Roses and Plant collections

I love the garden but I am finding I can't keep up with some of the things I used to do like dahlias; so I am concentrating on planting more bushes instead of all the herbaceous perenniels and out in the area I call my cutting garden I want to transform into a rose garden. I used to start a million and one plants in the greenhouse too but that is too much too.

But there seems to be a collector instinct in me and I would imagine that would be a similar drive in other gardeners. I am finding I want to grow as many roses as possible. What plant(s) do you have a collection of?

I started a collection of English and shrub roses when I moved here last year. I have mostly the David Austins because they are so hardy and with all the rain and clouds I was afraid of black spot and mildew. They have more scent than the hybrid teas, grandifloras, etc. too and I like that.

I love that David Austins, Katy, just keep an eye on the rose forum and sometimes people post of the most incredible buys. Springhill Nursery already had special 6 DAs for $40 something including postage. Last season there was an even better buy than that.

I have a lot of roses, and I think I used to have the DA collector's itch. Now I have my favorites - Jude the Obscure, Graham Thomas, Mary Rose, a few more - but I have no more room left to give over to roses. So last year I became a hydrangea collector. I have probably 20 or more cultivars and I keep seeing ones I like.
But I'm with you, Lenjo, about having to remember that everything I get I have to take care of. I try to stick with the easy stuff, but I'm just a sucker for anything unusual. I have a catalog from Heronswood and I could probably spend all my retirement money there. He has so many really cool plants that you can't get anywhere else!

Here's what I'd like to have collections of. Roses, peonies, lilacs are the main ones. I did order 20 dahlia tubers at Swan Island so I guess I have a collection of them! Some are going in my 'chocolate garden.' So I guess I have a collection of 'chocolate' plants - colorwise, not scentwise.

The house came with a number of hydrangeas, so I'd like to find out more about them, clean up that area, and enhance it.

Gwendalou

I started out as a daylily collector.....now I also collect irises and dahlias. I would love to be able to collect roses, I just don't have the room for them. I have a few roses that were here when we bought our house in 1997. I don't really know anything about them except that they get black spot very easily and they have way too many thorns! Maybe this is a silly question, but is there a variety that doesn't have quite so many thorns?

Gwendalou, check out the Hydrangea forum if you haven't already done so. It's starting to get active again as spring comes on.

Mgh, there are certainly roses that have much fewer thorns, and probably some thornless ones' too. There are some very knowledgeable folks on the rose forum who would probably be able to reel off names for you.

I forgot - another 'collection' I have: carnivorous plants. I love them.

Thank you, Melissa. I think I'll have to check out the rose forum......now is the time to plant new roses isn't it?

Do you have any venus fly traps? My DH bought one last year......or maybe it was the year before. It is still alive, but this winter has been hard on it. I think it is too cold where we put it (next to a window). Right now it doesn't have any catchers on it, but it is still green. We put it outside when the weather starts warming up and it really does well out there.

PIxeydish, one of the nurseries on the Snohomish nursery hop option in RU specialized in carnivorous plants. That's all they sell!

Gwendalou

Gwendalou, I think I know the one, but can't remember the name. They were talked about recently in the Sound LIfe edition of the local paper's article on carnivorous plants. I would probably end up in real trouble there!

mgh, the reason your flytrap does better outside is that they are supposed to be grown outside! LOL They are native only to North Carolina, so you can leave them outside all year round in our zone as long as they are in a big enough pot. They almost always die when brought inside, so I'd say that if yours isn't dead, you are doing well! Also, they do go dormant in the winter. You should go over to the Carnivorous plant forum and make a little visit. But be careful - it's easy to get addicted to these things!
I have a few flytraps, but I really like the pitcher plants, especially the ones that are native to this area.

Well, I knew it was an outside plant and that it was a NC native, but I figured it would get too cold here in the winter time for it. (I don't know what NC's weather is like.) I read in the PF that it is for zone 9 and 10. One thing I read before and forgot about is that you aren't supposed to give it water with chlorine in it.....I need to start catching rain water. Here's a pic of it. I don't think the pot it is in is big enough to put it outside. The pot is only 4" in diameter.

Sheesh...this is my DH's plant....why am I having to ask all this stuff about it??? LOL Thanks for all your help, Melissa! :-)

Hmmmm....a pitcher plant....I might need one of those. Addicted...me? No way! LOL

It looks like it simply has its dorman leaves on right now. It's nice and green, so he's doing things right.
I checked in my Ebook on carnivorous plants from Cobraplant.com, and it says they are hardy to zone 8 and can withstand below freezing temps as long as they are protected from freezing winds. Also, it's the mineral content in the water that they don't like, although the chlorine wouldn't do them much good either. I would say, thought, that if he wants rain water, he should collect it himself! LOL!
.

Thank you. I'm glad to hear you say it looks like it is dormant. I didn't know they did that. I don't want to shock it by putting it outside right now, but this spring and summer we will put it outside again and then maybe leave it out there in a sheltered spot for the winter.

I kept telling my DH that we needed to get a different pot for it cuz it had been in the tiny little pot it came in for way too long. We went looking one day and found this set up in the bonsai section of a nursery. He said that he would repot it. Well, the pot and the rocks sat on top of the dishwasher for about a month before I finally repotted it! LOL Yes, he should collect the rainwater himself, but will he? Probably not. ;-) Oh well, it's survived this long on tap water....it must be ok.

I have just begun to do roses, probably because I never had the space before.

I have always dreamed of having pink or white roses growing over an archway. I have several types of climbers that I started bare root. I've got Cecil Brunner to hopefully train over my porch archway, one on each side. I started these last year, but they didn't do very well. I had a couple of camelias nearby and I think they were blocking out much of the sun. I trimmed those back quite a bit, and am considering just taking them out before they get huge. I've got a yard full of them anyway.
I started a white climber, Iceberg, and a pink, America, and planted those on each side of my arbor. I also have New Dawn that I plan to plant out, hopefully today, near my split rail fence.

I have a large window in the front of my house, and a raised bed underneath. I planted four varieties there. Tuscan Sun, which I thought I killed last year, but is coming back nicely. I've also got Oregon Gold, Cherish, and Scarlet Knight, I think it's called, started there too. They are not doing much yet. I attempted to prune them for a good start, but I am still learning that too and am a novice.
I will post some photos if and when they begin to bloom.
Good luck with your roses. I know you can get them now for very very cheap because I think the stores are wanting to get rid of them now.

Salem, I have had good luck using alfalfa 'tea' on my roses and also putting banana peels on them, both whole peels and also ground up ones. There is a whole thread on alfalfa over in the roses section and also some interesting info on messenger, which I'm going to try this year also.

Gwen