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FarmI · 25-05-2009, 03:37 AM posted to rec.gardens

"James" no wrote in message

I have never tried to grow roses, because I have always read that they are
very care-intensive, and hard to grow.

Some roses are care intensive, others are as tough as old boots and will
survive with no care for decades in abandoned cottages in just the way you
have described.

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.

And in the case of some types of roses, that advice you gave would have been
very wrong.

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 ?

I presume you are in the USA? If you are, than I have no idea what this
rose could be, but if you are in Australia there is a fair chance that it
would be "Dorothy Perkins". I have read that the US has one of the wild
roses called "Cherokee Rose" that is almost as feral as "Dorothy" is in Oz,
but since I've never seen one or know what it looks like, I can't say if it
could be that or not.

You've asked a question along the lines of 'how long is a piece of string'
so it's hard to give you an answer, so I would recommend that you head off
to a library and find a book called "Roses" by Roger Phillips and Martin
Rix. That book will tell you all you need to know to pick the sort of roses
that I'm now going to write about (and you can see plenty of pics so you
know about the form of the bush and the flower).

Avoid any really 'modern' roses, so don't try any of the newer hybrid tea
roses or you'll end up disappointed as these are the high care group.

Having said that, there are many early (19th century) hybrids that also may
serve your purpose but local knowledge of your situation would be needed to
say which might work.

Basically you should be looking for what is called 'species' roses and this
includes the rugosas. As others have said, the rugosas are gorgeous and
tough but they aren't the only ones that need little care.

I love the little old pimpinella roses (they are called Burnet roses) but
they are generaly small roses. Some of these have been hydridised and (I
think) they might suit.

As a start, you might like to read this as it gives some idea of the
hugeness of your question but it gives you and idea of the type of roses you
should be looking at if you don't want high maintenance roses:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/m...es-18.html#bur