Rose of the Month ~ January 2002

Climbing Westerland

January's rose is Climbing Westerland. A cross of Friedrich Worlin and Circus it is classified as an apricot blend shrub. It was introduced in 1969 and has an ARS rating of 7.6. Seems like a great choice for January because its bright orange and yellow inside seems to glow and in this cold weather we need all the glowing we can get. Westerland is not an extremely hardy rose, only being rated to Zone 5, but I think it's one that's worth the effort. The blooms are moderately scented in my experience and very pleasantly spicy and they repeat into the fall (mine was blooming into mid November this year). Foliage is upright, vigorous and well branched and only moderately thorny. The leaves are dark green and semi-glossy. It has been disease resistant so far, that's also one of the reasons I chose to get it. The photos below were taken in July of a bare root plant I just planted last spring so the bush is pretty small. It can climb to 10 feet given a long enough growing season or great winter protection. I'm crossing my fingers that I protected it well enough for our cold winter. I've got a Guernsey Cream clematis growing in and around it and hopefully next year they'll both be big enough for a great show in the yard.

Happy New Year!

(click on the images to see larger versions)