Question
Hello,
I was wondering if you could help me understand the differences between Nearly Wild roses and Carpet roses. They seem to be the same, both growing about the same height and width. I have full sun in the area I want to plant them. Can you explain the differences if there are any? Thanks so much!
Jessica

Answer
Even to the trained eye, Jessica, in a touched up photograph, out of scale, many Roses DO look identical.  This is a beauty contest.  A quest for your Rose Dollars.  A search for your impulse purchase.

So you may be surprised that these are VERY different plants, these Nearly Wild and "Flower Carpet" Roses.  

"Nearly Wild" is a Floribunda Rose that has stood the test of time.  Its 3 1/2 inch lightly fragrant blooms appear in clusters at the ends of the stems all summer long.  Each pale pink bloom is a simple, "single" type with only 4 to 8 petals.  This vigorous Rose is a highly recommended low hedge or groundcover; its heat-tolerance and hardiness make it a Rose Garden candidate in Zones 4 through 9.

It hits a maximum height of 2 feet and spreads 2 to 3 feet.  In this respect, it bears close resemblance to "Flower Carpet" Roses.

You'll find a photo of Nearly Wild on the Antique Rose Emporium website:

http://www.antiqueroseemporium.com/rose-1311.html

Very pretty Rose.

Flower Carpet Roses were introduced under their Trademark brand by a German grower in 1995 and are still grown and sold under patent.  ("Nearly Wild" came to market back in the 1940s during the New Deal.)

These Roses need less sun than Nearly Wild to bloom, although the more sun, the better.  They are slightly taller than Nearly Wild, reaching a maximum 2 1/2 feet with the same spreading width as Nearly Wild.

There is one key trait that distinguishes these Flower Carpet Roses from Nearly Wild and almost all the Roses currently available:  The breeder, Werner Noack, shuns use of fungicides in his gardens.   His listing in the Encyclopedia of Roses states: "Noack has, from the beginning, concentrated his breeding efforts on robust garden roses. By always seeking an easy-care rose, he has not treated his selection fields with a wholesale application of fungicides for decades."  And this is remarkable.

Most Rose breeders do seek to build in disease resistance.  But their focus is the size, color, shape -- the photogenic qualities of their introductions.  After all, the Rose business caters to casual gardeners reading the Jackson and Perkins catalog.  And they are almost always looking for big, bright, beautiful flowers with no thought to difficulty or potential problems.  They have not imagined standing outside in the spring with a big spray container aimed at Fungal Spores and Aphids.  Take your own situation, Jessica -- you are looking at these Roses, making an arm's length decision based on pictures.

But you are not just any Rose customer.  Because you actually studied those pictures, read the descriptions, and asked the most important question: Are they different?

You can't tell without putting the catalog down or closing the website and doing research.  I'll bet you do a lot of things in your life this way.

You're right, Jessica.  They do not look very different on the page.  They probably won't even look different in the pots they come in.

But four months from now, in your garden, on a bright, summer afternoon, I'll bet only one will be called dazzling.

Guess which one.