Zone 5 - 6
I have grown this shrub rose for 15+ years. I located it in dappled shade, with a couple hours of direct sun. The blo...Read Moreom numbers seem to vary from year to year as in a cycle, and they present as clusters of sprays. The individual blooms are about 1" across, and they are more toward single as opposed to double. The leaves are pointed, elongated ovals of a bright/light to medium green, with no shine. My particular specimen had little fragrance, but others say it is very fragrant. The canes are rather thorny, gloves required. The overall impression is very casual, like a big tousled hair do......but just the thing for the right spot.
Belinda's habit is more like a small rambler as opposed to an upright bush, and the canes are not overly dense. It is one of my longest owned and favorite roses, and is breathtakingly beautiful during the first flush of spring. I used mine to help screen (about 3.5' tall,) a sitting area in my backyard. The cut sprays look great in a mixed cut rose arrangement, adding a fluffy texture. I never tried growing it in a pot.
Having harvested cuttings from all my roses when I moved 25 miles south two years ago, Belinda was the only one that made it through the winter, and has even bloomed this year and now is about a foot tall. My former yard was shadier than my present yard. Belinda did struggle with some black spot later in the summer, but that was perhaps due to the shade back then.
This rose needs little attention, and is a very easy rose to grow....it seems a little wild, but it is absolutely not invasive. I dug up and moved the whole shrub elsewhere in my old yard a couple times over the years, and it always recovered, but there was some loss of canes. The bloom repeat is not as frequent as some newer varieties, but well worth waiting for.
Zone 5 - 6
I have grown this shrub rose for 15+ years. I located it in dappled shade, with a couple hours of direct sun. The blo...Read More