Just finished covering my roses in compost after cutting them back just
enough to be able to apply it. Unlike TX, it can get quite cold here in
Southeast MI, often with lows of 0 or less.

I generally have between 70 and 150 cuttings that I grow over the winter.
Up until now, I've used these to start a new bed someplace on my 2.5 acres.
I think this year I'll use most of them to replace the plants I loss due to
winter kill.

We have a wonderful rose nursery (Great Lakes Roses) that is going out of
business soon. They specialize in own-root, winter hardy rose, including
Buck roses. I picked up 35 or so Bucks this fall, (half-off) and I'm
wintering them over under my lights. I'll plant them in the spring. With
these, I'll have some where in the neighborhood of 500 plant, with about
200+ different cultivars. I know that may seem like a lot, and sometime I
agree. We just have so much room here, it seem like a shame not to fill it
up.

We can't have tender roses here, although I'm trying to convince my wife a
greenhouse out back would be a great addition. Old world roses do well, and
with so much room, I don't mind having nonrepeating ramblers and such around
the property.

You're right Gail, roses can require a fair amount of attention. I have a
12 gal, battery powered sprayer that goes a long way to reduce my spraying
time, but its still a big job. On the other hand, when everyone is
flushed-out in early June... WOW!

I'm not sure how long I'll continue to expand my rose collection, but not
matter if its 1 or 1000, they are a joy to behold.

Best Regards

Jeff Southeast MI, zone 5


"Gail Futoran" wrote in message
...
At one point my rose garden had 150 roses.
It's now down to 95 and will probably hold
at that point for awhile. I found there's so
much work to do to keep up, and I consider
myself a minimalist when it comes to
gardening!

I took down the most recent bed and
transplanted the dozen roses into spots in
older beds where roses died (probably
due to the very wet and cool spring and
my lack of a decent feeding schedule).
So far all those roses are doing great.
We're still in the growing season here,
and in fact I seldom get a true dormant
season over winter.

Roses are not as much trouble as a lot of
people think, but then I'm pretty casual
about my "demands" of rose performance.
I've added more Teas in recent years
as replacements for moderns (Hybrid
Teas and Floribundas), and find Teas do
very well in my area.

My garden is a mixture of modern and
antique or old garden roses. It doesn't
look very planned but it keeps me interested,
and that's what counts.

How do your gardens grow?

Gail
near San Antonio TX USA Zone 8