Pike Nurseries abloom with long-lasting rose plant varieties

Let love bloom! While many people showered their special someone with cards and sweet treats for Valentine’s Day, the garden experts at Pike Nurseries are continuing to celebrate the month of love by offering long-lasting rose plants that will bloom well beyond the sweetheart season. The local garden center offers the widest selection of rose plants – more than 30 different varieties – with each flaunting alluring aromas, velvet-like petals and symbolizing eternal love. 

To help gardeners choose the perfect rose plant, Pike Nurseries will host a FREE Growing Roses class on Saturday, February 18. During this time, customers will learn about different rose varieties offered, as well as learn how to properly plant them, care for them and prune them. Each class attendee will receive a free box of E.B. Stone organic rose food and be entered for a chance to win five of Pike Nurseries’ most popular rose plants.

Although red remains the most traditional tint, Pike Nurseries’ rose selection includes shades of soft pink, buttery yellow, and pure white, among many others. To ensure rose plants thrive season after season, the neighborhood garden center also offers the top 10 varieties best suited for Southern gardens.

1. Don Juan: This large-flowered climber can grow up to 14 feet high! ‘Don Juan’ blooms on both new and old wood, developing masses of deep red blossoms with up to 35 petals of a strong fragrance.
    
2. Drift® Roses: Drift Roses, another well-known family of roses, come in a variety of colors and styles. Three popular kinds of Drift Roses include the Red Drift shrub, the Popcorn Drift and the Pink Drift. The scarlet-red blooms with no noticeable fragrance cover the low creeping Red Drift shrub. The Popcorn Drift displays small blooms of yellow that fade to white. The Pink Drift has hot pink, semi-double flowers with a soft pink center that creates an incredible floral show from spring to winter.
    
3. Francis Meilland®: This hybrid tea rose offers large, shapely soft pink blooms with long stems and intense fruit that creates a an enticing citrus fragrance. It is ideal for cut arrangements and grows between 6-feet and 6.5-feet tall. Additionally, the ‘Francis Meilland®’ is disease resistant, making it a perfect addition to any garden.
    
4. Iceberg: An elegant choice, the ‘Iceberg’ rose is one of the world’s best known varieties. It has pure white double flowers and is accompanied by sweet scents of honey. Iceberg roses can grow up to 5 feet high and wide. Due to its disease resistant and tolerance to both warm and cold weather, Iceberg is a low maintenance choice.
    
5. Julia Child: Buttery gold, old-fashioned blossoms combined with the fragrance of licorice candy makes this rose a mouth-watering recipe that every gardener will crave. This variety was hand-selected by Julia Child herself a few weeks before her passing. The ‘Julia Child’ rose makes a great border or low hedge and is a lovely tribute to an American icon.
    
6. Ketchup and Mustard^TM: The ‘Ketchup and Mustard’ rose makes a breathtaking accent in the garden, along walkways or in containers. The perfectly formed brilliant red and bright yellow blossoms adorn this adorable tree rose all season-long.
    
7. Knock Out® Roses: Knock Out Roses make great garden additions because they are both low maintenance and disease resistant. The three most popular kinds of Knock Outs include the Red Double Knock Out, which displays candy apple red flowers and has a slight spicy fragrance; the Pink Double Knock Out, which has ‘bubblegum’ pink petals; and the Sunny Knock Out, which produces masses of bright, butter yellow blossoms all season-long.
    
8. Mister Lincoln: Referred to as one of the most popular roses of all time, the ‘Mister Lincoln’ has large, shapely buds that open to deep rich, velvety reds. It is accompanied by wafts of rich fragrance. These plants, which maintain good disease resistance, stand tall and stately while its blooms rest on top of long, straight stems. Each flower is very fragrant and can have up to 35 petals.
    
9. St. Patrick^TM: This variety flaunts lovely, lightly fragrant flowers on long, strong stems that combine yellow, gold and green coloring. The flower’s green color is enhanced with warmer weather.
    
10. Twilight Zone: This grandiflora rose has large round buds that develop into double, old-fashioned flowers with deep velvet purple coloring covered in a purple haze. The ‘Twilight Zone’ rose also has a strong clove and spice scent.

For more information on rose plant varieties, stop by one of the 17 store locations across Georgia and North Carolina to speak with a Pike Nurseries garden expert.