide attractive floral displays more or less constantly through the growing season. Most of them are repeat bloomers, and most are fragrant. Here are some to test in your own garden.
Certain roses will make fine hedges that screen, form a barrier, or simply provide you with a multitude of flowers. For those of us who continually fight the rose diseases black spot and powdery mildew, be extra careful in selecting roses to fill a hedge. Make sure you work with your nurseryman or local rosarian to select those varieties that have the highest possible resistance to those diseases. Here are some that are suggested by rosarian John Biewener, Beaverton, Oregon.
