"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"James" no wrote in message
...
I am not much of a gardner at all, but at our remote mountain cabin, I
have had success with annuals, Rhododendrums, impatiens, marigolds, and
the like.

I have never tried to grow roses, because I have always read that they
are very care-intensive, and hard to grow. Not living here fulltime, I
just have never thought I could provide the care such as spraying for
insects, etc.

My son recently bought a used cottage house in the mountains. In his
back yard there is a big clump of a rose bush that must be 25 years old
or more. I don't think it has been trimmed in many, many years. It has
real long, wild branches, some of which go off horizontally for 10-12
feet. He bought the house in the fall, at which time the wild, lanky
bushes had no roses on them. I told him that if it were mine I would cut
the entire maze back until it was 4 or 5 feet off the ground. He
didn't heed my advice.

Well today I saw this bush-maze again. It is literally covered all over
with beautiful roses, and it has dozens of more buds getting ready to
produce !!

My main point.... this monstrosity has had **no care** in many years.
I am as sure as I can be that it has not been trimmed in over 10 years,
and it has not been sprayed for insects, etc in at least several years,
because the house was unoccupied for that long.

So, what are the chances that I could plant some rose bushes at my
cabin, and that they would survive with little or no care ? I am here
quite a bit in the summer, but not from week to week.

I know there are many species, etc of roses, but what would be your guess
as to what kind of roses these are ? (They are mostly pink in color).
Is there such a thing as a wild rose bush ?

Any comments or advice would be appreciated !!

James


When I moved into my home, there were three rose bushes with flower shapes
like these:

http://www.heirloomroses.com/cgi-bin...id+Tea+R oses

I was able to enjoy about six flowers from these bushes in a period of two
years because the deer keep munching on the new buds. And the bushes were
constantly fighting with some sort of disease. I remove the bushes last
year.

Last summer, I ran across a gorgeous planting of Rosa rugosa:

http://kolibrikerteszet.hu/files/Kep...a%20Rugosa.jpg

The leaves were perfect - not a spot on them. I asked the park worker if
they were sprayed. He said these plants got nothing but mulch and a smile.
He also said the deer tend to leave them alone. A month ago, I found a
white version at a local garden center. The owner confirmed that they're
pretty much trouble free in terms of disease & deer attacks. He pointed to
a row of them that have been growing alongside his driveway for several
years, and said that if snow plowing and road salt didn't kill them,
nothing would, short of a napalm attack.

Unless you must have the hybrid tea rose flower shape, I'd look for Rosa
rugosa for disease resistance. And the leaves are terrific. I believe what
keeps the deer away is the fact that the stems are prickly/thorny
*everywhere*, right up to the bottoms of the flowers. Planting the one I
bought was a real adventure.

I have about a dozen rosa rugusa stands on my property. Nothing seems to
bother them, nothing eats them, they are much too thorny. They flower all
summer but they are not the type of flower you'd want for cut roses,
certainly not with those deadly stems, nor do they last very long once cut,
maybe 24 hours at best before all the petals have dropped. Rosa rugusa is
excellent protection for wildlife, many song birds and small critters make
their homes among these thorny bushes... but I would not recommend planting
them in the typical rose garden, you don't want to mess with them without
significant protection (think ballistics cloth). One word of caution I'll
offer, if you decide to prune them be sure to glove up and don your best
armor and protect your face, and do not leave any cuttings no matter how
small lying about for later, the drier they become the more deadly... their
thorns will penetrate the soles of the best hunting boot, you've been
warned. I don't recommend planting rosa rugosa unless you have some serios
acrerage and then only at like the edges of a forest, not under any
circumstances in a garden you intend to cultivate. I have some along side
areas where I mow, once a season I get dressed in my fire hose cloth
garments and go at them with a 20" machete, then I make like fifty passes
over the cuttings with my mulching mower until the thorny twigs are like
pesto. Rosa rugosa is not for your typical surburban yard.