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Full-length feature articles discuss gardening with popular perennials such as asters, border sedum, ornamental salvia and daylilies, plus some unusual choices. Illustrated step-by-step articles teach the most common methods of propagating perennials, so you can increase the plants in your garden without spending money. Bonus: Includes four illustrated plans for traditional, woodland, sunny and shady perennial gardens.

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Explore the world of container gardening. Learn how to choose the right container for any kind of plant, matching shape, size and color for the best combination. Pictures and planting lists show plants to place together in containers, and experts give advice on growing bulbs, tropical plants, trees, annuals and perennials in pots.

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Learn the diff erences among tea roses, English roses, shrub roses and more. Find out the best varieties of each type of rose the repeat bloomers, the most fragrant, the disease resistant, plus varieties for specifi c situations: such as humid areas and the seashore. Articles also over design ideas, companion plants and practical care.

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Expert gardeners recommend their favorite annuals to grow, from classic sunfl owers and marigolds to sturdy geraniums to fragrant sweet peas to forgotten heirlooms and novel hybrids. Th is exclusive CD collection celebrates the beauty and charm of fl owering annuals, with practical cultivation and design advice and the best tools and techniques for starting from seed, transplanting and planning for seasons to come.

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STEP-BY-STEP

Planting a Climbing RoseText by JANET H. SANCHEZ

Illustrations by ELAYNE SEARS

CLIMBING ROSES ARE VERSATILE PLANTS, Useful

for decorating a wall or fence or providing colorful

shade for an arbor. You can also train a climbing rose to

cover a tripod or pillar to add height and interest to a

border of low-growing plants. There are many varieties

available, ranging from relatively small eight-footers to

rampant, 30-foot growers that will quickly cover a

small tree. Some blossom only in spring, while others

are repeat bloomers; their flowers range from small to

large, and come in all the favorite rose colors.

It's important to note that climbing roses don't actu-

ally climb in the ways of true vines, such as ivy or

grapes, which attach themselves to a support by way of

tendrils or suction disks. Instead, roses scramble

through shrubs and trees with the help of their thorns.

To get them to grow on a trellis or other structure,

you'll need to tie the canes to the support.

When selecting a climbing rose for your garden, con-

sider its hardiness as well as its ultimate size, which will

determine its suitability for the site and the support you

have in mind. For advice, check with local nurseries or

the American Rose Society (see the box opposite).

Depending upon the season, you can set out roses

either as bareroot plants or in containers. Bareroot roses

are sold in winter and early spring, before they leaf out.

Containerized plants, shown here, are available later in

spring and throughout the planting season; purchasing

one will allow you to select a rose while it is in bloom.

1. Select the Site

Like other roses, climbingsorts do best with at leastsix hours a day of sun. Thesoil at the site should be welldrained. (If your soil doesn't drainwell, consider planting in a raisedbed. Roses hate having wet roots.)Roses also benefit from good air cir-culation, which helps prevent foliardiseases, though they are not happy incontinuous, heavy winds. If you planton a trellis next to a wall, you canimprove the air circulation by posi-tioning the support at least threeinches away from the wall.

2. Prepare the Soil

To give your climbing rose a good start in life, prepare aplanting area several feet in diameter by digging the soilto a depth of a foot or more. Then spread a three- tofour-inch layer of organic matter, such as compost orwell-rotted manure, plus an all-purpose fertilizer(in the amount recommended on thelabel) over the area andwork these amendmentsinto the soil. If possible, letthe soil settle for a fewweeks before planting.

28 • HORTICULTURE

3. PlantDig a hole as deep as the container and about eight inches wider than it. If you are planting neara solid wall, place the hole at least 15 inches away from it to allow enough space for rootdevelopment. Remove the rose from its container and use your fingers to loosenany coiled roots. Then set the root ball in the hole, spreading out the loos-ened roots.

If your plant is budded, rather than growing on its own roots, plant-ing depth is important. Most growers in cold-winter regions (USDAZones 7 and below) position their roses so that the bud union—theswollen knob where the graft was made at the crown—will sit aninch below soil level. In warmer climates, the bud union should sitslightly above soil level. If necessary, add or take away soil fromunder the root ball to adjust the planting depth. You can set rosesgrowing on their own roots at the same depth as they were grow-ing in the container. Fill in the hole with soil, firming it with yourhands, and water well.

4. Begin Training

Cut away any dead or badly damaged canes. If the canes are tooshort to reach the support structure, leave them to grow and tiethem later. However, if they are long enough, fasten them loose-ly to the structure with strong string or strips of cloth. Don't usewire, which will eventually constrict growth. As the canes grow,continue tying them in place as needed. When they approachthe desired height, begin training the canes horizontally alongthe support; this will encourage the buds along the stem to growand eventually flower. If the canes are allowed togrow vertically, theywill tend to bloom

only at the tip.

S. Provide Summer CareYou'll need to water newly planted roses frequent-ly, keeping the soil moist, but not soggy. An inch orso of mulch, such as bark, dried grass clippings, orcompost, will help maintain an even moisture leveland reduce weed growth. On repeat bloomers,remove any blossoms once they have faded, toencourage more flowers. Feed your rose once ortwice during the summer with a complete fertiliz-er. In cold climates, stop fertilizing six or eightweeks before cold weather sets in, so the plantswon't put out tender new growth, which is suscep-tible to frost damage, late in the season.

C H O O S I N G T H E R IGHT ROSE Local groups of the American

Rose Society and their consulting rosarians (trained experts) are

excellent sources of information on regional adaptability of spe-

cific roses. Call them at 800-637-6534, 318-938-5402, or visit

them on the web at www.ars.org.—-J.H.S.

MAY

Rosesfor MixedCompany

Long bloom, disease resistance &

compact size are the essential traits

H E L E N D I L L O N

IN OUR AGE OF DEMOCRACY (and ever-smaller gar-

dens), roses have got to learn to live alongside other plants;

we can't have any more of their picky insistence on private

beds all to themselves. Aristocrats of the plant world they

may be, but once you start to evaluate them on their per-

formance in a mixed gathering, you'll see what extraordi-

narily versatile and useful plants some of them are.

Some roses simply will not tolerate the company of

other plants. The China rose 'Louis XIV, for example,

which faints at the onset of mildew, is excessively greedy,

and permanently in a state of such delicate health that to

produce a flush of its black-crimson, velvet flowers is

almost too much effort—the Sun King himself couldn't

have been more demanding. 'La France' is another bel-

dam of particular tastes; I've packed her off in despair. If

she won't adapt to the hurly-burly of the mixed border,

she's not for me, despite her distinguished pedigree as

the very first hybrid tea. Rampant growers are just as

unsuitable for the mixed border. In the past I've had both

The yellow Austin rose 'Graham Thomas' makes asplendid companion for dark blue delphiniums.

APRIL 1998 • 43

HELEN DILLON'S BEST ROSES

FOR THE MIXED BORDER

Red: 'Frensham' (floribunda; 2'A

ft.), 'Orange Triumph' (polyantha;

2-2 1/2 ft.), 'Trumpeter' (floribunda;

3 ft.)

Pink: 'Dainty Bess' (hybrid tea; 2 1/2

ft.), 'Irene Watts' (China; 2 ft.),

'Souvenir de Saint Anne's' (Bourbon;

4 ft.)

Yellow: 'Arthur Bell' (floribunda;

4-5 ft.), 'Golden Wings' (shrub;

6 ft.), 'Graham Thomas' (Austin;

5-10 ft.)

Apricot: 'Buff Beauty' (hybrid

musk; 6 ft.), 'Golden Celebration'

(Austin; 4 ft.), 'Mrs. Oakley Fisher'

(hybrid tea; 4-5 ft.)

White: 'Blanc Double de Coubert'

(rugosa; 6 ft.), 'Margaret Merril'

(floribunda; 4 ft.), 'Winchester

Cathedral' (Austin; 4-6 ft.)

Above left: Rosa glauca, a foliage plant par excellence. Above right: A highlyfragrant pair: R. Xdorata 'Pallida' with Philadelphus 'Belle Etoile'.

Rosa filipes 'Kiftsgate' and the rambler 'Belvedere' growing up old pear trees.These tremendously vigorous climbers, with huge flower clusters in white andpink respectively, are indeed a dreamy sight in bloom. But they had to go—itwasn't possible to garden anywhere in the vicinity of their viciously thorny, 10-foot-long young canes.

Then there is the matter of foliage, Clean foliage is of the essence. Take the alba'Celeste'—most divine among roses, with melting flowers in silvery pink set off byblue-green leaves—one of my favorites. In June, that is. But come September, in thisgarden at any rate, what a mess: no more flowers, and any leaves still on the bush(most are on the ground at that stage) are a fascinating mix of red-spider stipple, rust,and blackspot. Such temperamental beauties are only for the most spacious gardens,where the plants can be tucked away, to be visited in their midsummer prime.

Other roses fail to meet the criteria of a "good garden plant" because they arefussy or once-flowering, however heavenly their flowers may be. Into this cate-gory fall roses such as 'Souvenir du Docteur Jamain', 'Charles de Mills', and'Madame Hardy', all of which I worship and don't care whether they're goodvalue in the garden or not. Fortunately, some roses seem to cross the divide. Forexample, 'Heritage' (4-6 ft.), one of David Austin's new English roses, has themost exquisite cup-shaped flowers in delicate shell pink; it is entirely suitable forsolitary admiration but also quite tough enough to be used as a component of themixed border. 'William Lobb', one of the old moss roses, flowers only once (in alovely murky purple) but has such good foliage that I don't mind. Moreover, youcan prune it hard or not at all, so it can be anything from four to seven feet. AndI never stop singing the praises of Rosa glauca (6-8 ft.).The leaves are amazinglybeautiful, an indescribable mixture of gray, blue green, and purple; it is, in fact,

HORTICULTURE

my number-one choice as a foliage rose. Though R. glauca is hard to top, the newleaves of many roses are crimson-flushed in spring and add another season ofbeauty when interplanted with scarlet tulips or dusky red polyanthus primulas,such as those in the Cowichan Garnet Group.

So what are the criteria for roses that are to be grown in a mixed border? Pri-marily, I want flower power. And I want my roses to behave. That said, I have toconfess that I am ambivalent about some of these "good doers"; in my hot-colorborder, in fact, there are roses that I don't actually like—as roses, that is. But asgarden plants, they are hard to beat. Do you know the hybrid tea 'Alexander' (to6 ft.)? Its flowers are an uncompromising coral orange. Furthermore, the rathersmall flowers appear atop tall stems, the lower portions of which are usuallydevoid of leaves. But I have arranged matters so that for most of the summer yousee the flowers through a violet cloud of Verbena bonariensis, a delicious combi-nation, while the lower portions of the bush are nicely disguised by chalky bluemacleaya leaves. 'Trumpeter' (3 ft.) is a floribunda of ferocious coloring—a star-tling vermilion—but what a cracking good plant when diluted by dark Heuchera'Purple Petticoats' and a backing of ruby-flowered Salvia microphylla. The short-growing (to 16 in.) floribunda 'Marlena' is another rose I'm not specially fondof—the formation of her petals is somewhat loose—but her red is quite splendidand precisely the color I want. Other valuable roses in this border are 'OrangeTriumph' (2- 2 1/2 ft.), one of the old polyanthas; 'Bengal Crimson' (4 ft.), suppos-edly an ancient Chinese hybrid with wonderfully silky recurved petals; and thehybrid tea 'Josephine Bruce' (2-3 ft.), surely the archetypal red rose—her knob-by knees much the better for being concealed by a river of blue forget-me-nots.But the paragon of the hot border has to be the floribunda 'Frensham' (2/2 ft.):four healthy bushes yield a nonstop presentation of soft crimson blossom.

'Hermosa', a surprisingly hardy (at least Zone 6) China rose, stays a compactthree feet and produces its fragrant, plump, pale pink flowers all summer long.

HERBACEOUS COMPANIONSFOR ROSES

achilleas

Alchemilla mo/fa

alliums

Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing'

aquilegias

astrantias

campanulas

Corydalis ochroleuca

dianthus

foxgloves

geraniums

lavender

lilies

Lunaria annua

nepetas

perovskia

Phlox paniculata

potentillas (herbaceous species)

primulas

salvias

Sisyrinchium striatum

verbascums

violas

H A R D I N E S S A N D O T H E R

P R A C T I C A L M A T T E R S : It is diffi-

cult to lay down hard-and-fast rules

about hardiness for roses, given the

complex ancestry of most of the pop-

ular hybrids. Moreover, the hardiness

limit of many roses can be extended

by mounding soil around the base of

the plant for the winter or taking

other protective measures. In gener-

al, species, shrub, and "old" roses

(gallicas, albas, damasks, mosses, etc.)

are the hardiest, many into USDA

Zone 4. Polyanthas and David

Austin's English roses come next;

they are hardy to about Zone 5. Flori-

bundas and hybrid teas are Zone 6

plants, and China roses are usually

listed as hardy only to Zone 7,

although many, such as 'Irene Watts'

and 'Hermosa', come through most

Zone 6 winters with little trouble.

All roses need sun, decent soil,

well enriched with compost or rotted

manure, and regular feeding and

watering. However, there are other

important considerations that come

into play when roses are included in a

mixed border:

• When you are planting a bush, be

sure to position it for ease of dead-

heading; clambering into the bed to

remove spent blossoms is annoying.

Deadheading is important not only

for appearance, but also to encourage

new flowers.

• Do not be reluctant to prune your

bushes to the height required to suit

the display. This may be taller or

shorter than usual.

• In the densely planted conditions of

a mixed border, roses need careful

thinning of old canes to prevent the

center of the bushes from becoming

too congested.

• Roses chosen for their perfume

should be easily accessible to the

nose.—H.O.

The large (to 6 ft.) shrub "Golden Wings' is everything a border rose ought to be:tough, hardy, and generous with its exquisite, fragrant, amber-stamened flowers.

I can't wait to get to the yellows so I can mention two particular favorites, 'Gold-en Wings' and the Austin rose 'Graham Thomas'. Every time I look at 'GoldenWings', a shrub rose that reaches six feet, I remark to myself what a superb plant itis. I have it growing in a tangle of geraniums, omphalodes, sweet rocket, and helle-bores in the muckiest, shadiest, most rotten bit of ground you can imagine. It nevergets watered and I usually forget to deadhead it, but nevertheless it flowers intoNovember. The single flowers are an exquisite pale lemon with each petal finely pen-ciled inside; they also have a refreshing scent. 'Graham Thomas' (5-10 ft.), as befits arose bearing so august a name, is a particularly beautiful yellow, the flowers deepen-ing to the color of butter in the center. I have it growing with the prolific blue-pur-ple Salvia forsskaolii, and I'm about to plant another group with the gray-leaved,dusky-flowered Salvia verticillata 'Purple Rain'. 'Arthur Bell' (4-5 ft.) and 'Sunsprite'(2/2 ft.) are other useful floribundas for the yellow color range.

Hybrid musks are both adaptable and the happiest of mixers. With healthy leaves,a new flush of flowers always on the way, sometimes marvelous hips (the four-foot'Penelope' for example), and a musky scent that carries on damp evenings, whatmore could you ask? In a cramped space, they can even be trained as small climbers,where a true climber would be too big—I've used 'Cornelia' thus for many years.

China roses are brilliant in the mixed border. You may already know charm-ers such as the creamy salmon 'Perle d'Or' (3 ft.) or yellow-changing-to crimsonRosa Xodorata 'Mutabilis' (3-6 ft.; formerly R. chinensis 'Mutabilis'), but whatabout delectable 'Irene Watts'? With a long display of gentle peachy-pink, quitelarge flowers on a little two-foot bush, she'd fit into the smallest flower bed. Prop-erly pink and nearly as sweet, 'Hermosa', at three feet, is another small-gardenselection. But all accolades must go to the "Last Rose of Summer," Rosa Xodorata'Pallida' (formerly R. chinensis 'Old Blush'), the inspiration of the ballad byThomas Moore (1779—1852). As I write, the four-foot bush is aglow with cup-shaped rose-pink flowers, still fragrant despite the chilly autumn afternoon.

'Tis the last rose of summerLeft blooming alone,

All her lovely companionsAre faded and gone.

Helen Dillon is the author of The Flower Garden (Sterling, 1995) and GardenArtistry (Macmillan, 1995)- She lives and gardens in Dublin, Ireland.

For sources of plants featured in this article, turn to page 90.

46 HORTICULTURE

h o r t m a g . c o m

HO

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24

White rose

Les has grown this unknown rose

cultivar since 1989, overwintering it in

a dugout on his Alaska property. It’s

very effective in a simple arrangement.

Filipendula glaberrima

Les worried fi nding a companion for

the rose would be hard, because he

didn’t want to distract from its beauty.

The delicate fi lipendula did the trick.

making arrangements | rose eleganceD E S I G N & P H O T O G R A P H B Y L E S B R A K E

NTBK_HORT0609.indd Sec1:24NTBK_HORT0609.indd Sec1:24 4/2/09 11:22:58 AM4/2/09 11:22:58 AM

'Color Magic' 'Mikado'

'Honor'

'Broadway'

'Touchof Class' 'Brandy'

'Secret

'Peace'

Tropicana

4 0 • H O R T I C U L T U R E

ALL-AMERICA

HybridTea Roses

RAYFORD CLAYTON REDDELL

Photography by SAXON HOLT

ALL-AMERICA ROSE SELECTIONS, INCOR-PORATED, a nonprofit research organization,was founded in 1938 for the purpose ofevaluating new roses thought to be worthy of aspecial stamp of approval. Except for 1951, whenno selection was made, between 1940 and 1998,163 roses have been designated All-AmericaSelections. Currently, six types of roses areeligible as entries: hybrid teas, floribundas,grandifloras, miniatures, climbers, and, since1985, landscape roses.

The dozen roses pictured here all happen tobe hybrid teas, and among them are several stars,especially 'Color Magic', my personal favorite;'Honor', arguably the finest white hybrid tea incommerce; and 'Peace', surely the most famousrose in the world.

The AARS winners in the hybrid tea divisionusually present their blossoms one to a stem.Longer stems are preferred to shorter ones, dis-ease resistance is a plus, and fragrance helps, too,although it isn't essential for an award, as provenby 'Touch of Class', an awarded hybrid tea with-out a trace of scent. To make up for this lack, theblossoms of 'Touch of Class' are picture perfectwith petals that unfurl symmetrically around abull's-eye center.

Not all All-America winners are certain to shinein your garden, because success with specific selec-tions often depends on local conditions. Still, theAll-America seal remains the best guide to superior

among new roses.)is the author of The Rose

Books, 1994) and Full Bloom

For sources of roses pictured here, turn to page 84.

JANUARY 1998 • 41

Breeders work hard to create roses that will survive through generations-

recent roses whose sase of cam, ,< ' disease resistance, and hardiness 'A

are making them mainstays of +?

present and future gardens.

C a . 7 , .7,77LL

without a fuss by PETER S C H N E I D E R photographs by I A N A D A M S

I Plant Profile

I Rosa Red Flower Carpet groundcovering shrub USDA Zone 5

R. 'Champlain' compact shrub Zone 3

3 R. Gelber Engel fiagrantflmibunda zone 5

R. 'Snowbelt' whitepolyantha Zone 5

1 R. 'John Davis' climbing shrub Zone 3

always find a tough pink damask rose, perhaps 'La Ville de Brux- elles', which enjoyed impressive circulation in this part of Ohio. In the tracts of homes built after World War I1 you might not find 60- year-old 'Peace' bushes, but 'The Fairy' will almost certainly be there, a thicket of tangled branches still covered in tiny powderpuff blooms each summer.

Today we have houses sprouting in the fields where corn and spelt once grew. This year's new development follows a landscaping

A P R I L 2 0 0 7

! . <

Tous ut pmtly William M n ' Is a~td'h'? I adian Explorer roses, bred from Rasa '

~ g o s a and R k&i. William Baffln' Os

formula that provides each new house with, in addition to irnport- ed turf, a 'Crimson King' maple, a 'Cleveland Select' pear, three 'Gold Mound' spireas, a circle of 'Stella de Oro' dayliies, and a 'Knock Out' rose.

BREEDING SURVIVORS It's hard to compete with daylilies and spirea. The rose world may fi- nally be shifting on its axis. Instead of seeking easier ways to grow a

plant that can be difficult-by marketing them in boxes, for exam- ple, that take all of the thinking out of planting, or developing more effective chemical sprays-the rose industry has finally turned its attention to creating roses that are truly trouble-free.

Witness the legions of pink-potted Flower Carpet roses sold at home-improvement and discount stores. Even indifferent or poorly trained store personnel cannot kill the roses in this series. No water? No problem. Standing in water? No problem. Pot tipped over? They

grow anyway. Planted in a real garden by someone who will love them, Flower Carpet roses don't look back. In principle, the series, which includes pink, coral, gold, red, yellow and white versions, provides abundant small blooms on a compact, glossy-leaved plant. 'Appleblossom Flower Carpet' is a pale mutation of the original deep pink 'Flower Carpet', but the others are independent cre- ations, some only distantly related to the original. In my garden, the pink and red Flower Carpets bloom more profusely than the yellow and gold ones, and are less likely to show any blackspot.

While the Flower Carpets are often called "groundcover" roses, one should not expect them to smother weeds. In a northern cli- mate, they will not give total coverage if planted on greater than 15- inch centers. The Flower Carpets fit well at the front of a border or I alongside paths, and can fill any dBicult-to-reach area where height is not required. Their glossy leaves hold their own when there isn't a lot of bloom. Unlike some roses with enhanced winter hardiness, the Flower Carpets withstand heat well. They are all sold on their own roots, and gardeners have discovered that they are very easy to propagate that way

It isn't surprising that the Flower Carpet roses were developed in Germany. German gardeners face strict environmental regulations and cannot use fungicide sprays routinely sold over the m t e r in the United States. German breeders have responded to this challenge, and almost all recent German rose introductions come with out- standing disease resistance. Commendable examples include 'Home &Garden' and 'Heaven on Earth', floribundas with large sprays ofbig blooms in clear pink and peach, respedwely, and Gelber Engel, a vig- orous yellow floribunda arriving at shrub proportions by the end of the season. For voluptuous, low-maintenance cut flowers, it would be hard to beat the rich pink hybrid tea Parole, and the new Golden Gate may really be the ideal yellow dimbig rose for all climates.

Low care lingo: Words to know Two terms often appear in the descriptions of low- maintenance roses. One is disease wlstant. Here catalog writers are being honest ho rose will be disease proof in all situations, but some are truly disease mistant That is, they do not develop blackspot or powdery mildew until well after other varieties are defoliated or disfigured.

We also read of self-cleaning roses. This refers to ti

varieties that require no deadheading or summer pruning before blooming again. Because they do not develop hips, F i

. sf; these roses begin work on e second cycle of bloom as >'>"

e 'TI soon as the first begins to fade. To catalog writers, sM- ,,, . cleaning must sound more appealing than sterile.-PS

ALL SORTS In the genetics of roses, fragrance is linked to disease susceptibility. So as breeders work to improve disease resistance, fragrance is often lost. David Austin has solved this problem in The Mayflower. At one garden in Britain it is famously planted under a blackspotty old climber, whose diseased leaves rain down upon it to no obvious ef- fect. In my own garden The Mayflower is a tough small shrub, more

-, wiry than elegant, with richly fragrant soft pink blooms that appear , I ' , I T',I? )rf regularly throughout the summer. In further proof that Austin has

';5fp arrived at disease resistance by a road less taken, its foliage lacks the

glossy sheen of the German-bred disease-resistant roses. Of the nearly 1500 different roses I now grow, only one has never

shown any sign of any disease in my garden. Baby Love offers cheer- ful yellow single-petaled flowers on a compact shrublet. Its rounded habit makes it ideal grafted as a half-standard (or tree rose) and it's perfectly happy in a large tub. Because it needs no spraying, Baby Love also works very well near vegetable gardens.

Baby Love received a gold medal from Britain's Royal National Rose Society when it was introduced in 1993, but has found more commercial success in the United States. The bidowing apricot-

ABOVE: Roses and yews in the author's Ohio garden. Schneider grows roughly 1,200 varieties of roses and compiles The Combined Rose List, an annual descriptive list of roses in commerce and their sources.

A P R I L 2 0 0 7

ABOVE: The shrub mse Colette comes from French breeders known for developing resilient mses. RIGHC: The author, Peter Schneider, with Wllliam Baffin' roses.

pink shrub rose Colette, bred by Meilland of France, is another ex- ample of a low-maintenance rose that has found its greatest fame far from home. And the Canadian Explorer roses, bred from Rosa ru- gosa and R. kordesii, provide low-maintenance rose solutions for gardeners north and south of the border. Some, such as 'William Baffin' and 'John Cabot' can reach mammoth proportions. Pink 'Lambert Closse' mimics hybrid tea form on a bush that stays in bounds, and currant red 'Champlain' has an attractive low, spread- ing habit and a real eagerness to bloom.

THE FUTURE Wi all of the bright pink Knockout roses planted around all of the new houses of 2006 still be around a generation from now? I imag- ine rose explorers of the future using the house to help identify the rose: "Three-car garage? Outdoor kitchen? The pink shrub rose must be Knockout." Or we may see its descendants have more stay- ing power. Already, one of these, Home Run, seems a superior rose-loads of deep red, single-petaled blooms on an extraordinar- ily well-mannered low shrub. Every year more low-maintenance roses appear, making it easier to say yes to the world's favorite flow- er. Of course, ifyou prefer rose growing to remain a challenge, there are still thousands ofvarieties that won't let you down. H For sources of plants featured in this artide, turn to page 94.

A P R I L 2 0 0 7

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