Brian Minter: Shrub roses are extremely popular thanks to their ability to withstand weather extremes

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A dramatic shift has taken place in how we use roses in our gardens. We still enjoy a love affair with highly perfumed, beautifully coloured varieties, such as the David Austin English roses and the old-fashioned favourites, like the fragrant, dark red Mr. Lincoln, the red and white bicolour Double Delight and the yellow and soft pink Peace rose, but even so, today’s expectations have changed.

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With the new realities of smaller spaces and the interest in lower maintenance gardens, folks are looking for easy-care roses — ones that are very disease resistant and resilient enough to withstand the extremes of summer heat and winter cold spells.

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Hardy shrub roses have now become the rose of choice for many parks, city plantings and home gardens. Virtually all of them are started from cuttings or tissue cultures and are grown on their own rootstocks, rather than being grafted, making them easier to propagate, and, as a general rule, they are far hardier in winter.

The beauty of a shrub rose is its versatility. It can be used anywhere in the landscape. A shrub rose is, in fact, just like any other flowering shrub, but with a far longer flowering period. Many are self-cleaning and, depending on where they are located, can simply be left to flower continuously from late May well into October.

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Meidiland roses, from the Meilland family in France, were some of the earliest shrub roses to be introduced. I had the privilege of attending one of their early presentations in Canada, given by Jacques Mouchette, the breeder of these new roses. They were very hardy, grew on their own rootstock and varied in form from the sprawling white Meidlands, used on banks and slopes, to the upright red La Sevillana, used in mass plantings. The compact, pink Bonica was the first shrub rose to win the American Rose Society’s highest award.

I remember Mouchette stressed two key issues about these roses, their disease resistance and their ability to recover on their own from black spot. He was very proud of their easy-care nature. He showed images of these roses being mowed down on the banks of freeways with special grass mowers, keeping them very prostrate, like a ground cover. Being one of the first hardy, versatile roses, they were widely used in B.C. parks, gardens and various landscaping situations, and many of those original plantings are still performing nicely.

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Flower Carpet roses were the next very versatile shrub roses to be introduced in B.C. Bred in the U.S. by Anthony Tesslar, they were the first compact shrub roses developed specifically for covering slopes, banks and planting beds. The first colour to be introduced was Flower Carpet Pink, now called Pink Supreme. Today, they are available in eight colours. These compact roses grow 24 to 30 inches in height and width, are very disease resistant and continue flowering from late spring well into fall. As younger plants, they need to be pruned back hard the first few years to encourage them to grow very full so they can make a solid ground cover. They are also some of the few roses that can be successfully grown in containers.

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Over 20 years ago, I planted some early varieties on a south-facing slope, and they are still thriving, even after tolerating 45C temperatures last summer and surviving some of the coldest winters. Flower Carpet roses are rated as zone 5.

Today, Knock Out roses are the best-selling series of shrub roses in North America. Without a doubt, they are some of the most disease resistant roses — a characteristic made clearly evident during the long, wet spring earlier this year. If it’s colour you are looking for, Knock Out roses will not disappoint. Their bloom cycle, every five to six weeks, provides almost constant colour. Although many of the varieties have single or semi-double blooms, there is now a pink and red double Knock Out which has a fuller appearance. They all have impressive foliage. Rated as zones 4 and 5, Knock Out roses are very hardy.

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The series of Easy Elegance roses are some of the most popular shrub roses. Bred by Ping Lim and owned and distributed by Bailey’s Nursery in Minnesota and Oregon, over 30 varieties are widely available. They vary in height from two to five feet, but most grow in the range of 2.5 to four feet, making them an ideal compact choice for mass plantings or as a single plant in our gardens.

Once established, Easy Elegance roses are very disease resistant, but can get some black spot issues, which I have seen them outgrow once their summer growth begins. I love their wide range of colours, from the deepest reds and vibrant pinks to whites, yellows and bicolours. Their blossoms measure two to three inches in size and have a good petal count.

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Sweet Fragrance, a coral-orange with a yellow base, is the only variety with a mild perfume, but all varieties are either continuous or recurrent bloomers that provide good colour all summer and are very tolerant of heat.

Proven Winners have introduced the Oso Easy series — some of which are hardy to zones 3 and 4. Most have single or semi-double flowers, glossy foliage and a nice compact habit. There are 10 varieties in this series with a good colour range. All are self-cleaning, consistent rebloomers.

Proven Winners has also debuted a hardy, zone 5, compact shrub rose that has quite a nice perfume. This lovely orange rose, called At Last, changes to various hues of orange as it matures. Its glossy foliage is very disease resistant and contrasts nicely with its perfumed flowers.

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There are many rose breeders and companies introducing more shrub roses each year, and there are some great ones on the horizon. True Bloom, an amazing new series bred by Ping Lim, will be available in Canada next year. Altman Plants in California are the owners of this series, and they say the demand is so high that this rose will be hard to find in the short term as they continue to build up stock.

Ping Lim has won numerous awards around the world for this series, and the American Rose Society has recently presented him with the Hall of Fame award, the highest honour they give.

There are currently five colours in this series: True Passion is a rich red; True Friendship is a deep yellow; True Inspiration is a vibrant pink; True Sincerity is an orange-yellow bicolour; and True Gratitude is a soft pink.

What makes these True Bloom shrub roses unique are their larger, full flowers that have a mild scent and the lasting quality of their blooms. They are rated hardy to zone 4 and are very disease resistant. Keep your eye open for this series.

All these shrub roses can be planted now, and despite our changing climate and more weather extremes, they will be the highlight of your summer garden.