Carpet Roses

Back in March I entered a contest to win some Flower Carpet roses from Your Easy Garden - the blog of Tesselaar Plants.  A week after the contest ended (and much to my surprise, as I've never won anything) I was contacted by their lovely PR & Marketing department (thanks, Judie!) and informed that I'd been selected as a rose recipient. Yay! 

I was thrilled to find out they were sending me - not one - but three of their beautiful Flower Carpet ground cover rose bushes. Judie promised they'd send them out when my zone warmed up. Since Minnesota's weather has been off the charts weird (it snowed on May 1st) they didn't arrive until last week.

It was a Gardener's Holiday for me on Wednesday! Several shipments arrived that day, but my box from Tesselaar was the most awesome; the promise of gorgeous (hardy) roses, plus the fact that they were FREE gorgeous roses... you can't beat that. :)

The bushes came "bare root" and neatly packed into baggies labeled with their coordinating cards. Scarlet, Pink Supreme and (my favorite) Amber were accompanied by nice color print-outs of landscaping ideas, rose information, extra culture cards and three packets of rose food.

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For the thirty frigid days of April I thought of where I might plant each color of Flower Carpet rose... on the patio? By the shed? In a container? In the perennial garden... or the front garden? What color goes where... and in what? My final decision was based solely on color theory. Scarlet would pair well with terra cotta, Pink Supreme would be lovely against a backdrop of white and dark green (climbing hydrangea) and Amber must be next to our mint colored siding. 

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I haven't had a chance to plant Amber and Pink Supreme yet, but I sunk Scarlet on Friday. If you remember, I scored some nifty faux terra cotta planters on eBay this winter. The planters are roughly the size the Your Easy Garden blog recommends for container grown Carpet roses, and red paired with terra cotta is a classic combination. It was an easy decision. 

Now, I'm pretty sure my planting methods would make rosarians cringe, but I managed without any cuts or poked-in eyes - and that's a good day! :)

Currently, the final product leaves little to be desired, but I know in the coming weeks (and years) my Flower Carpet rose - Scarlet will be gorgeous. Established Tesselaar Flower Carpet roses boast as many as 2,000 flowers per season. Having three in my yard... that's sure to be a show.

I can't wait to share progress/growth photos with you, so please stay tuned for updates on this rose container. If the weather cooperates, I'll be planting the remaining roses this week. If you want to know more about Tesselaar Plants and the Flower Carpet rose click here. 

** A HUGE, GINORMOUS thank you goes out to Tesselaar's Marketing and PR Guru - Judie, the Your Easy Garden Blog and to everyone at Anthony Tesselalar Plants. I am stoked to have won such beautiful roses. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

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If you have grown Flower Carpet roses before and have any tips or handy hits, please drop me a comment below!

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