A Rose Is a Rose...?

“You don't want to be the slave of some plant, do you?" Allen Paterson was director of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton when he asked me that years ago. I'd inquired if, for the winter, I needed to tip over and bury my new rosebushes, as some books advised. His instant response was: "Heavens, no. Do what's convenient for you. If they die, they die. Next year you plant something else."

That's good advice for gardeners who want to grow a few nice rosebushes in their yards but don't want to be slaves to them. And happily, the top rose breeders now want these gardeners' business. Canada's Explorer and Parkland roses have become international successes because they're winter-hardy and easy to grow. And Europe's biggest rose nursery, W. Kordes & Sons, in Germany, whose hybrids sell across Canada, won't put a new rose in its catalogue until it has survived several years in open fields near the North Sea, unprotected from cold, diseases and wildlife.

Still, choosing 10 roses can be tough. Here's how I made my selections.

• Hardiness. All but one are cold-hardy to at least Zone 5.
• Resistance to mildew, common pests and diseases.
• Availability. Most are available through several mail-order suppliers and should also be readily available in large garden centres.
• Variety, in both shrub form and colour. Obtaining colour variety is trickier than you'd think. Very hardy roses are almost always pink. Hardy reds are tough to find, and yellows are next to impossible (there's a weakness gene that comes with the yellowness), so the yellow 'Sunsprite' is more exceptional than its modest looks suggest.

My list includes no hybrid tea roses. Why not? Hybrid teas, the darlings of rose society competitions, look great in vases and photographs but less great in gardens - they're all legs and very finicky. As well, many hybrid teas lack fragrance. Most of the selections here come up smelling like a rose.