Cold Climate Gardening

My neighbor’s rose

With our neighbor’s permission, my daughter dug up a piece of this rose and planted it in one of our garden beds last year. My neighbor’s house is over a hundred years old and it was in the garden there when she moved in over twenty years ago. The blossom pictured above measured 2 1/2 inches. The bud was very pointed, but I missed the day it first opened. In this photo it’s been open one day, maybe two. Do you know its name?

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Griffith Buck rose ‘Wanderin’ Wind’ with catmintYikes! The last day of June! So many things I wanted to share with you, and the month just flew by. If I want to share my favorite plant combinations of June while it is still June, I’d better get started. This is the same rose I mentioned in my review of hardy rose books. It’s a Griffith Buck rose called ‘Wanderin’ Wind.’ Last year it didn’t do much, but this year it is putting out a lot more blossoms. I really like it surrounded by ‘Six …

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One of the first gardening things I did when we moved here over fifteen years ago was to dig up the rose bushes and get rid of them. I didn’t want to have anything to do with plants that needed to be babied to get through the winter and perpetually sprayed to get them through the growing season. Since then I’ve learned that there are hardy roses out there if you know where to look. And I don’t just mean winter hardy; I mean roses hardy enough to take what diseases and insects dish out in stride. I’ve also learned that many roses that are not winter hardy can live through northern winters to bloom again if certain procedures are followed.

Both of the books pictured here contributed to my education, but Tender Roses in Tough Climates by Douglas Green is the book I’d recommend to you. Why?

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