Saturday, June 16, 2018

First Roses

William Baffin Climbing Rose
Hybrid Kordesii (Rosa x 'William Baffin)
 'William Baffin' was developed in Ottawa by Agriculture Canada at the Central Experimental Farm, and it is one of the hardiest roses ever created. The Explorer rose program later moved to Morden, Manitoba.

Vigorous and very resistant to disease, 'Baffin' dishes out gorgeous pink blooms all summer long, and it is hardy to zone 3 with little or no special treatment or winter protection. Given a wall or a trellis to climb, it will happily reach ten feet in height and almost that in width. Hallelujah, this is a rose that loves living in the north and flowers extravagantly until frost.

I found this specimen at an end-of-season sale three years ago and it looked so lonely and forlorn in its corner that I just had to adopt it and bring it home. Now it lives where I can see it from my bedroom window, and this summer it will be joined by two other breathtaking Explorer roses, 'John Franklin' and 'David Thompson'. I can hardly wait.

3 comments:

Tabor said...

I love the hybrid teas and must admit that the care and chemicals are not worth it. I may just pull them all up and plant something else in that part of my flower bed.

kerrdelune said...

Try explorer roses, Tabor, they are amazing - hardy, low maintenance, and they bloom all summer.

Guy said...

I have had all three in my garden in Calgary and they are my favourites of the Explorer roses.

So far I settle for wild roses here at the cabin, nice but ephemeral.

Regards
Guy