Growing Roses In the Shade

I am not a big fan of roses. Besides the fact you have to have perfect growing conditions (full sun, fertile well drained beautiful soil) to be very successful with roses, you must continually maintain roses by spraying and fertilizing and they still get diseases and get attacked by insects. Grrrrr!

Here at Tiger Gardens there is absolutely no spot in the yard that gets full sun. At best, when the sun is at it's highest, my garden might get 6 hours of sun. Talk about challenging! I learned pretty fast that a rose garden was not in the cards for me:(

Well, there are actually a few roses growing here. They are here only because they do well with no extra pampering from me. I do not spray, occasionally I add extra fertilizer, and I most definitely have not cut down trees so these roses can get the full sun in order for them to grow to their fullest. What? You just can't grow roses without full sun! Yes, actually you can. There are some roses that are okay with some shade-albeit very few.

The first one (and it is rightly pictured first) is 'The Fairy' rose. It is a polyantha rose that has been around in gardens for many, many years. It requires very little attention, no additional fertilizer and does well in part sun. I love it! I shear my two back by half in early spring and that is all the extra care it gets.
I wish I could name all of the other roses I grow here, but I cannot. Perhaps someone recognizes them? The second pictured rose is fragrant and blooms reliably each year. It grows in an area where it gets perhaps four hours of sun, yet does well. It is a larger shrub type than the Fairy, but is not a hybrid tea. Yes, the picture is from last year because this post has been in the hopper that long. It is still a good picture and I chose not to upload another one to Picasa since my account is getting full. The third rose pictured is a David Austin rose. It is 'Falstaff'. I always wondered why it did so well in the shade here at Tiger Gardens. Once I found out 'Falstaff' was a David Austin rose, I realized why. David Austin roses are reputed to be excellent roses and easy to grow with great fragrances. I am a believer! This 'Falstaff' will be hard pressed to get 4 hours of sun, yet does well and is rarely bothered by diseases like black spot. It does occasionally get it though.
The last one is what I think was a volunteer to my garden. I am not sure. Initially I had visions of a hybrid tea rose garden, but quickly had to lower my sights once I realized hybrid teas would not do well here. I quickly ripped them all out and gave them away. This rose may have been one I planted during that period when I was collecting roses. I am not sure. But this rose does well in about 4 hours of sun too. It is growing along a fence and bloomed it's little heart out this year. It grows slowly, probably owing to the fact it is not in full sun, but is reliable and not bothered by diseases.

If you wish to grow roses and do not have ideal conditions, try some of the non-hybrid tea roses. Any of the older varieties should give you better luck than hybrid teas. Trial and error is not the best way to select roses, but sometimes it's all we have....

in the garden....