Date: Fri 05-Jun-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Gardener-Bleach-Rugosa

Full Text:

SUBURBAN GARDENER: A Garden Of Positives About Rugosa

"Ask the impossible and the answer is: grow rugosas."

--Suzanne Verrier

By Anthony C. Bleach

On Sunday, May 24, my wife and I drove to the White Flower Farm to see if they

had any Oriental poppies. The rugosa rose, `Rosarie de l'Hay,' had one flower,

a huge double of intense purple hue. We both leaned over to smell it.

No perfume of any kind surpasses that gorgeous scent. It was a romantic

moment. Our memories jolted back to Sails Cottage in Brill, England, to our

first house where we had rugosas in the garden. They were Fru Dagmar Hastrup,

with a fragrance of cloves.

Rugosas are very hardy, so you do not have to mound up a foot of topsoil in

the fall. They are also disease- and pest-resistent. Although Japanese beetles

munch on them, they usually carry so many flowers the damage is not so

obvious. If you need to cloth a bare bank or put up a dense hedge, rugosas

will do this in about three years.

You will enjoy fragrant flowers throughout the season. You can choose single

blooms, semi-doubles, or many-petaled doubles; large blooms or small; solitary

roses held aloft on single stems or masses in tightly held clusters; flowers

of soft pink, vivid pink, lilac pink, crimson, purple-crimson, bold scarlet,

stark pure white, white touched with pink or creamy yellow...

In fall they usually have hips the size of crabapples and arching canes to

catch the first snowfall. They are ideally suited to the demands of today's

gardens and gardeners.

Historically, this group has contributed to some of the most prestigious

modern rose breeding programs. England's David Austin has used rugosas in the

breeding of some of his popular English roses. The Canadian "Explorer" series

relies heavily on them. In the last 20 years, more noteworthy rugosas have

originated in Canada than in any other part of the world.

In the future, according to Suzanne Verrier in her marvelous and important

book Rosa rugosa , new varieties will come from Germany and from the Far East,

the original home, where it has been cultivated for 1,000 years.

Lexington Gardens in Newtown has a splendid selection of David Austin roses.

Suzanne Verrier is the rose consultant for White Flower Farm and has selected

a lovely collection.

`Agnes' is the best yellow for blossom count, form, fragrance and hardiness.

The best variety from the Canadian Explorer series is `Jens Munk.' It bears

fragrant, pink flowers from one end of the summer to the other.

`Roselina,' a new rose from Germany, has white-eyed clear pink flowers with a

spicy scent. Its informal look blends easily in a perennial border.

`Rotes Meer' (Purple Pavement), also from Germany, has double crimson-purple

flowers, golden foliage in the fall, and handsome scarlet hips. It looks super

with Nepeta.

R. rugosa `Alba' is six feet and glorious. Orange hips succeed white

poppy-like flowers. Fall color is brilliant.

`Sarah van Fleet' is a cross between R. rugosa and a hybrid Tea. This combines

the toughness of the one and the elegant flowers of the other.

Finally, `Fru Dagmar Hastrup,' the classic Rugosa, is gracing the Gertrude

Jekyll Garden in Woodbury now.

(Anthony C. Bleach coordinates the horticulture degree program at Naugatuck

Valley College in Waterbury.)