Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / July 2008

In article
<7302c216-f22f-40ef-a5e0-f3e01e050df7@i76g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,

All hybrid tea roses are high maintenance. Floribunda are an uneven lot,
but most will need moderate to high maintenance. So avoid all those.

Almost-no-maintanance would be rugosa roses, large single blooms, rebloom,
and big rose hips that are attractive in autumn and winter.  Then there's
a wide array creeping/climbing roses that thrive on neglect but need space
to climb and spread. For a giant climber that could cover the entire side
of a house, the Banks rose (thornless yellow, or thorny white). The
double-yellow Banks is a wonderful plant but it does not rebloom so is
only flowery for three or four weeks.

All those seem to be exempt from rose funguses and once established don't
even need much watering. The rugosas will need cutting back not
necessarily every year; the climbers including the banks can even be
ignored for pruning, though if you want to restrain their size, that'll
take plenty of pruning. That they can all be grown organically is a given,
unlike hybrids that just always seem to need some chemical assistance.

Polyantha roses also tend to be low maintenance except for pruning to
contain their spread, and a few compact varieties don't even need a lot of
that. They have the longest bloom time, late spring to early autumn or
even longer. The flowers are smallish but occur in bunches so make a big
impact.

-paghat the ratgirl

knockout roses.