Coming up roses

Roses have a reputation for being cantankerous in Lowcountry gardens. The traditional hybrid tea roses give many gardeners headaches because of their susceptibility to fungi and insects and their inability to thrive in harsh heat and humidity.

There is one class of roses that can withstand these conditions. With the proper care, floribunda roses can flourish, filling gardens with vibrant color and fragrance.

Professor Jim Lancaster, a member of the Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society, has been growing floribunda roses in the Lowcountry for 11 years, first right off Folly Beach and then on Johns Island with fellow Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society member Steve Donaldson. Lancaster and Donaldson's floribunda roses fill their gardens with different shades of yellow, orange, pink, red and white almost year-round from April to February.

"Floribundas are probably the most versatile rose. They can be grown in most situations and are more or less a continuous display of colors," said Donaldson.

Floribundas differ from hybrid tea roses because of their smaller buds. They are much more vigorous than hybrid teas because they are bred for landscaping. Floribundas, whose name means "bloom freely," also have abundant blooms in clusters instead of the single stalk of hybrid teas. There sometimes can be as many as a dozen blossoms on one stem. The color would liven up any garden.

"Iceberg has been the No. 1 floribunda sold in the world, and little wonder — it is vigorous, winter hardy, poor-condition tolerant, fairly disease resistant, great repeat bloom and fragrant," Steve Jones, president of the American Rose Society, says in his article, "Why Floribundas Are the Best!"

Floribundas range in intensity of fragrance. Some floribundas such as "Sunsprite," Lancaster's personal favorite, and "Scentimental" have strong fragrances, while others such as "Iceberg" and "Black Cherry" have light scents. The choice of which floribundas to grow depends on the gardener.

Amateur gardeners can experience this same success with regular care and attention. Lancaster recommends giving floribundas at least one or two inches of water a week, fertilizing them once a month and spraying them regularly with fungicides to prevent mildew. Pesticides also should be used to prevent insects, such as spider mites and thrips. There are organic alternatives, such as Rose Pharm, that contain fungicides, insecticides and miticides.

"Floribundas will literally bloom until we have a deep freeze, a killing frost. For the 11 years I've been here, we have only had three winters when the roses went dormant," said Lancaster.