I planted Roemer’s Hip-Happy in my NJ zone 7b alkaline clay garden in fall of 2022. It overwintered like a boss and grew strong a full last summer. The leaves are healthy, the flowers are sweet and plentiful, and it makes *so* many hips. This was my first year trying to grow seedlings, and I had by far the highest germination rate on my Roemer’s seeds. It’s a very cheerful, healthy shrub in the landscape. The bees love it (hence the many many hips!). It copes well with my slow-draining clay and seems immune to black spot, right up until late fall when the leaves start going wonky in preparation for winter. Overall, this is a wonderful rose in the landscape.

I planted this rose, grafted on multiflora roots, in my NJ zone 7b no-spray garden last spring. My garden is a bit challenging for roses-I have heavy clay soil, slightly alkaline, and my drainage is on the slower side. This rose did very well in its less-than-ideal circumstances. It grew to a manageable 2’ tall by 1’ wide its first season, and did not throw out any huge octopus canes. It did get minimal blackspot, which is hard to avoid where I live. It weathered thrips, spotted lantern fly nymphs, and Japanese beetles, and still managed to put out several small flushes of gorgeous flowers. It’s situated in a spot with sun from morning until early afternoon, and then shade. The flowers open a lovely creamy apricot color with deeper shading on the outside of the petals, and then turns darker the more sun it gets (kind of like Rio Samba). The flowers come in clusters, and it’s common to have more than one color in the cluster at a time, which makes for a very interesting look. It’s not a very vigorous grower, but I like that it’s staying on the smaller side. Shape-wise, it’s pretty upright with some nice branching. The leaves are a darker green and not very shiny, but not completely matte either. The blooms are very round and they do open all the way, so the pollinators can get to the centers. The bees really enjoy that!

I have Foxy Lady on multiflora roots in my NJ zone 7b heavy, slightly alkaline clay, slow-draining soil. Foxy Lady has shiny leaves, medium-to-dark green. It rarely has any issues with black spot spots n my no-spray garden, and is a beautiful shrub in the landscape. After its second year, it’s grown to a nicely rounded 3.5’ tall by about 3’ wide. The flushes bring a lot of flowers, and it repeats on the faster side for me. I’m very happy with this rose. It’s healthy, and seems happy with an average amount of fuss and care. The color of the bloom is striking against the foliage. The blooms look really pretty in the vase and on the shrub. They last pretty well in the vase, too.

I have Malicorne grafted on multiflora. It grows very upright for me, in my zone 7b garden (heavy clay soil, drainage isn’t the best, slightly alkaline). In its first year, it grew to over 4’ tall and it’s about 18”-24” wide. Its natural habit seems to be a nice vase shape. The flushes are amazing, with lots and lots of flowers. The repeat is pretty average. I have Malicorne in a south-facing bed, and the blooms don’t get scorched. The blooms are really rounded and beautiful. It’s pretty unique among my reds, both for the color and the shape of the blooms. I don’t recall issues with black spot. It’s just a healthy, lovely rose bush. I didn’t bring the blooms inside, so I’m not sure about vase life. The flowers do last a decent amount of time on the shrub.