Friday, May 17, 2013

If I Grew Only ONE Rose It Would Be.....And Good Companion Plants for Roses


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If I could grow only ONE rose (it's impossible I know!) it would have to be the climber called 'Zephirine Droughin' (ZD)!

I do not take lightly my choice and have given it a great deal of consideration. There is really no contest in my garden (I have several cultivars and varieties including the ever popular Knockout roses). Nope, hands down ZD beats them all.
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ZD is a climber that will bloom sporadically all season long. It gives its main flush of blooms right about now. My ZD is two years old and receives no special care whatsoever. Gosh, I don't even fertilize it! I do have to train the canes. I decided last year once I saw how vigorous it was growing to train the canes to not only grow over my small arbor but to grow over the adjacent chainlink fence. That was a success as you can see! ZD is fairly thornless, has an old rose scent, does not get any defoliating leaf diseases, stays looking good well into the winter, and is an overall excellent rose. It would be my ONE and only if I could grow only one rose. Thank goodness that is not the case!
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Blooming nearby are several other perennials. Anything that blooms at the same time and looks good with other plants can be good companions. I just happen to think that some of these perennials are good companions for roses. The first is iris.
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Next up are baptisias. This one happens to be 'Carolina Moonlight'. It will be moving to a new home very soon on our land but for now it looks great in Tiger Gardens 1 near ZD.
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Peonies. Peonies and roses and irises and baptisias alone can make an AWESOME spring garden. Throw in some salvia and wow!
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More peonies in the garden. These bloom with catmint. Catmint is an excellent companion with all sorts of roses and perennials. As a bonus catmint is drought tolerant, looks good all season, repeat blooms, and makes a fantastic groundcover under roses.
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Finally a long shot of some of the dozens of peonies in my garden. This is the rear center bed. Here you see some of that salvia ('May Night' shown here but there are many good types) I talked about, catmint, irises, and peonies. There are also roses nearby (directly across from this garden in the Sunny Perennial bed. All are super good bloomers....

in the garden....

What is your ONE and only rose?
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

17 comments:

  1. ZD is precious. It gives you a shot of pink splendor at this time of year. I am not that fond of roses. I do have a couple of climbers that do pretty well. One is blooming now. A red one. It used to be a coral color. The coral color died out and the original stock took over. I leave it because it is a good bloomer at this time of year. It too has a sporatic bloom through out the blooming season. It has been here so long that I have forgotten it's name.

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  2. My ZD got blackspot last year and didn't come back very well this spring. I'm so sad as it was my favourite also.

    S
    xo

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  3. You have such beauties growing in your gardens. Are you going to move ZD to your new gardens? It sure is lovely.

    Have a great weekend ~ FlowerLady

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  4. My peonies and irises are just coming up. I don't have any catmint I will have to read on it and see if its a perennial in my zone. Love the great ideas I get reading your posts!!

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  5. Hi Tina...that Rose is stupendous!! Your garden is looking so wonderful!! You have some great combos!

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  6. It's a beauty for sure...I would love to be able to grow Rosa carolina a sweet species rose that has a nice fragrance, but wicked thorns! I love Catmint, especially Walkers Low, I have it in an especially dry spot along with 'Prairie Twilight' penstemons that also like the good drainage.

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  7. Oh the dreams I am a dreamin'! That rose is gorgeous! I fear if I plant one more thing, in one more bed, my sweet man may leave me! LOL! But lordy, lordy, the ideas you put into my head! Simply beautiful spilling over that arbor and fence!

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  8. The rose is awesome. Brother brought me a cutting of a pink rose that is in bloom now. Fragrant,but small blooms. It has lots of thorns though. It's growing along the fence. I can imagine how your new place will look.

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  9. Wow! That is one stupendous rose....:)

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  10. I can't pick! Maybe Westerland because it's so tough or Sceptre d'Isle or Abraham Darby. Your garden looks great!

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  11. Hi

    The rose is so lovely, tina. I'd love to see it bloom beautifully in your new garden next year. I really hope it is not difficult for you to transplant it to the new garden. It sure will look great there!

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  12. Boy i don't have a one and only rose as they are hard to grow here...but I have long thought about ZD...if my one climber doesn't get going I may replace it with ZD. I love any rose that will bloom easily in my climate.

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  13. In Florida, I would have to say that "Spice" is my choice. It's an antique rose, very disease resistant, and it has not stopped blooming since it got established here late last spring--not even during the winter! I grew ZD in Illinois and loved it there. I wonder if it would do well here. May have to try it since I love thornless or nearly thornless roses.

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  14. Can you believe I have no roses? Not enough space. I sure enjoy everyone else's though. Your favorite is great.
    Love those white irises and peonies too.

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  15. Thank Goodness we don't have to choose just one in the real garden. I would hate to give up the ones who smell so good but if it came down to just one it might be Belinda's Dream. She's just so blousy and pretty and full of pink petals.

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  16. As usual, a very informative post. That rose is a beauty. Many thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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  17. I'm glad to hear 'Zephirin' is your favorite, Tina. I planted one to climb my arbor bench after seeing it in our MG Idea Garden. I can't believe yours is only two years old--the blooms are amazing! Mine is growing by leaps and bounds, and I really cut it back this spring, so that I can train the canes better. I hope it responds as well as yours has.

    There are so many beautiful cultivars of roses I admire, but in my garden anything that isn't fussy and blooms without help from me is my favorite:)

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