Cait's Garden

Who doesn’t love roses? But I was taught at a young age that traditional roses are trouble. I watched my grandma and then my mom sprinkling lots of white powder on their roses to prevent black spot disease. Fortunately for me, the Knock Out rose family, as well as other modern shrub roses, make it possible to have fabulous roses that bloom all summer with no risk of disease. The rosebush shown at left is called Carefree Delight and is particularly charming. It gets 3-4 feet tall and wide and is covered in peachy pink roses all summer. I also have some incredibly bright cherry-red Knock Out bushes and a new disease-resistant climbing rose called “Brite Eyes.” Brite Eyes has been especially rewarding for me as it has huge, traditional looking pink roses with yellow centers that have true rose fragrance. I can pick the blooms (sure, they have short stems, but I have small vases) and the blooms continue from June till frost. The only issues I have had with these roses is some stem die back over winter. I just have to prune out the dead branches come spring. I fertilize them once a year. And last summer, for the first time, I had a few aphids that were dispatched with a little insecticide dust. Every yard should have roses!