Looking Great Until The Rain Came

The weather started nicely for roses this year…cool and dry with little rain.  Our early bloomer roses formed buds profusely and they’re in the middle of their first round exhibition of colors and scents.  Then the rain came.  A nonstop deluge for a day and a half.  There are still some flowers left after the rain, though not much.  Hopefully there will be no rain this weekend so I can cut all the wet and spent flowers off before they develop mildew.

After the first round blooming, the roses in the Rugosa family (Rosa Rugosa) will continue producing flowers throughout the season.  The Rugosa rose is very winter hardy, fast to establish and grow, reliable performance through the season, fragrant, deer won’t eat them and the bees love them.  The down side:  they are very thorny and some of the the flowers don’t last longer than two days.

Here they are before the rain came.