Sharon Capps wrote:

I bought Therese Bugnet, F. J. Grootendoorst, Topaz Jewel
and Kaleidoscope which are Rugosas and I also bought Stanwell Perpetual. I
bought two climbing rose, Henry Kelsey and William Baffin. I understand
that they are all easy to grow. Is this the truth or just a marketing
ploy?

I am not familiar with Kaleidoscope, but I have grown all of the
others here in MN.
They are easy roses for our climate except for Topaz Jewel which
is slow to get going, fussy about location and soil and is not as
hardy as the rest. However it is a very nice rose, and I think it
is worth the trouble to baby it through its first few winters.
There is just not a big choice if you want a hardy yellow with
large double flowers. I have grown TJ for five or six years and
this is the first time it has come through winter with green
quite a ways above the wood chips that I mounded up late last
fall. I hope it is getting more hardy with age.

Henry Kelsey will require support because its canes are thin and
flexible. Be sure to give William Baffin plenty of room. It is
really more of a shrub than a climber. It will only require
support for the first year or two. It will, in a few years, look
more like an eight to ten foot lilac bush with canes at least as
thick as a broomstick.

Don't spray your Rugosas and I would go easy on the fertilizer as
well especially the first year.

I am in MN zone 4a near Rochester.

Regards,

Charles

--
Charles Perry
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