Landscape roses for the PNW

What is your favorite landscape rose for a hillside? Zone 7

Hi, Love driving by your town and looking at all the neat houses and the little old town. Very picturesque. I don't know about types of roses but someone will answer soon. Welcome to PNW.

I prefer groundcover roses for slopes. I took these pics this morning to post in my tulip pairing thread.....but these also show my landscape roses that are on a slope, pre-bloom of course. I have many, many groundcover roses. They are all a mix of 'Pink Drift' and 'Magic Carpet' (purple). So the slope is a sea of purple/pink in summer. The roses in the pic are one year old. They are from Heirloom Roses in St. Paul, Oregon. I order online from them, and the roses always arrive in beautiful condition. The grew quite large even just last summer.

Thank you Willowwind; I love living in Kalama. A wonderful and active community.

Thanks for the picture and inf. Kosk. Your hill side looks like it could be in my backyard. That is exactly what I want to do. I am putting in lavender and roses. I was looking at the drift series yesterday on the Heriloom web site. Are they as prolific as they advertise?

Yes, they bloom all summer and most of fall. One thing, though---I was going for more of a pastel look, and Pink Drift is very pink---kind of petunia pink, I would say. (not magenta, just very lipstick pink), so that is changing my concept slightly. Mine are interplanted with tons of Walker's Low catmint, similar look to lavender! So, we really are on the same wavelength with our sloped areas! I'd love to see pics of yours! Slopes are a big challenge. Next year, I'll add some pink heathers to the slope, as well. In summer, I also have a lot of coreopsis moonbeam (pastel yellow) mixed in. Spring will still be bringing blooms from more creeping phlox and lots of lithodora grace ward. Attached is another photo of different area of the slope. wisteria on the arbor.

Pic of slope last summer. I guess I have a lot of bright yellow coreopsis there, too. That is something I might move out and change there this year. Also, last summer I mixed in a lot of purple wave petunias (actually magenta in color instead of purple), which was a mistake. I found that the slope last summer was too brightly colored, so I will probably make some changes this year. You can see pink drift roses in the pic. I recall now that the magic carpet roses also look more pink than purple in my yard, so some of those might be in the pic, too. My kids' playhouse is at the top of these stairs. (I have two sets of stairs that go up to path, making a circle for the kids to run and lots of great places to hide for hide and seek).

Fairy, it just dawned on me that you are Patti, and that we both have the fairy gardens......interesting! Same slopes AND fairy gardens? Are we related? ;-)

Kosk, that is too funny. Maybe we should check our DNA. My slope is currently full of weeds waiting to be prepared for planting. My property is hills slopes behind me and slopes in front of me. I am living in mud waiting and waiting and waiting for things to dry out. I started up in the wooded area behind me with my fairy gardens because I was trying to stay out of the way while they prepared the property for the house AND because of all the dirt work that has to be done before I can get serious about putting in my gardens starting at the top and working down made the most since.

So, do you have the joy of working in rocky clay soil like I do? All of my paths and beds in the forest are made from rock that I either dug up as I cleared or hauled up the hill from below. You got to love this PNW gardening.

kosk, that is lovely.

Thanks, willow. Patti--is the house new construction? How long have you lived on your property? I'm realizing lately how lucky I am with my soil. It is Jory soil (the state soil of Oregon! I live off of Jory hill road actually). It still needs to be amended but it is far from being clay. I prefer to work with it when it's wet, though, so I've been amending my beds with compost since January. I've used up slightly more than 2/3 of the pile that was delivered. (3 units were delivered which is 18 cubic yards I believe). Uff da. My muscles are getting bigger.

We bought 11.5 acres and sub divided with two daughters and my sister. Long story but here are the highlights: 1 year to survey and subdivide. 1 year to put in road, septic and well. Husband had backsurgery and was out of work and laid up for 1 year. Housing market crashed and lost equity in house in Vancouver. We had planned on building husbands shop and living in it while we built our house. Realized that if we did that we would be living in the shop and I wouldn't ever have a house and husband wouldn't have a shop. Downsized to manufactured home and pole barn. Daughters still live in Vancouver because they owe more on their houses than they could sell them for. Sister's house will be ready to move in next month. I spent last year clearing decades of forest litter, clearing berry vines and hauling tree limbs down the hill. Cut in paths and hauled and dug rock.

I love my little house, LOVE living in Kalama, started a garden club and have made wonderful friends. I am going to be 63 this September. Too old to start over but heck, I love a challenge, need a challenge and I HAVE a challenge.


This is what I started with:

This is last spring: I have finished that area, created the fairy gardens and have moved on to the next section. So much to do!!!!

Wow! I admire your courage and abilities.

That looks absolutely BEAUTIFUL, Patti! The trees make a gorgeous backdrop for your sloped gardens! Uff da, a lot of work, though! Looks and sounds fun to me!

The real estate crash is/was a big bummer. I hope it picks up so your daughters can sell their homes.

Patti, very inspiring on many levels!

I would like to clear a couple years' worth of berry vines from my closest slope but easily got scratched, tripped & WHIPPED by the brambles. Even wearing padded gloves, jeans & padded flannel jacket. And what to do with them afterward?

Summerkid, I used a landscape rake to pull them and break them off then got serious with a shovel to their roots. Some people spray with crossbow in the fall. I didn't want to wait so I took after them. They come up all over the place but I just go afte them with my circle hoe. . . I am more stubborn than them. . .LOL. We live out in the country and the berry vines go in the burn pile. When I cleared the woods (which I am still doing) I lay cardboard down to stand on while I work so the darn things don't attack me. I layed them down where I wanted my paths.

Terrific advice from a "been there done that' bramble rambler!

I love the Carpet Roses that are readily available at the big box stores. I let them sprawl and don't trim them back at all in the winter. The foliage by itself, shiny and healthy, makes these roses a winner. And they bloom continuously throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Thanks, the carpet roses seem to get many votes. I'll have to start picking them up. Has anyone propegated them from cuttings? I need a lot of them.