I’m not a big rose fan, but I have become very fond of the row of Dart’s Dash roses that line the walk. They are carefree, bright, beautifully scented and beloved by bees. They are also quite large shrubs. When I was browsing through garden magazines in the spring, I noticed advertisements for a series of smaller shrub roses called Knockout roses. The one named Rainbow particularly caught my eye. However, I hadn’t seen these roses around here, and had no place to put a rose shrub anyway.
Then, one day when I was wandering through a local nursery, I saw it. They had Knockout Rainbow. I had no place to put a shrub, and it was way too hot to even think about digging a spot for it, so I left it behind, but that rose settled in at the back of my mind and nagged me. Finally, when the worst of the heat seemed to be passing, I decided to expand the garden a bit to include a couple of roses. I laid out a garden hose to help in deciding on a pleasing line, and started digging.
Having made a start, I returned to the nursery and brought home two roses. Knockout Rainbow has pink and yellow blooms that fade to light pink as they mature. I also purchased Morden Sunrise, which has yellow-orange flowers.
I laid out the boundary of the new bed with a garden hose and then removed a strip of sod along the edge of the hose. From there, I made the strip wider, and then started removing the sod in the centre.
Over the last few days I have finished digging the bed. I got the new roses settled in and mulched around them. They’ll have a couple of months to settle in before winter arrives. They have lots of growing space to fill in next year.
What gorgeous little roses. And, of course, now you have room to plant other new things, either this fall, or next year.
How do you edge your bed so that grass does not continually grow back in ? I always have that problem. Lovely roses!
You are such a passionate gardener. I imagine folks come to visit your garden often. Would love to see the roses you planted in a post next year. — barbara
Yes, Louise, I saved room for a few new daylilies next spring!
Anya, grass is always a pain in the neck, isn’t it? I try to keep a bit of a channel, or little ditch, around the edge of the garden, and I use a lot of mulch.
Thank you Barbara. My garden is pretty young, still. It will look better in another year or two, when things have filled in. I’m sure there will be more garden posts next year!
Those Knockouts do look pretty. My head’s been stuck in the computer for several days now, researching roses to use in that final dog-escapable gap instead of calling in the chainlink fence guys.
Are gardeners just a little loony, maybe?
I read up about these roses online too, LB. The Knockouts got some mixed reviews. I thought I would give this one a try. The Morden Sunrise got mostly glowing reviews, and the Mordens are renowned for their hardiness.
Dog-escapable? You can’t be referring to misbehaviour on the part of the perfect puppy duo can you?
Um…No no, I meant the indigenous New Brunswick Wild Dingos that keep trying to escape into the yard.
Right. Well that makes sense then.
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