Hit the Dirt; Rugosa Roses

Good morning. This is Sally present for hit the dirt. Are you tired of struggling with hybrid tea roses in the overbreeding huge flowers sometimes too heavy for the stems to hold up their fickleness to weather and susceptibility to pests disease and mildew. I am. There is a solution made for Maine the rugosa rose the rugosa has been in cultivation of almost a thousand years originating in Manchuria Korea and Japan where it was known as the seed tomato. It was first imported to England early in the eighteenth century. It didn't catch on to thorny for flower arrangements. It was not appreciated for hardiness though the English scarcely have to worry about that disease resistance fragrance and repeat blooming in spite of the fact that we call regresses wild beech roses they are not native. Just naturalized having arrived in America in 1870 to not from Europe or from the Far East on the clipper ships of the nineteenth century the rose hips were packed in sand and barreled to be used for the vitamin C on long voyages. The word rugosa sounds like rugged which it is but means creases or folded. Just look at the leaves.

Some of the folds have been bred out though by a great amount of hybridizing performed in the United States France and Germany. Regresses have a multitude of uses in the landscape. Their resistance to assault means they will be tolerant of road salt and beach front plantings. They could be planted in sandy soil and can be established in case or with amendments. They can be used for ground cover hedges screening erosion control single specimen planting and carefully selected in mixed borders. Their advantages are worth repeating. They're low maintenance shrubs extremely hardy although there are some hybrids of questionable hardness. They bloom repeatedly and fragrantly in shades of white and the palest pink to deep pink purple and crimson with an occasional yellow. The buds are attractive an elongated some have abundant orange or red hips. Many have attractive for coloring and they are resistant to pests and diseases. You will purchase your roses bare root or potted. They will either be bought it onto a rootstock or grown on their own roots. It's important to know the

difference when you plant. Pick a side that will have at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight. Make a good bushel size hole deep enough to accommodate the roots and wide enough to allow the roots to spread in the hole use a generous amount of well rotted manure and bone meal or rock phosphate. If it's crazy tall remove the Kray first and be extra generous with the width of the hole. Own route roses should be planted just below the established soil level to a lot of love for the soil to settle and butted roses should be planted with the bud Ewen in two to three inches below the surface level to encourage their own roots. Make sure when you plant to eliminate air pockets in the soil created good lip to hold water underwater deeply. Planting distance depends on the width of the plant which will be listed in the catalog. Pruning should be done in the spring primarily to remove dead canes and shape the plant as necessary. As for any insects that may be a nuisance. If it's going to be hosed off with a strong stream of water and traps can be set up for Japanese beetles and an organic control such as Milky Spore could be used against their lava. Check

the container for timing and application. Do not spray rugosa as they don't take too kindly to it. Now for a few varieties for mass plantings for ocean control if you're willing to wait you can get bare root bundles of the species Rosa rugosa rubra Alba. They're also available in larger sizes. The species have single fragrant flowers with prominent stamens and you will often find bees nestled in them in the early morning. The whitest of whites with loosely double flowers as bald Duba Dooku bear very fragrant with few hips and at five by four the dimensions I'm giving are hight times wit. Charles Alba Nel is one by three and makes a great ground cover with fragrant double crimson flowers Henry Hudson has fragrant white single flowers a mix of good low hedge Bellport bean is a dense five by five plant that makes good hedge and has soft pink semi double flowers opening flat. Conrad Ferdinand mile with upright growth to six feet and five foot wide would make a good tall

specimen struck with a fragrant pink flowers. Della Kata is a semi double pink with stamens showing large orange hips and is four by three fruit hardtop is best grown on its own root at four by four this makes a good hedge with large single pale pink flowers large scarlet hips and Deep Purple or gold fall foliage will grow to seven by seven with large double vibrant purple crimson flowers that have strong clover fragrance. The foliage is an exceptionally dark green and it has large hips. Jens Munk is five by five with a spicy fragrance and its clear bright pink flowers have twisted in a petals. Martin Frobisher is one of the least thorny of the rugosa as it is dense with strawberries and cream flowers red stems in the fall for winter interest but no hips. If you need real read try robust. A hybrid with intense red flowers and shiny green foliage magnificent magnifica has

loosely double flowers with showing stems about the color of hands and has classes of large showy orange hips for a beautiful pink bloom with the fragrance of old roses but no hips. Try Sarah Van Fleet which is five by four. And lastly to six by six with large double very fragrant mint pink blooms reminiscent of old rose from of old roses the foliage turns deep red in the fall. Good for hedge and tolerant of some shade in May we have two nurses that specialize in old roses. The rows are Bayfield in World of our and royal river roses in North Yarmouth catalogues are available for more information send me a card care of you and if you get really bitten by the rogue regardless of bog there is a lovely book Rosa rugosa by Suzanne very original on a royal river of roses once known as for Evergreen farm. It's illustrated with beautiful photographs of some of the varieties I've mentioned plus many more.

This is Sally for hit the dirt.