Oh ya, a rose I couldn’t resist
Posted on April 17th, 2008 – 8:30 AMBy Connie Nelson
I promised myself I wasn’t gonna buy any plants, but I broke my promise — even before the plants were in the garden centers.
I ordered a Sven and an Ole. (I just didn’t have room for Lena.) Though they’ve got funny names, these shrub roses are no joke. Developed by the University of Minnesota and sold to garden centers by local wholesaler Bailey Nurseries, they’re supposed to be super hardy and low care.
I don’t really have a place to put them, but I just couldn’t resist. Ole is pale pink (described as between salmon and lutefisk), Sven is a darker pink and fragrant and Lena has pink, curly petals.
Ole
Sven
Lena
If their names are funny, the plant tags are even funnier. Here are the planting instructions: “One end smells good. Ya put the udder in a dirt.”
Because they’re new introductions, these roses are likely to sell fast. So if you’ve got a thing for hardy roses, call your favorite garden center now.
If you don’t have a thing for roses, what are some of the plants you just can’t resist?
3 Responses to "Oh ya, a rose I couldn’t resist"
When I started getting into gardening, my grandmother warned me to not get into roses.
“They’re an expensive habit,” she said.
That said, we have three rose bushes in the yard at our rental house (in Seattle) that just last year started getting care.
Additionally, I scooped up three volunteer rose bushes that popped up in our backyard (one last spring, two so far this spring), and am growing them in planters on the porch. None of them have bloomed yet, but they’re pretty healthy, and one even survived a complete defoliation due to a neglect-induced drought.
Hey povertyrich — Good to hear from you this season!
When I was in junior high, I started a little rose garden. They were fussy little plants and when I left for college, my folks let everything die. I’d be happy to “help” a volunteer, but I haven’t the heart to try again.
Something tells me, that Ole, Sven and Lena would take a fair amount of abuse and neglect…
These remind me of the roses my dad grew in our garden in North Dakota when I was growing up. I have some shrub roses that are on their last legs and these would do nicely in their place.
Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
Need more Greengirls? Follow along on Twitter:
Subscribe to Greengirls
Learn more about RSS
Garden resources
Categories
- Apples, Plums + Tree fruits (18)
- Asparagus (3)
- Beans + Peas (9)
- Bees (12)
- Beets, Carrots + Root veggies (7)
- Berries (10)
- Books + Resources (13)
- Chickens (13)
- Compost (7)
- Container gardening (7)
- Corn (2)
- Critters + vermin (27)
- Cucumbers + Melons (15)
- Farmer's Markets (1)
- Flowers + Grasses (27)
- Garlic (5)
- Greens + Lettuces (10)
- Herbs (6)
- Lawn care (12)
- Mulch (7)
- Mystery plants (9)
- Potatoes (9)
- Preserving (7)
- Rain gardens (2)
- Seed starting (16)
- Soil care (4)
- Squashes + gourds (1)
- Succulents (2)
- Tomatoes, Peppers + Eggplant (38)
- Tools, gloves, rain barrels + more (17)
- Transplanting (1)
- Tree + shrub care (4)
- Uncategorized (164)
- Water gardens (3)
- Weather woes (25)
- Weeds (13)
- Weekend to-dos (11)