Front bed

Can you tell I was starved for roses when I moved in here?


The first flush of Morden Sunrise roses has faded to pink, the big white trusses are Iceberg, and the little red ones are Hit Parade.

Mini roses yet again

It's rose season in Ottawa! Hit Parade is strutting its stuff, and very fine stuff it is too! This photo shows what was a single plant from one of those little potted roses they sell around Easter and Mother's Day. In one year it has expanded to many times its original size. And the others are much the same, except for the ones that got trampled.

I can't say enough good things about these little beauties. They experience almost no winter dieback, even without protection (although a tough winter might be a little different), they have had no problems with pests or disease and they flower abundantly from late May through till frost. They don't require dead-heading, though I often remove fading flowers for purely esthetic reasons.

It's not fair to compare the Orange Kordana I just put in, because they're a full year behind the Hit Parades. So far, they've been settling in well, with healthy new canes starting to appear.

It is fair to say that I don't find them very orange. They looked relatively orange at the garden centre, next to cherry red roses. But at home they are near the scarlet Hit Parades and in that context the difference in colour can be made out if you stare long enough. Unfortunately, that kind of nuance is tricky to catch with a camera. In real life the Kordanas look redder than they appear in these photos.

In all fairness to the breeders, they weren't the ones who called them orange. I checked their website and this wasn't one of the names they used, so it's just a descriptive term, not a name. But it really was stretching it a bit.

The beautiful Iceberg rose

This Iceberg is melting... me. Wonderful winter-hardiness; recurring flushes of brilliant white, delicately fragrant blooms that hold up for many days even in summer heat; glossy, disease-resistant foliage; what's not to love? It's not for nothing that Iceberg was inducted into the World Federation of Rose Societies' Hall of Fame in 1983. It is essentially the gold standard of white floribunda roses (and climbing roses, because there's a climbing version, too).

This is therefore an excellent rose for people who don't like to fuss over persnickety plants, or who simply don't have the time to. Those who get a great deal of pleasure out of growing things their neighbours can't are advised to look elsewhere. I do water it thoroughly once a week, because it's in the rain shadow of our eaves and I did pile up potting soil around its base for some winter protection. Most of the canes that were exposed to the air all winter came back without the slightest hesitation anyway. Granted, it was a mild winter. That, and a light pruning in the early spring was all the special attention it got. A little top-dressing with aged sheep manure was applied to the entire bed, so it got that too. And that's it.

My biggest complaint about Iceberg is that the white is so pure, that it can be difficult to catch with a camera. It simply reflects too much light back to the lens. I wouldn't even attempt it on a sunny day.

Morden Sunrise is beautiful, but...

Gorgeous, ain't it? It's pictures like this that made me buy Morden Sunrise in the first place. I wanted orange, and THIS was ORANGE!

I mounded used potting soil around it for winter protection, seeing as this area under the eaves doesn't retain any snow cover. (Talk about a pain - literally - to remove it in the spring, but that's another story!) Only one stem that stuck out above the soil came back, and it's been very anemic in its growth. But thick healthy canes grew up from below the soil's surface, so all was not lost, although it's hard to see how the bush will get much bigger from year to year.

But there is a little issue of the fading blooms. You see, Morden Sunrise is not really orange. It's a yellow rose with pink overlaying it on the outer part of the petals, which creates an orange effect. Briefly. Very briefly. Especially in the summer heat, the yellow fades out, leaving a pink rose with a white heart. Not too terrible, I suppose, but when you wanted an orange and purple border, it doesn't fit too well. The blooms are pink a lot longer than they're orange, although that's not too long, seeing as they decline quickly. And worst of all, you will get both colours on the bush at the same time, and in my insufficiently humble opinion, they clash.

Seeing as I have it planted in a rather hot location, the fading happens very quickly, except during cool weather. Seeing as there are repeated flushes of bloom, from late May till frost, some of them are in cooler weather and I can enjoy the orange a little bit longer. Still, I think this one is better planted in a polychromatic, informal border in somewhat cooler conditions. And although it's part of the ultra-hardy Morden series, it would probably benefit from some winter protection, although reliable, fairly deep snow cover would probably do the trick nicely.

I would love to give an unqualified recommendation, but I can't. This one is a good looker who reveals her character flaws all too quickly.

Morden Sunrise and Siberian iris in bloom

A couple of pictures to make up for the lack in the last posting.

Morden Sunrise shrub rose

Siberian irises

In praise of mini roses

Mini roses are another of my favourites. You get so much bang for your buck! Last year at Easter I bought a little pot of red Hit Parade roses. Later in the spring, I separated the four plants and placed them separately in the flower bed. They each grew to be bigger than the original pot of four. They are now studded with buds and preparing to explode into over the next couple of weeks. And they will bloom right through to frost. The only fertilizer they have received is composted manure and a once yearly sprinkling of Epsom salts.

I've had good experiences with Hit Parade roses before, finding them to be pest and disease free, as well as flowering very abundantly. This year I've added Orange Kordana to the mix and am hoping that they will prove to be just as successful.