How to Choose Disease Resistant Rose Varieties to Grow Organically (With Sources List)

I’m an organic gardener and I grow a lot of roses — about 50 varieties of them.

They don’t look like sticks with a bow on top and I don’t treat them any better than my other garden perennials. I plant mine in the same amended soil I use for the rest of my plants, fertilize them a couple times a year, and prune them around Valentine’s Day. I like to keep them mulched with a thick layer of leaves that breaks down into compost. That’s about it.

Photo Caption: In the spring I have bouquets that look florist-bought with little effort on my part. Heirloom and English roses are often good choices to grow organically.

I love my roses for their beauty and fragrance but I also enjoy eating petals on salads and hips as jelly or tea. They also attract beneficial insects (especially the single-blooming varieties).

The most important aspect of growing organic roses besides smart garden practices (good soil & regular irrigation) is choosing the right rose for your garden. Once you’ve picked the right rose, it does the work of staying healthy for you. Some roses work better in the south than the north or better on the east coast than the west. Heat, humidity, diseases present, and seasonal weather are all factors. Some experimentation may be required.

The roses listed here will (probably) grow in USDA zones 6 – 9. If you live in the higher altitudes with extremely cold weather here are some links with roses for your area:

• Roses for Cold Climates (down to zone 3)
• Hardy Roses.net (own-root hardy roses for zones 3 – 5 or warmer)
• Spring Valley Roses (hardy in zones 3 – 9, grown in zone 4)

Whether you are growing in cold weather or warm I think own-root roses are the way to go whenever possible. In cold weather they can die back to the ground and still come back true to type from the roots. In warm weather your well-meaning significant other can run over them with the lawnmower without causing permanent damage. (I know this one from experience!) Overall it adds to the vigor and disease resistance of the rose. I do have some grafted roses but given the choice I pick own-root.

I also strongly prefer roses with fragrance. If there are 2 roses that will fit a given spot and one has fragrance and the other doesn’t… well! I don’t waste space on perfume-deprived roses.

When siting roses find places with 4 or more hours of sun (6 or more hours is better). Some roses might flower a little in 4 hours of sun but they’d much rather have daylight beating down on them from the moment they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night. In addition to strong flowering, full sun can reduce disease by keeping your rose leaves dry.

Also, disease resistant does not always mean disease free. If I have found a rose to be disease free in my garden I’ve made a note next to it. Otherwise, disease resistant means a rose might have some spots but it will still retain most of its foliage, flower beautifully, and live from year to year without excessive care. In other words, it is either completely resistant or simply tolerant to disease. Also, a rose that is disease free in my garden might not be in yours (and vice versa).

Photo Caption: Most roses will put out a second flush of bloom when the cooler season hits in the fall. I often mix them with other flowers at this point (goldenrod is a lovely filler to use like baby's breath). Some of my roses bloom continuously all season.

The following roses I either have grown, am currently growing, or know someone who is growing them. They’re proven in the lower altitudes of the southern Appalachian mountains & foothills but they have reputations to do well in a broader range. All of these roses are disease resistant and fragrant (some more than others).

• ‘The Generous Gardener’ 4′ – 6′ creamy pink David Austin English rose – no disease at all
• ‘The Mayflower’ 4′ pink David Austin English rose – no disease at all
• ‘Chestnut Rose’ 4′ – 10′ pink heirloom – no disease at all, also available here
• ‘Pacific Serenade’ 24″ – 30″ yellow miniature, thornless – no disease at all, available here
• ‘Purple Pavement’ 3′ purple-pink highly fragrant, hardy to zone 3 – no disease at all
• ‘Basye’s Blueberry’ 4′ – 6′ purple-pink highly fragrant, thornless – no disease at all
• ‘Basye’s Purple’ 4′ – 7′ purple-pink highly fragrant, thornless, hardy to zone 4 – no disease at all
• Rosa chinensis ‘Mutabilis’ 4′ – 10′ multicolor large single blooms on same plant – no disease at all, available here or here
• ‘Caldwell Pink’ 3′ – 4′ pink – no disease at all
• ‘Bonica’ 3′ pink, available here
• ‘Clotilde Soupert’ 3′ – 4′ white to pink, tends to ball if rainy
• ‘Fair Bianca’ 3′ white, tolerates shade, available here
• ‘Abraham Darby’ 5′ – 8′ apricot, available here
• ‘Brother Cadfael’ 5′ – 8′ deep pink (I think this is one of the most beautiful roses I’ve ever seen), available own-root here
• ‘Eglantyne’ 3′ – 4′ light pink, available own-root here
• ‘Falstaff’ 4′ – 8′ crimson, available own-root here
• ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ 5′ – 8′ deep pink, available own-root here
• ‘Graham Thomas’ 4′ yellow available own-root here
• ‘Teasing Georgia’ 4′ yellow, excellent shrub habit
• ‘Heritage’ 5′ pink, available own-root here
• ‘Sharifa Asma’ 4′ light pink, tolerates some shade, available own-root here
• ‘Tamora’ 3′ apricot, available own-root here
• ‘William Shakespeare 2000′ 4′ crimson-purple, available own-root here
• ‘Winchester Cathedral’ 4′ white, available own-root here
• ‘Ballerina’ 4′ – 5′ pink and white bicolor single, available here
• ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison‘ 3′ -4” pale pink, also available here
• ‘Souvenir de St. Anne’s 3′ – 4′ pale pink, also available here
• ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ 15′ pink climber, mostly thornless, also available here
• ‘Old Blush’ 3′ – 6′ pink, also available here
• ‘Altissimo’ 8′ – 10′ red single climber, huge flowers, not intensely fragrant, available here
• ‘Dainty Bess’ 5′ pale pink single climber or shrub, huge flowers, available here
• ‘Aloha’ 8′ apricot pink bicolor climber/shrub, floribunda with heavy fragrance, also available here
• ‘Don Juan’ 8′ red climber, hybrid tea type flowers, available here
• ‘Peace’ 4′ – 10′ climber or shrub pink/white/yellow bicolor hybrid tea, available as a climber here and as a shrub here
• ‘Queen Elizabeth’ 5′ – 8′ pink hybrid tea, available here
• ‘Double Delight’ 4′ red and white bicolor hybrid tea, available here
• ‘New Dawn’ 15′ – 20′ pale pink climber
• ‘Iceberg’ 3′ white floribunda tolerate some shade, available as a shrub here and as a climber here
• ‘Belinda’s Dream’ 5′ pink, available here
• ‘Buff Beauty’ 6′ – 8′ light apricot
• ‘Belinda’ 3′ – 10′ bright pink & white
• ‘Sally Holmes’ 4′ – 15′ shrub or climber, available here
• ‘Duchesse de Brabant’ 4′ pink
• ‘Marie Pavie’ 2′ – 3′ white polyantha, very fragrant, available here
• ‘The Fairy’ 2′ – 3′ light pink polyantha minimal fragrance, available here
• ‘Lovely Fairy’ 2′ – 3′ bright pink polyantha, available here
• ‘Cinderella’ 12″ – 24″ pale pink miniature, another source here
• ‘Sweet Chariot’ 12″ – 36″ lavender-pink  miniature, highly fragrant
• ‘Winsome’ 12″ – 36″ mauve-pink miniature
• ‘Gourmet Popcorn’ 18″ – 24″ white miniature
• ‘Bee’s Knee’s 18″ – 24″ bicolor pink and yellow miniature, another source here
• ‘Glowing Amber’ 18″ – 24″ bicolor red and yellow miniature
• ‘Si’ 6″ pale pink micro-miniature (couldn’t find source)
• ‘Rainbow’s End’ 15″ – 20″ bicolor & multicolor on same plant miniature
• ‘Joseph’s Coat’ 6′ – 10′ bicolor & multicolor on same plant climber, some disease – tolerant but not immune, available here
• ‘Seven Sisters’ 15′ – 20′ pink, purple, cream, & mauve multicolor on same plant climber
• Rosa chinensis ‘Viridiflora’ 3′, green novelty, smells like black pepper, available here or here
• Rosa sericea ptericantha 6′ – 12′ wingthorn rose, white flower, not much fragrance, available here
• Rosa wichuraiana variegata ‘Curiosity’ 4′ – 6′ white flower, variegated leaves, not much fragrance, available here or here

I’m particularly nuts for ‘The Generous Gardener’, ‘Pacific Serenade’, ‘Dainty Bess’,  ‘Purple Pavement’ (in spite of short bloom time and lots of thorns), and ‘Brother Cadfael’ which all perform beautifully in my garden. ‘Dainty Bess’ has more of a climbing form and needs a trellis.

To save money or find rare varieties you can go to the Rose Propagation and Exchange on Gardenweb.

I also recommend the following nurseries for own-root roses:

• The Antique Rose Emporium
• Roses Unlimited
• Chamblee’s Rose Nursery

Also, here’s some excellent books if you’d like to learn more about roses you can grow organically:

• The Organic Rose Garden by Liz Druitt
• Growing Roses Organically by Barbara Wilde
• Hardy Roses: An Organic Guide to Growing Frost and Disease Resistant Varieties by Robert Osborne