May Blooms in my Georgia Garden: Roses Everywhere!

Well, gardening tasks last month got me pretty far behind on my blog posts, and I missed a week in April. It's now almost the middle of May and the garden is in full bloom. Roses are blooming all over the place, so I'll show you the pictures I took this week, beginning with the most common, the very popular Knockout Rose.

We now see Red Knockout Rose every where we turn. There's a reason for its popularity. As its name implies, the Knockout Rose truly knocks you out with it's bright red blooms that completely cover the large shrub. It is so easy to grow that it is used in just about every landscaping project whether commercial or private home. You just can't beat the Knockout Rose--it will bloom almost year round in our climate.  Although the grower's tag that comes with the plant states these roses will get about 3 feet tall and wide, they grow to at least 6 feet tall every summer. I'm sure one of my Red Knockout Rose Bushes is at least 10 feet tall. I didn't prune it at all this year. I'm trying to see if it will grow as tall as the house.

This Pink Knockout Rose called 'Blushing Knockout' is a lovely soft shade that complements everything else. It doesn't seem as vigorous as the original Red Knockout, in that it does not need as much pruning to keep it the size I want. I wouldn't prune this one either, but it's planted below my office window, and I want to be able to see out. Even though this shrub is not as large as the Red Knockout, it's still well over 6 feet tall and just as wide.

We have another Pink Knockout Rose but the blooms are a deeper shade of pink, and they are double. It's eyecatching, isn't it? This one might be my favorite Knockout Rose. I just love a vivid shade of pink. My goal is to have it hide an ugly fence, and I think it'll do just that by the end of this summer, if not before. Pollinators are crazy about this rose. I think I'm not the only one who loves it.

My Yellow Knockout Rose is called 'Sunny Knockout.' Visitors tell me all the time that it's the prettiest yellow one they've seen. The photo does not do it justice, because of my lack of photography skills. I should have taken that class at the library last year. So far, Sunny Knockout has required no pruning to keep it within bounds, not that I'd want to. This one is about 4 feet tall right now, and I've had it a couple of years. I don't want to keep this shrub a certain size anyway, since it has the same job as the double pink one--to hide that ugly fence.

Carefree Beauty is one of my favorite roses. The voluptuous pink blooms are huge! This is a rose that just keeps on giving, because it blooms over and over and over again until the first frost. Blooms are as large as my hand. There is a light fragrance, especially when the bush is covered with her large flowers. Carefree blooms begin opening in April and continue to the first frost when the shrub is always still covered with buds. Large orange rosehips develop and are quite showy into the winter. This rose tolerates our very poor clay soil just fine. It is a lovely specimen rose as shown in my photo, but Carefree Beauty would make a great hedge too. I'm picturing a hedge of different shrub roses with mixed but either coordinating or contrasting colors. 

Mutabilis Rose is an old-fashioned China Rose. Single blooms begin as yellow, change to a peachy apricot, then to a deep pink, and finally reddish pink. These bright flowers in different colors all on the same bush at the same time are quite eye-catching and the reason for the common name of Butterfly Rose. This is another rose that will get much larger than the grower's tag will lead you to believe, because ours is at least 10 feet tall and even wider than that. Although blooms are not fragrant, this shrub rose is definitely spectacular in the garden. Another asset is that this rose has very few thorns, so you can clip it or prune it without gloves. I hate to wear gloves, so this is definitely a bonus for me.

My most recent acquisition is a German Rose known as the Blue Rose. Veilchenblau is a rambling rose that is almost thornless, and as you can see, it really is a shade of blue. The small blue/purple blooms with purple stamens cover the whole plant. Even though this rose blooms just once a year, I am excited to add it to my garden.  The fragrance is very nice too. Veilchenblau is classified as a multiflora rambler. This growth habit offers several growing options. It can be grown as a free-standing shrub by pruning it hard right after it blooms. It is lovely grown on a fence as shown in the photo. Or it can be tied to a pillar or column like a climber. It would be beautiful on a trellis or arbor.