THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509080087
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT STIFFLER, GARDENING COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 146 lines
ARE YOU ONE of the many who are tired of spraying roses? Surveys indicate the average homeowner is tired of spraying, doesn't have time to spray or wants to help clean up the globe by spraying less. Are roses really worth the effort?
``The roses of today are all chemically dependent and we probably shouldn't be growing them,'' says garden writer Charlie Fenyvesi, in the Jan. 9 edition of U.S. News and World Report.
Now rose breeders around the world seem to be hearing a similar message from more and more gardeners. The breeders have changed course to bring to the public roses that require minimal care. Many of the new roses coming on the market require little or no spraying.
That may be a good thing, because Fenyvesi, in his article, also reported that the two most common active ingredients in fungicidal sprays used on roses - Triforine (brand name Funginex) and Daconil - were being looked at by the Environmental Protection Agency and may be banned as probable carcinogens.
The trend toward intense care of roses was brought about primarily by rose society members who would spray and spray and spray and concoct various potions to create medal-winning roses. The resulting flowers were beautiful, but fragile, requiring continual care.
The late George Ferguson, who worked for years to create the excellent Bicentennial Rose Garden at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, tried throughout his lifetime to make rose growing simple for the amateur. But without much luck.
Most serious rosarians continued spraying, fertilizing, dead-heading and pruning in their quest to grow long-stemmed, showy hybrid teas. Now, for those willing to forgo the perfect cutting rose, there are new plants being introduced that are bushier and beautiful in the yard. Some, such as the revolutionary `Flower Carpet' introduced in August, are marketed as ground covers.
`Flower Carpet' was developed over a 25-year period by German breeder Werner Noack, and it has been launched with the most expensive and expansive advertising program ever behind a rose.
It has cranberry-colored, semi-double blooms and comes in a distinctive pink pot with 6 months worth of fertilizer. `Flower Carpet' is being promoted by Australian Anthony Tesselaar who says he will have a similar yellow rose by this time next year and then a loud red.
The breeders recommend using it as a ground cover, with three plants per square yard. Advance publicity lists its price at $16, which makes it cost nearly $50 to cover an area 3-by-3 feet.
Local advertising indicates the rose is available for as low as $12.93, and checkout clerks at HQ's Virginia Beach store report selling ``hundreds of them.'' The new rose also is available at Builder's Square, Lowe's, White's Old Mill Garden Center, McDonald Garden Centers and Smithfield Gardens.
Fenyvesi, the garden columnist for The Washington Post, was given `Flower Carpet' to test grow last spring at his Maryland home. In U.S. New and World Report, he writes: ``It's a miracle. It prospers in humid shade, is unblemished by black spot and mildew and flowers through the growing season - all without spraying or dusting. Once spent, its petals drop by themselves with no need for the time-consuming chore of deadheading.''
Not wanting to sit out the rose revolution, the All America Rose Selection committee has picked `Carefree Delight' as one of its 1996 selections. `Carefree Delight' blooms profusely with upright, arching canes and free branching habit that spreads to 5 feet to become a ground cover. Clusters of up to 10 buds open to carmine pink petals with a creamy white center. The foliage is dense and dark green, with 2-inch single flowers.
It was bred by House of Meilland in France, which also gave us the Peace rose. `Carefree Delight' will be introduced by the Conard-Pyle Co. next spring. They say it is highly resistant to mildew, black spot and rust.
Another 1996 All America rose is `Livin' Easy,' a constant-blooming floribunda with apricot orange flowers. It shows excellent black spot resistance and glossy green foliage. It comes from Weeks Roses and has medium long stems, suitable for cutting.
I test grew it this season and its color is excellent, although it did not bloom as much as most floribundas. Because it was planted with my tea roses, it was sprayed along with them, approximately once every two weeks.
From Young's American Rose Nursery in Ohio comes a new series called the `Towne & Country' selections, which include low-spreading ground cover and compact border roses. `Towne & Country' roses are said to bloom continually throughout the summer and into fall.
They were bred in Denmark and do not require preventative spraying of insecticides or fungicides. They also are virtually self-cleaning, meaning petals fall off by themselves. They cost around $10 each.
The series of six starts with `Aspen,' a ground cover that changes from deep to pastel yellow, and concludes with `Napa Valley,' a border rose with bright red flowers.
The best shrub rose I've ever grown is `Sevillana,' from Meilland and Conard-Pyle. At a spring meeting of the Gardenwriters of America, Conard-Pyle distributed them. I planted two bare-root the first week of May, very late for bare-root planting of roses in this area. Each has grown to 4 feet tall, filled with brilliant red blooms all summer.
It's never been sprayed or dead-headed and was fertilized only once. It should be available in the spring in garden centers.
Another easy-to-care-for rose is the Butterfly rose, Rosa mutabilis. It has flowers of dainty, single petals that open pale yellow, turn pink, then darken to deep rose, giving a kaleidoscope of color on a single plant. The butterfly rose is a large grower, so give it ample room to show off. It can survive with little fertilizer and little spraying.
You may have read that ``old'' roses - or heritage roses - are carefree, but that's not always the case. Robert Kourik, in his California-based ``Bob's Honest-to-Goodness Newsletter,'' writes: ``Just because a rose has an ancient past doesn't mean it's superior in every way to more modern hybrids. Or vice versa. While heritage roses have developed a reputation for excellent fragrance - and many such as `La Reine,' `Madam Isaac Pereire' and `Duchesse d' Angouleme' are richly scented - it was the modern hybrid tea rose called `Tiffany' which won an international award for its powerful fragrance.
``Similarly even though many heritage roses are relatively free of diseases, some require the same spray programs as the most susceptible of the modern hybrid roses. Conversely, some modern rose varieties, such as `White Wings,' `Betty Prior' and `Nymphenburg,' can be virtually disease and spray-free.''
My experience has been that many of the ``old'' roses must be sprayed just as frequently as hybrid teas, especially to prevent mildew.
Whatever type of rose you choose to grow, the choice now is wide. Whether you plant in fall or spring is a personal decision. I used to believe that fall planting was best, but in recent years I've lost many that were fall planted. Now I plant only in the spring.
For those who want to learn more about rose growing, a book released Aug. 15, titled ``Traditional Home Rose Gardening'' by Elvin McDonald (Meredith Books, hardcover, $29.95) combines the beauty and mystery of rose gardening with solid how-to advice and practical information. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
All America Rose Selections
``Livin' Easy,'' an All-America rose for 1996, is a
constant-blooming floribunda with glossy green foliage and good
resistance to black spot.
``Sevillana'' is an excellent new shrub rose that blooms all season
without spraying or deadheading.
SALLY FERGUSON
``Flower Carpet,'' a new rose that requires minimal care, is
recommended for use as a ground cover.
Photo
ALL AMERICA ROSE SELECTIONS
`Carefree Delight,' with clusters of carmine pink buds, spreads to
become a ground cover and is bred to be disease resistant.
by CNB