August 19, 2025 • 27 mins
This week we’re on a blooming adventure into the world of roses. Okay, that was cheesy, but if you’ve ever struggled with roses or thought they were too fussy for your garden, this episode is for you. Joined by Robin Jennings from Heirloom Roses, I explore the super interesting history of thisfamily-owned company, from its humble beginnings as a backyard hobby to becoming the only U.S. nursery licensed to propagate the renowned David Austin roses.
We talk about why growing roses on their own roots makessuch a difference in their hardiness, health, and longevity, and how modern breeders are creating varieties that thrive in a wide range of climates. Robin shares practical advice on choosing the perfect rose for your garden and demystifiesrose care, pruning, and fertilizing so you can be as successful as I have been this year.
Whether you’re new to roses or a seasoned grower, thisepisode is packed with inspiration, practical know-how, and all the encouragement you need to start (or expand) your own rose collection. Let’s dig in!
Save 20% on your new own-root rose plant at Heirloom Roses with code JUSTGROW https://heirloomroses.com
Find the full show notes at https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/episode/from-hobby-to-heirloom-growing-healthier-roses-for-every-garden-with-heirloom-roses
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I have learned a lot about rosesthis year.
You guys know I've talked about it before.
I was not a rose person before this.
My only experiences with growingroses had been ones of
frustration, diseases, or the plants just failing to even
survive, much less thrive. Then along came heirloom roses.
(00:22):
When they approached me to sponsor the show last season, I
agreed, thinking that it would be helpful information for you,
my gardening friends. But at the end of the season, I
went ahead and I ordered a rose Bush for my beautiful container
that my mom left behind for me when she moved.
And I had such a great experience with that rose that I
immediately approached Heirloom Roses to sponsor the show again
(00:45):
this year. At the same time, I asked if
they would agree to come on the show as a guest to talk to us
about all things roses and why own root roses make such a
difference in the growth and thehealth and overall survivability
of their plants. So today I'm just grow
(01:07):
something. We are talking to Robin Jennings
of Heirloom Roses. You'll hear about the surprising
way that the company got started, what it means to grow
thousands of varieties of roses and to run out of space for them
all, how they decide what varieties to offer, and how they
help you pick the best one for your growing conditions, and so
(01:29):
much more. The whole vibe that I got was
that they truly, truly love roses and they truly care about
helping people beautify their space with roses and do it
successfully. Let's dig in.
Hey, I'm Karen and what started as a small backyard garden 20
years ago turned into a lifelongpassion for growing food.
(01:52):
Now as a market farmer and horticulturist, I want to help
you do the same. On this podcast, I am your
friend in the garden, teaching evidence based techniques to
help you grow your favorites andbuild confidence in your own
garden space. So grab your garden journal and
a cup of coffee and get ready tojust grow something.
(02:12):
So Heirloom Roses is and always has been a family owned company.
In fact, they've only ever been owned by two families, one of
whom was a customer of the other.
But the company didn't start outto be a premier rose grower and
supplier like a lot of us who start businesses around our
(02:34):
passions. Heirloom roses started as a
hobby. Airline Roses started in the
early 1970s. It was kind of a pet project of
John Clements. So John and Louise Clements were
the original founders of Heirloom Roses.
He was an air traffic controller.
And this is what he did in his spare time to kind of decompress
from a very intense job. So I lived on just five acres
(02:56):
out here in St. Paul, OR.
We're about 20 minutes South of Portland and John kind of bred
roses and grew the first used tostart growing miniatures and
things like that, just playing around with them in his spare
time. And then he's got really good at
it and interested in it. And so Louise, who was super
artistic, started. She painted a handmade sign and
(03:17):
got a little storefront in Newburgh, which is just the next
larger town, and started sellingsome of his roses that he was
growing out of this little storestorefront.
So that's kind of how it started.
And then John actually had a heart attack unexpectedly and
left air traffic controlling anddove head first into flowers.
(03:38):
It's like a hobby that became lucrative.
And he started propagating roses.
And after he retired from air traffic control, they actually
took a trip to Europe and they met David Austin.
And he fell in love with David Austin Roses and wanting to
bring English style roses to theUS because that wasn't really
big market here for that at thattime.
(04:00):
So that trip to the UK and the meet up with David Austin was
actually pretty fortuitous. If you don't know who David
Austin was, he was a British rose breeder who came from a
farming background and his sister gave him a book for his
21st birthday called Old Garden Roses and he just fell in love
with them. I mean, this was 1940.
(04:22):
I know that wouldn't be a super appreciated gift for most 21
year olds these days, but it spurred David Austin into
becoming like the premier rose breeder, partly because he came
up with something new. Tea roses at the time were very
popular, but he really loved those old roses and decided to
combine the wide variety of colors and the repeat blooming
(04:45):
that the tea roses had with the beauty and the fragrance of the
old roses. And so David Austin Roses was
born and his first rose was in 1961.
But it took like 10 years for the breeding process to be
refined and for him to develop what we now consider to be an
English rose. When he bred, I think it was
(05:08):
over 100 roses in his time. And so that was really exciting.
He started and they bought the, they had a serendipitous visit
from a neighbor who asked if they wanted to buy an additional
25 acres. And and so they did.
And so we still are at the same property where they raised their
kids and the same house, and we still eat lunch in the same
kitchen that she fed her. Children in Heirloom Roses has
(05:29):
had a very long standing relationship with David Austin
Roses, and a pretty unique one at that.
Well. Yeah, we've done roses for a
very long time. We are the only nursery in the
US that it has license to propagate David Austin roses.
Everyone else who sells David Austin get them from David
Austin. We grow our own David Austin.
But it's not just David Austin'scompany they work with, Heirloom
(05:49):
Roses features a lot of other pretty renowned breeders, too.
Yeah, I'm seeing a trend too. And a lot of breeders that
they're going, I say it's Griffith Buck style.
Buck was a breeder up in the Midwest who was like a plant
called, you know, rain and that's about it.
Good luck to you. And if you didn't thrive, then
you were out so. That would be Doctor Griffith
Buck. He was a professor and a
(06:10):
horticulturist and a microbiologist at Iowa State
University and he worked with rose breeders around the world
to develop disease resistant varieties that were just as
beautiful as those tea roses that everybody loved.
But his approach was to grow theseedlings in a greenhouse for
like 1 year, plant them out the second spring and basically
ignore them. The only attention they would
(06:30):
get would be like water and cultivation.
He did not spray for disease. None of that stuff.
So if you survived, great. If not, well, it was back to the
drawing board. That's one way to get pretty
tough plants We're. Working with some really great
hybridizers like Brad Shell Beerin Canada.
We always love Cordes Roses and we're bringing in these newer
varieties to market. But heirloom roses actually
(06:50):
takes it one step further because they are dedicated to
growing roses on their own roots.
We only sell own root roses, so that's kind of a differentiating
factor for us and we can propagate them all here on site.
My daughter's actually helping with propagation this summer for
her summer job. OK, so.
Why own root? Because as a, I mean, I have a
horticultural background and we talk a lot in terms of like
(07:13):
fruit production and vegetable production about grafting.
And in that sense, the grafting is supposed to make a better
product because you're taking the root stock of something that
is much more robust and then youare grafting on whatever fruit
or vegetable you want to get from that.
And that partnership is supposedto make the production better
(07:37):
and the fruit stronger and the plant stronger.
But we do know that if somethinghappens to that tree, for
example, and it happens, you know, above or, well, depending
on where it happens above or below that grafting point, like
you have to be careful. Is the, you know, new growth
coming from below the grafting point?
Is it actually the fruit that you want to grow or is it
(07:58):
something else? But overall, we're told that
that's a positive thing. Why are roses different in that?
Perspective. Right.
Well, I mean, grafting isn't terrible.
It's it's manipulating the plant.
We prefer to do things as much as nature intended it as
possible. So with not grafting roses using
(08:18):
only own root, the plant is completely the same.
So the root stock there, you know, the roots, the the top of
the plant. I just do this little hand,
weird hand actually. It's all the same thing, right?
So Ben often tells a story aboutrunning over a rose with a lawn
mower and because it was own root, it just came right back
because it's the same plant. If you would have done that to a
(08:38):
grafted rose, you're going to get Doctor Huey or some, you
know, Fortuna, some other sort of root stock coming back.
So we think it well, we know that it makes it the plants are
much hardier in the long run because they're all the same
plant. There's no risk of risk of
damage to the grafting point. They're not susceptible to
winter damage. So a lot of those colder zones
(08:59):
654, you know they're going to have trouble with freeze or
things like that. You're not fighting root
suckers. So there's there's only basil
brakes. So it's all good stuff coming.
When you see a new basil brake coming out of the ground, it's
super exciting. I think it was last year, Ben
was out walking the stock fieldsand we had a basil break off of
one of our mother plants and it had a bloom on it.
(09:21):
It was like this tall with a bloom right at the tip.
Like it was gorgeous. And just like that's why we love
basil brakes is because you know, it's the actual plant you
want and it's making a really full, nicely shaped plant.
Will you define what a basil brake is for the listeners who
may not be really familiar with what that term is?
Yeah, Basil brake and suckers, those are like the two different
words. Suckers, you don't want basil
(09:42):
brakes, you do. So it's just new growth coming
up from the roots of the plant and they're going to be the type
of plant that is coming out of the root.
So if you've grafted, we call ita sucker because you don't
actually want that. You want to cut it off.
If it's a basil break, it's justnew growth.
That's the variety that you purchased.
And that's, I mean, and that's great too, because you know,
when you have a plant that has been grafted and you start to
see that sucker growth from the bottom and you get all excited,
(10:05):
oh, new growth. And then you realize, Oh no,
that's not the plant that I want.
I want the stuff that's up here.And so that can be kind of
disappointing. Yeah.
So you've ever seen a rose out in the wild that has two
different color blooms in it? It'll usually have like whatever
like a beautiful pink or beautiful yellow and then I'll
have this red kind of plant and that's the the root stock taking
over is probably Doctor Huey root stock.
(10:26):
So we prefer to do things as natural as possible.
So we, yeah, we're just all the own route.
So I mean, you talked about the fact that they are hardier and
especially in those colder zones, 65, you know, and below,
just because they're on their own routes doesn't mean that
they're just a standalone breed.And I'm assuming that there's a
lot of hybridization that's going on in terms of being able
to get varieties that do stand up to those colder temperatures
(10:49):
and can thrive in all of those different zones.
Can you talk a little bit about what it takes to hybridize a
road that can do that? Yeah.
So I mean, we work with some really great hybridization who I
mean have been working with someof the old garden roses and then
taking some of these newer rosesand crossbreeding them to make
more disease resistant, more hearty, gorgeous, heavily
(11:13):
fragrant, you know, whatever we can find heavily ruffled blooms.
We have so many options with ownroot roses.
If a rose isn't going to thrive on its own roots, like there are
some plants like you were talking about tree fruit trees
and things that do better on grafted.
If it's not going to thrive on its own roots, then we're not
interested in it. It's not going to be for us.
So we're not going to get a plant that needs a lot of
(11:34):
intervention. We're really looking for those
plants that are going to thrive on their own and last for
decades. In terms of production though,
so I mean, I would think from a production standpoint, it would
be a lot more efficient in termsof like from a company
perspective to be able to produce roses more quickly by
(11:56):
grafting them. I can imagine it's a.
Very slow process to reproduce arose on its own roots.
Yeah, it's a slower process for sure, but it's one that we're
really committed to. So I think if you see like roses
like in your big box stores or something like that that have
been grabbed that they look really big.
They look quite huge and full. And then if you were to hold up
a brand new heirloom rose next to that in a one gallon pot,
(12:19):
which we do defoliate during shipment, which kind of shocks
some people, but it helps the plant to thrive better when it
gets out and it'll it'll flush out as soon as you take it out
the box. But when they hold up, you know,
this grafted plant next to a owner rose, they're like this
one looks so tiny. The owner rose looks tiny, but
the root system was what's so robust.
We have a video on our site where our owner takes out
(12:40):
grafted rose that we bought in abig box store and our roses, and
he takes the grafted rose, he takes it out of the pot and all
the dirt falls and it's just roots.
And then you take the owner rootrose out of the pot and the
whole dirt stays together because of such a robust root
system. So we recommend that as soon as
you plant that own root rose within a year or two of two
(13:00):
seasons, I mean, it's going to be on par with your grafted
roses that you purchased as far as size, but it's going to be
last a lot longer. It's going to be healthier in
the long run. So it is a full production to be
taking tiny little node cuttingsand making little babies and
growing them out. It's about 18 months from the
time we first stick a plant to when it's shippable height.
(13:22):
We have a branching requirement and a height requirement before
we'll be able to ship any plants.
So yeah, it takes a while. So when we run out of a variety,
it's not like we can just be like, we'll make a new one and
have them back on the site next week.
It's, it's an 18 month wait. So we are planning really far in
advance. Like I'm already looking at
roses with our team for 2728. We have to plan that far in
(13:44):
advance so they have time to grow and flourish.
So that's some dedication to doing things the right way.
Heirloom Roses is also very dedicated to helping us succeed
with our roses, and that starts with being able to find the best
rose for us and not just what wewant in a rose, right?
Whether it's a climber or a Bushor what kind of fragrance it
(14:04):
has. But does it work for our area,
for our growing conditions? We have so many options in the
Rose world now. I think heirloom, we have over
1000 roses on our website. We have more than that on the
property. I wish we could do more.
We actually just run out of space.
We have filled every square inchof our nursery and there is no
more space to put another plant.And so, but I mean, there's so
(14:26):
many roses to choose from. So you, you can actually go on
our website and narrow down by how strong you want the
fragrance to be, how tall you want the plan to be, the color
you want it to be, and you'll get tons of selections.
So we now actually have a feature in the top corner of our
website or at the top left of your if you're on your iPhone,
where you can set your zone and it'll make recommendations and
say like this is not good for your zone.
(14:47):
We recommend this instead. So not only do they make it
super easy for us to get the right rows, they want to be sure
that it's healthy when we get itand that it stays that way.
And we also do testing on any plant that comes to our site.
We make sure that we do viral screening on all of them.
(15:09):
We're noticing in the in nurseryworld as a whole, there's a lot
of disease and things that are just sliding through and we
don't want to ever, ever, ever send out any plant that might
have some sort of disease or infection.
So we viral screen everything and there's been really gorgeous
rare plants that we've got on site and I've been so excited
(15:30):
about them. And then our plant health team
comes and says it's got 1 littleissue with it and we have to
burn it. And I'm like, no, but I mean,
that's what we have to do because we're so committed to
the healthy quality of our plants.
Not only do they screen for things we definitely don't want
in our roses, heirloom roses also helps us care about the
things that make them thrive. Yeah.
(15:52):
Well, you touched on a good point that you planted your rose
in the fall. And if I have to plant a rose, I
will always do it in the fall. I mean, you can plant anytime
really own root roses can be planted any time.
You can plant them in the spring.
You can plant them in July. As long as you water them
enough, you can plant them whenever.
But fall for me is like the sweet spot.
I'm in zone 8. That's a sweet spot for
planting. I recommend almost every zone
(16:15):
plant in the fall, but before your first frost, six weeks
before your first frost to let your roots get established
because then it gives that planta head start in the spring.
So that's why this next, this last season, you saw a lot of
good growth on that rose. This year's because it was
already established before winter hit and so it was able to
take off because we're choosing varieties that are really
(16:36):
disease resistant, really Hardy and strong.
You're not, they're not fussy. They're not like these, you
know, your grandma's hybrid teasthat were like crossbred and you
had to baby them and give them all these.
You know, I actually am really hard on my roses.
We recommend when you plant yourroses that you, you know, amend
the soil a little bit. You give it some fish fertilizer
(16:57):
the first year. I'm a big proponent of fish
fertilizer, but I've had roses where I brought them home from
the nursery just to test them and I literally dig a hole and
drop them in and I'm like, good luck to you.
And I mean I did that with a rose called my best friend and
it is killing it. I pay that rose no attention and
it's just like happy to be here.Prolific blooming and I rare.
(17:19):
I mean, I give it fish fertilizer, but I don't do a
whole lot. So roses, depending if you pick
the right rose for the right zone, they're going to be
successful. You can choose to ship your
plant up to 8 months past your order date.
So if you want to order a rose now and have it shipped in the
spring, that's doable. So order date and shipping dates
are two totally different thingswith us because we have that
(17:40):
flexibility. If you're going to be buying our
spring bulbs though, that we're selling in this fall, those all
ship automatically between October and December because you
can plant them, you know, up to a few weeks after the first
frost as long as the grounds notsolid.
So the bulbs ship differently, but the roses ship up to 8
months in advance. So you can just order whenever
(18:01):
you find that something reaches your fancy and then you can have
it delivered when your gardens ready.
But we do have a one year guarantee in our roses.
So should something happen, should you know you forget to
move the pot or if you have a terrible freeze, we stand behind
the product and so we will replace your rose for free
within the first year. So you can just call our
customer service. And they respond so fast.
(18:22):
I think like the other day they were telling me they're down to
like a 5 minute, 10 minute response time if you e-mail
them. So it's just an amazing team and
they get back to people so quickly.
All right, when we come back, I talked to Robin about one of the
things that freaks most gardeners out when it comes to
any perennial, but especially roses.
Pruning. It turns out I didn't need to be
(18:42):
that worried. And Robin reveals her favorites,
which is a pretty tough questionconsidering where she works.
That's up next. So I've had my rose Bush since
last fall, and I did just a little bit of pruning on it in
the spring, but I was still worried that I would cut off too
much or I'd do too little and somehow I would mess it up.
(19:04):
It turns out that I didn't have to worry so much.
You have to prune them, you know, once a year I hack them
down and I, I'm not stressful about it.
Like I'm not super meticulous. I just hack them.
We've had a couple videos on oursite about pruning.
So I think our top watch video is how to prune a climbing rose.
Now, climbing roses are different.
You have to prune those differently than a shrub rose.
(19:26):
But for my shrub roses, I mean, I guess I kind of fast because
I've done this for a while, but I just look for an outward
facing, you know, node a little bit and I just cut above it on a
slight angle and just go, go, go, go, go.
And so I can do a whole like massive 5 foot rose Bush in just
a couple of minutes because I'vekind of got the hang of it now.
(19:46):
But even if you just, I'm not recommending this, but even if
you just took like the top off and just cut straight across,
it's not going to harm the plant.
In the spring, you'll see a little bit of Deadwood or
something that above that node that's not going to grow and you
can just re prune that. But don't overthink it.
If it's a climber, you don't want to cut those main canes.
(20:08):
Climbers will send out these long main canes and you want to
trellis those horizontally to allow for vertical growth going
up. So we have a great video on
that. So I'm a little bit more careful
with my climbers because I want them to be like full.
I've got a fence that I'm training climbers on all the way
across. And so I just keep pulling
those. Tall main canes out to the side
(20:28):
and using our trellis ties to tie them up and then they go
upwards the next year. But for my shrubs, I'm taking
out the the dead anything dead I'm taking out that or any of
the branches that have you know expired have been past their
time. I take those out, I'm pruning
for shape if it's getting too close to this way.
I mean, I'm, I've got 1 climber that keeps trying to come
outwards instead of going along the fence.
(20:50):
So I just keep cutting those canes.
I'm like don't Nope, go the other way.
But they're roasts are really resilient.
So just make sure you've got clean pruners and that you clean
in between your plants. So if there happens to be any
disease in your garden, you're not spreading it.
And yeah, go. For it.
And then I put Robin on the spotabout which varieties are her
favorites or the ones that she would recommend.
(21:12):
Favorites of mine right now. Oh gosh, I'm always in love with
Cortez varieties. I just really appreciate those
Madame Anna set. I talk about her on almost every
podcast I'm on. She is about, I think I planted
her a few years ago and within the first growing season she was
(21:32):
about four foot tall. So she is like a beast of a
grower. Beautiful clusters of licorice
scented blooms. She's like a creamy white.
I just love her. She's super disease resistant.
Everything around her can have aphids.
She doesn't ever. She's great.
So that one I love William PJ McCarthy, which is A1 we just
introduced from Brad this year. It's a beautiful pink.
(21:55):
Even when they were only about like 06 inches tall in the pot,
they were blooming like they just wanted to bloom.
There is such a great rose and I'm actually surprised we still
have a couple in stock, but William PJ McCarthy is a really
great one from Brad. Caramel Kiss is another one we
introduce from Brad that's gorgeous.
Someone at work said it smelt like a strawberry Jolly Rancher.
(22:20):
So I like when we get, you know,we when we stretch outside of
the regular fragrance like terms, it's kind of fun.
There was we have another one coming down the line and I was
trying to ask everyone what doesthis smell like?
What does this smell like to you?
Because I like to get other people's opinions on it.
And we had a mix of people saying it smelled like a church
(22:40):
ladies perfume or a fruity IPA, but there's just so much variety
on our site. I just purchased, I guess my
latest rose purchase because I have a lot of them.
I purchased Francis Milan, so that's one.
It's a beautiful, I mean, if youhave never smelled that one, go
to a Rose Garden anywhere. I'm sure they'll have it.
It's a classic and it smells so great.
(23:03):
Amazing Grace. My garden will never be without
Amazing Grace. That probably is one of my top
favorites right now. I just cut 5 blooms.
I just tossed the bouquet earlier today.
I cut 5 blooms and it filled a hole of Oz and everyone in my
house could smell it even thoughit was just in the kitchen so I
mean that's a great one too. And as if I needed any more
(23:24):
convincing that I am going to become obsessed with collecting
rose varieties, heirloom roses went and made the care of them
even easier with their support team and all of their amendments
you. Can just go on our site, set
your zone. That's the most important thing
when you get on our website is set your zone and it'll help you
find roses that are perfect for your zone.
So just pick what you love and try it.
(23:46):
And if you have questions, contact our customer care team.
They're so responsive. You can take a picture of your
foliage if you're like, I don't know what this is and send it
in. And mint compost is probably our
best selling amendment. It's, it's so versatile it, you
know, it keeps the roots cool. It's a beautiful dark colour.
So it looks great. It smothers the weeds and it
repels aphids and other insects.So it's just a win, win.
(24:08):
I take a box home when I plant my roses and I always dump a
whole box around it. It's just great.
It smells good too. So mint compost is an amazing
option for keeping your roots cool and healthy and the plant
thriving. What else do we have that I love
our I use our fish fertilizer. We do have our own fish
fertilizer. It's called founders fish
fertilizer. I use that on all my brand new
(24:30):
one year plants and even beyond that I do it.
I have a lot of dahlias, so all my dahlias get fish fertilizer
every three weeks. I just dilute it in my watering
can and away I go and everythinggets fish.
My dog loves it. I have to keep him inside
because he follows me around when I use it.
But that is just a tremendous nitrogen and just health for the
plant. So I love using that.
(24:52):
And then I have our Boost in Bloom, which is a granular
fertilizer that we use for rosesthat are two years or older.
Don't use any granular fertilizer the first year on own
root roses. Their roots are just too fine
the first year. But they need that boost of
vitamins. That's why I use the fish
fertilizer. But boost and bloom is great for
years too and beyond. So I just sprinkle some of that
(25:12):
scratch into the soil and away we go.
So I thought I was afraid of roses too, when I first started
growing them, but they're probably one of my easiest
plants. They're probably one of my
easiest plants. And I have a lot of plants in my
backyard. But roses, they're just so Hardy
and resilient. And I water them twice a week.
And I do a deep water and if it's hot and I do a third, but
(25:33):
they don't require much. And it's just constant reward.
And we want people to be successful because it's kind of
like the world is hard right nowand things are tough and there's
a lot of solace and beauty in gardens and there's a lot of joy
in giving beauty. So roses are something you can
give away. You can cut them and give all
(25:54):
these bouquets away and they will just keep blooming over and
over again throughout the seasonunless you picked a once
bloomer. But it's exciting to be able to
be part of bringing joy back to the world and, and sharing
beauty. And that's what we're all about
is, you know, making this world beautiful. 1 rose a time.
(26:16):
Now you know why I. Wanted heirloom.
Roses as a sponsor this year, but also wanted to have someone
on the show to talk to all of usabout their company and their
roses and their commitment because they're just passionate
about all of it. I feel like it's rare sometimes
to interact with the company andthen make a purchase from them
(26:37):
and then really feel like they have your success as as a goal
for them. Like it goes beyond just, you
know, that e-mail. Hey, hope your purchase
experience went well. Let us know if you can do
anything you know for you and then getting nothing but sales
emails from then on out. Heirloom Roses really truly does
want to help us beautify our spaces with the best roses.
(27:01):
And I for 1:00 AM now hooked. Until next time, my gardening
friends, keep on cultivating that dream garden, and by all
means, add some roses and we'll talk again soon.
I have learned a lot about rosesthis year.
You guys know I've talked about it before.
I was not a rose person before this.
My only experiences with growingroses had been ones of
frustration, diseases, or the plants just failing to even
survive, much less thrive. Then along came heirloom roses.
(00:22):
When they approached me to sponsor the show last season, I
agreed, thinking that it would be helpful information for you,
my gardening friends. But at the end of the season, I
went ahead and I ordered a rose Bush for my beautiful container
that my mom left behind for me when she moved.
And I had such a great experience with that rose that I
immediately approached Heirloom Roses to sponsor the show again
(00:45):
this year. At the same time, I asked if
they would agree to come on the show as a guest to talk to us
about all things roses and why own root roses make such a
difference in the growth and thehealth and overall survivability
of their plants. So today I'm just grow
(01:07):
something. We are talking to Robin Jennings
of Heirloom Roses. You'll hear about the surprising
way that the company got started, what it means to grow
thousands of varieties of roses and to run out of space for them
all, how they decide what varieties to offer, and how they
help you pick the best one for your growing conditions, and so
(01:29):
much more. The whole vibe that I got was
that they truly, truly love roses and they truly care about
helping people beautify their space with roses and do it
successfully. Let's dig in.
Hey, I'm Karen and what started as a small backyard garden 20
years ago turned into a lifelongpassion for growing food.
(01:52):
Now as a market farmer and horticulturist, I want to help
you do the same. On this podcast, I am your
friend in the garden, teaching evidence based techniques to
help you grow your favorites andbuild confidence in your own
garden space. So grab your garden journal and
a cup of coffee and get ready tojust grow something.
(02:12):
So Heirloom Roses is and always has been a family owned company.
In fact, they've only ever been owned by two families, one of
whom was a customer of the other.
But the company didn't start outto be a premier rose grower and
supplier like a lot of us who start businesses around our
(02:34):
passions. Heirloom roses started as a
hobby. Airline Roses started in the
early 1970s. It was kind of a pet project of
John Clements. So John and Louise Clements were
the original founders of Heirloom Roses.
He was an air traffic controller.
And this is what he did in his spare time to kind of decompress
from a very intense job. So I lived on just five acres
(02:56):
out here in St. Paul, OR.
We're about 20 minutes South of Portland and John kind of bred
roses and grew the first used tostart growing miniatures and
things like that, just playing around with them in his spare
time. And then he's got really good at
it and interested in it. And so Louise, who was super
artistic, started. She painted a handmade sign and
(03:17):
got a little storefront in Newburgh, which is just the next
larger town, and started sellingsome of his roses that he was
growing out of this little storestorefront.
So that's kind of how it started.
And then John actually had a heart attack unexpectedly and
left air traffic controlling anddove head first into flowers.
(03:38):
It's like a hobby that became lucrative.
And he started propagating roses.
And after he retired from air traffic control, they actually
took a trip to Europe and they met David Austin.
And he fell in love with David Austin Roses and wanting to
bring English style roses to theUS because that wasn't really
big market here for that at thattime.
(04:00):
So that trip to the UK and the meet up with David Austin was
actually pretty fortuitous. If you don't know who David
Austin was, he was a British rose breeder who came from a
farming background and his sister gave him a book for his
21st birthday called Old Garden Roses and he just fell in love
with them. I mean, this was 1940.
(04:22):
I know that wouldn't be a super appreciated gift for most 21
year olds these days, but it spurred David Austin into
becoming like the premier rose breeder, partly because he came
up with something new. Tea roses at the time were very
popular, but he really loved those old roses and decided to
combine the wide variety of colors and the repeat blooming
(04:45):
that the tea roses had with the beauty and the fragrance of the
old roses. And so David Austin Roses was
born and his first rose was in 1961.
But it took like 10 years for the breeding process to be
refined and for him to develop what we now consider to be an
English rose. When he bred, I think it was
(05:08):
over 100 roses in his time. And so that was really exciting.
He started and they bought the, they had a serendipitous visit
from a neighbor who asked if they wanted to buy an additional
25 acres. And and so they did.
And so we still are at the same property where they raised their
kids and the same house, and we still eat lunch in the same
kitchen that she fed her. Children in Heirloom Roses has
(05:29):
had a very long standing relationship with David Austin
Roses, and a pretty unique one at that.
Well. Yeah, we've done roses for a
very long time. We are the only nursery in the
US that it has license to propagate David Austin roses.
Everyone else who sells David Austin get them from David
Austin. We grow our own David Austin.
But it's not just David Austin'scompany they work with, Heirloom
(05:49):
Roses features a lot of other pretty renowned breeders, too.
Yeah, I'm seeing a trend too. And a lot of breeders that
they're going, I say it's Griffith Buck style.
Buck was a breeder up in the Midwest who was like a plant
called, you know, rain and that's about it.
Good luck to you. And if you didn't thrive, then
you were out so. That would be Doctor Griffith
Buck. He was a professor and a
(06:10):
horticulturist and a microbiologist at Iowa State
University and he worked with rose breeders around the world
to develop disease resistant varieties that were just as
beautiful as those tea roses that everybody loved.
But his approach was to grow theseedlings in a greenhouse for
like 1 year, plant them out the second spring and basically
ignore them. The only attention they would
(06:30):
get would be like water and cultivation.
He did not spray for disease. None of that stuff.
So if you survived, great. If not, well, it was back to the
drawing board. That's one way to get pretty
tough plants We're. Working with some really great
hybridizers like Brad Shell Beerin Canada.
We always love Cordes Roses and we're bringing in these newer
varieties to market. But heirloom roses actually
(06:50):
takes it one step further because they are dedicated to
growing roses on their own roots.
We only sell own root roses, so that's kind of a differentiating
factor for us and we can propagate them all here on site.
My daughter's actually helping with propagation this summer for
her summer job. OK, so.
Why own root? Because as a, I mean, I have a
horticultural background and we talk a lot in terms of like
(07:13):
fruit production and vegetable production about grafting.
And in that sense, the grafting is supposed to make a better
product because you're taking the root stock of something that
is much more robust and then youare grafting on whatever fruit
or vegetable you want to get from that.
And that partnership is supposedto make the production better
(07:37):
and the fruit stronger and the plant stronger.
But we do know that if somethinghappens to that tree, for
example, and it happens, you know, above or, well, depending
on where it happens above or below that grafting point, like
you have to be careful. Is the, you know, new growth
coming from below the grafting point?
Is it actually the fruit that you want to grow or is it
(07:58):
something else? But overall, we're told that
that's a positive thing. Why are roses different in that?
Perspective. Right.
Well, I mean, grafting isn't terrible.
It's it's manipulating the plant.
We prefer to do things as much as nature intended it as
possible. So with not grafting roses using
(08:18):
only own root, the plant is completely the same.
So the root stock there, you know, the roots, the the top of
the plant. I just do this little hand,
weird hand actually. It's all the same thing, right?
So Ben often tells a story aboutrunning over a rose with a lawn
mower and because it was own root, it just came right back
because it's the same plant. If you would have done that to a
(08:38):
grafted rose, you're going to get Doctor Huey or some, you
know, Fortuna, some other sort of root stock coming back.
So we think it well, we know that it makes it the plants are
much hardier in the long run because they're all the same
plant. There's no risk of risk of
damage to the grafting point. They're not susceptible to
winter damage. So a lot of those colder zones
(08:59):
654, you know they're going to have trouble with freeze or
things like that. You're not fighting root
suckers. So there's there's only basil
brakes. So it's all good stuff coming.
When you see a new basil brake coming out of the ground, it's
super exciting. I think it was last year, Ben
was out walking the stock fieldsand we had a basil break off of
one of our mother plants and it had a bloom on it.
(09:21):
It was like this tall with a bloom right at the tip.
Like it was gorgeous. And just like that's why we love
basil brakes is because you know, it's the actual plant you
want and it's making a really full, nicely shaped plant.
Will you define what a basil brake is for the listeners who
may not be really familiar with what that term is?
Yeah, Basil brake and suckers, those are like the two different
words. Suckers, you don't want basil
(09:42):
brakes, you do. So it's just new growth coming
up from the roots of the plant and they're going to be the type
of plant that is coming out of the root.
So if you've grafted, we call ita sucker because you don't
actually want that. You want to cut it off.
If it's a basil break, it's justnew growth.
That's the variety that you purchased.
And that's, I mean, and that's great too, because you know,
when you have a plant that has been grafted and you start to
see that sucker growth from the bottom and you get all excited,
(10:05):
oh, new growth. And then you realize, Oh no,
that's not the plant that I want.
I want the stuff that's up here.And so that can be kind of
disappointing. Yeah.
So you've ever seen a rose out in the wild that has two
different color blooms in it? It'll usually have like whatever
like a beautiful pink or beautiful yellow and then I'll
have this red kind of plant and that's the the root stock taking
over is probably Doctor Huey root stock.
(10:26):
So we prefer to do things as natural as possible.
So we, yeah, we're just all the own route.
So I mean, you talked about the fact that they are hardier and
especially in those colder zones, 65, you know, and below,
just because they're on their own routes doesn't mean that
they're just a standalone breed.And I'm assuming that there's a
lot of hybridization that's going on in terms of being able
to get varieties that do stand up to those colder temperatures
(10:49):
and can thrive in all of those different zones.
Can you talk a little bit about what it takes to hybridize a
road that can do that? Yeah.
So I mean, we work with some really great hybridization who I
mean have been working with someof the old garden roses and then
taking some of these newer rosesand crossbreeding them to make
more disease resistant, more hearty, gorgeous, heavily
(11:13):
fragrant, you know, whatever we can find heavily ruffled blooms.
We have so many options with ownroot roses.
If a rose isn't going to thrive on its own roots, like there are
some plants like you were talking about tree fruit trees
and things that do better on grafted.
If it's not going to thrive on its own roots, then we're not
interested in it. It's not going to be for us.
So we're not going to get a plant that needs a lot of
(11:34):
intervention. We're really looking for those
plants that are going to thrive on their own and last for
decades. In terms of production though,
so I mean, I would think from a production standpoint, it would
be a lot more efficient in termsof like from a company
perspective to be able to produce roses more quickly by
(11:56):
grafting them. I can imagine it's a.
Very slow process to reproduce arose on its own roots.
Yeah, it's a slower process for sure, but it's one that we're
really committed to. So I think if you see like roses
like in your big box stores or something like that that have
been grabbed that they look really big.
They look quite huge and full. And then if you were to hold up
a brand new heirloom rose next to that in a one gallon pot,
(12:19):
which we do defoliate during shipment, which kind of shocks
some people, but it helps the plant to thrive better when it
gets out and it'll it'll flush out as soon as you take it out
the box. But when they hold up, you know,
this grafted plant next to a owner rose, they're like this
one looks so tiny. The owner rose looks tiny, but
the root system was what's so robust.
We have a video on our site where our owner takes out
(12:40):
grafted rose that we bought in abig box store and our roses, and
he takes the grafted rose, he takes it out of the pot and all
the dirt falls and it's just roots.
And then you take the owner rootrose out of the pot and the
whole dirt stays together because of such a robust root
system. So we recommend that as soon as
you plant that own root rose within a year or two of two
(13:00):
seasons, I mean, it's going to be on par with your grafted
roses that you purchased as far as size, but it's going to be
last a lot longer. It's going to be healthier in
the long run. So it is a full production to be
taking tiny little node cuttingsand making little babies and
growing them out. It's about 18 months from the
time we first stick a plant to when it's shippable height.
(13:22):
We have a branching requirement and a height requirement before
we'll be able to ship any plants.
So yeah, it takes a while. So when we run out of a variety,
it's not like we can just be like, we'll make a new one and
have them back on the site next week.
It's, it's an 18 month wait. So we are planning really far in
advance. Like I'm already looking at
roses with our team for 2728. We have to plan that far in
(13:44):
advance so they have time to grow and flourish.
So that's some dedication to doing things the right way.
Heirloom Roses is also very dedicated to helping us succeed
with our roses, and that starts with being able to find the best
rose for us and not just what wewant in a rose, right?
Whether it's a climber or a Bushor what kind of fragrance it
(14:04):
has. But does it work for our area,
for our growing conditions? We have so many options in the
Rose world now. I think heirloom, we have over
1000 roses on our website. We have more than that on the
property. I wish we could do more.
We actually just run out of space.
We have filled every square inchof our nursery and there is no
more space to put another plant.And so, but I mean, there's so
(14:26):
many roses to choose from. So you, you can actually go on
our website and narrow down by how strong you want the
fragrance to be, how tall you want the plan to be, the color
you want it to be, and you'll get tons of selections.
So we now actually have a feature in the top corner of our
website or at the top left of your if you're on your iPhone,
where you can set your zone and it'll make recommendations and
say like this is not good for your zone.
(14:47):
We recommend this instead. So not only do they make it
super easy for us to get the right rows, they want to be sure
that it's healthy when we get itand that it stays that way.
And we also do testing on any plant that comes to our site.
We make sure that we do viral screening on all of them.
(15:09):
We're noticing in the in nurseryworld as a whole, there's a lot
of disease and things that are just sliding through and we
don't want to ever, ever, ever send out any plant that might
have some sort of disease or infection.
So we viral screen everything and there's been really gorgeous
rare plants that we've got on site and I've been so excited
(15:30):
about them. And then our plant health team
comes and says it's got 1 littleissue with it and we have to
burn it. And I'm like, no, but I mean,
that's what we have to do because we're so committed to
the healthy quality of our plants.
Not only do they screen for things we definitely don't want
in our roses, heirloom roses also helps us care about the
things that make them thrive. Yeah.
(15:52):
Well, you touched on a good point that you planted your rose
in the fall. And if I have to plant a rose, I
will always do it in the fall. I mean, you can plant anytime
really own root roses can be planted any time.
You can plant them in the spring.
You can plant them in July. As long as you water them
enough, you can plant them whenever.
But fall for me is like the sweet spot.
I'm in zone 8. That's a sweet spot for
planting. I recommend almost every zone
(16:15):
plant in the fall, but before your first frost, six weeks
before your first frost to let your roots get established
because then it gives that planta head start in the spring.
So that's why this next, this last season, you saw a lot of
good growth on that rose. This year's because it was
already established before winter hit and so it was able to
take off because we're choosing varieties that are really
(16:36):
disease resistant, really Hardy and strong.
You're not, they're not fussy. They're not like these, you
know, your grandma's hybrid teasthat were like crossbred and you
had to baby them and give them all these.
You know, I actually am really hard on my roses.
We recommend when you plant yourroses that you, you know, amend
the soil a little bit. You give it some fish fertilizer
(16:57):
the first year. I'm a big proponent of fish
fertilizer, but I've had roses where I brought them home from
the nursery just to test them and I literally dig a hole and
drop them in and I'm like, good luck to you.
And I mean I did that with a rose called my best friend and
it is killing it. I pay that rose no attention and
it's just like happy to be here.Prolific blooming and I rare.
(17:19):
I mean, I give it fish fertilizer, but I don't do a
whole lot. So roses, depending if you pick
the right rose for the right zone, they're going to be
successful. You can choose to ship your
plant up to 8 months past your order date.
So if you want to order a rose now and have it shipped in the
spring, that's doable. So order date and shipping dates
are two totally different thingswith us because we have that
(17:40):
flexibility. If you're going to be buying our
spring bulbs though, that we're selling in this fall, those all
ship automatically between October and December because you
can plant them, you know, up to a few weeks after the first
frost as long as the grounds notsolid.
So the bulbs ship differently, but the roses ship up to 8
months in advance. So you can just order whenever
(18:01):
you find that something reaches your fancy and then you can have
it delivered when your gardens ready.
But we do have a one year guarantee in our roses.
So should something happen, should you know you forget to
move the pot or if you have a terrible freeze, we stand behind
the product and so we will replace your rose for free
within the first year. So you can just call our
customer service. And they respond so fast.
(18:22):
I think like the other day they were telling me they're down to
like a 5 minute, 10 minute response time if you e-mail
them. So it's just an amazing team and
they get back to people so quickly.
All right, when we come back, I talked to Robin about one of the
things that freaks most gardeners out when it comes to
any perennial, but especially roses.
Pruning. It turns out I didn't need to be
(18:42):
that worried. And Robin reveals her favorites,
which is a pretty tough questionconsidering where she works.
That's up next. So I've had my rose Bush since
last fall, and I did just a little bit of pruning on it in
the spring, but I was still worried that I would cut off too
much or I'd do too little and somehow I would mess it up.
(19:04):
It turns out that I didn't have to worry so much.
You have to prune them, you know, once a year I hack them
down and I, I'm not stressful about it.
Like I'm not super meticulous. I just hack them.
We've had a couple videos on oursite about pruning.
So I think our top watch video is how to prune a climbing rose.
Now, climbing roses are different.
You have to prune those differently than a shrub rose.
(19:26):
But for my shrub roses, I mean, I guess I kind of fast because
I've done this for a while, but I just look for an outward
facing, you know, node a little bit and I just cut above it on a
slight angle and just go, go, go, go, go.
And so I can do a whole like massive 5 foot rose Bush in just
a couple of minutes because I'vekind of got the hang of it now.
(19:46):
But even if you just, I'm not recommending this, but even if
you just took like the top off and just cut straight across,
it's not going to harm the plant.
In the spring, you'll see a little bit of Deadwood or
something that above that node that's not going to grow and you
can just re prune that. But don't overthink it.
If it's a climber, you don't want to cut those main canes.
(20:08):
Climbers will send out these long main canes and you want to
trellis those horizontally to allow for vertical growth going
up. So we have a great video on
that. So I'm a little bit more careful
with my climbers because I want them to be like full.
I've got a fence that I'm training climbers on all the way
across. And so I just keep pulling
those. Tall main canes out to the side
(20:28):
and using our trellis ties to tie them up and then they go
upwards the next year. But for my shrubs, I'm taking
out the the dead anything dead I'm taking out that or any of
the branches that have you know expired have been past their
time. I take those out, I'm pruning
for shape if it's getting too close to this way.
I mean, I'm, I've got 1 climber that keeps trying to come
outwards instead of going along the fence.
(20:50):
So I just keep cutting those canes.
I'm like don't Nope, go the other way.
But they're roasts are really resilient.
So just make sure you've got clean pruners and that you clean
in between your plants. So if there happens to be any
disease in your garden, you're not spreading it.
And yeah, go. For it.
And then I put Robin on the spotabout which varieties are her
favorites or the ones that she would recommend.
(21:12):
Favorites of mine right now. Oh gosh, I'm always in love with
Cortez varieties. I just really appreciate those
Madame Anna set. I talk about her on almost every
podcast I'm on. She is about, I think I planted
her a few years ago and within the first growing season she was
(21:32):
about four foot tall. So she is like a beast of a
grower. Beautiful clusters of licorice
scented blooms. She's like a creamy white.
I just love her. She's super disease resistant.
Everything around her can have aphids.
She doesn't ever. She's great.
So that one I love William PJ McCarthy, which is A1 we just
introduced from Brad this year. It's a beautiful pink.
(21:55):
Even when they were only about like 06 inches tall in the pot,
they were blooming like they just wanted to bloom.
There is such a great rose and I'm actually surprised we still
have a couple in stock, but William PJ McCarthy is a really
great one from Brad. Caramel Kiss is another one we
introduce from Brad that's gorgeous.
Someone at work said it smelt like a strawberry Jolly Rancher.
(22:20):
So I like when we get, you know,we when we stretch outside of
the regular fragrance like terms, it's kind of fun.
There was we have another one coming down the line and I was
trying to ask everyone what doesthis smell like?
What does this smell like to you?
Because I like to get other people's opinions on it.
And we had a mix of people saying it smelled like a church
(22:40):
ladies perfume or a fruity IPA, but there's just so much variety
on our site. I just purchased, I guess my
latest rose purchase because I have a lot of them.
I purchased Francis Milan, so that's one.
It's a beautiful, I mean, if youhave never smelled that one, go
to a Rose Garden anywhere. I'm sure they'll have it.
It's a classic and it smells so great.
(23:03):
Amazing Grace. My garden will never be without
Amazing Grace. That probably is one of my top
favorites right now. I just cut 5 blooms.
I just tossed the bouquet earlier today.
I cut 5 blooms and it filled a hole of Oz and everyone in my
house could smell it even thoughit was just in the kitchen so I
mean that's a great one too. And as if I needed any more
(23:24):
convincing that I am going to become obsessed with collecting
rose varieties, heirloom roses went and made the care of them
even easier with their support team and all of their amendments
you. Can just go on our site, set
your zone. That's the most important thing
when you get on our website is set your zone and it'll help you
find roses that are perfect for your zone.
So just pick what you love and try it.
(23:46):
And if you have questions, contact our customer care team.
They're so responsive. You can take a picture of your
foliage if you're like, I don't know what this is and send it
in. And mint compost is probably our
best selling amendment. It's, it's so versatile it, you
know, it keeps the roots cool. It's a beautiful dark colour.
So it looks great. It smothers the weeds and it
repels aphids and other insects.So it's just a win, win.
(24:08):
I take a box home when I plant my roses and I always dump a
whole box around it. It's just great.
It smells good too. So mint compost is an amazing
option for keeping your roots cool and healthy and the plant
thriving. What else do we have that I love
our I use our fish fertilizer. We do have our own fish
fertilizer. It's called founders fish
fertilizer. I use that on all my brand new
(24:30):
one year plants and even beyond that I do it.
I have a lot of dahlias, so all my dahlias get fish fertilizer
every three weeks. I just dilute it in my watering
can and away I go and everythinggets fish.
My dog loves it. I have to keep him inside
because he follows me around when I use it.
But that is just a tremendous nitrogen and just health for the
plant. So I love using that.
(24:52):
And then I have our Boost in Bloom, which is a granular
fertilizer that we use for rosesthat are two years or older.
Don't use any granular fertilizer the first year on own
root roses. Their roots are just too fine
the first year. But they need that boost of
vitamins. That's why I use the fish
fertilizer. But boost and bloom is great for
years too and beyond. So I just sprinkle some of that
(25:12):
scratch into the soil and away we go.
So I thought I was afraid of roses too, when I first started
growing them, but they're probably one of my easiest
plants. They're probably one of my
easiest plants. And I have a lot of plants in my
backyard. But roses, they're just so Hardy
and resilient. And I water them twice a week.
And I do a deep water and if it's hot and I do a third, but
(25:33):
they don't require much. And it's just constant reward.
And we want people to be successful because it's kind of
like the world is hard right nowand things are tough and there's
a lot of solace and beauty in gardens and there's a lot of joy
in giving beauty. So roses are something you can
give away. You can cut them and give all
(25:54):
these bouquets away and they will just keep blooming over and
over again throughout the seasonunless you picked a once
bloomer. But it's exciting to be able to
be part of bringing joy back to the world and, and sharing
beauty. And that's what we're all about
is, you know, making this world beautiful. 1 rose a time.
(26:16):
Now you know why I. Wanted heirloom.
Roses as a sponsor this year, but also wanted to have someone
on the show to talk to all of usabout their company and their
roses and their commitment because they're just passionate
about all of it. I feel like it's rare sometimes
to interact with the company andthen make a purchase from them
(26:37):
and then really feel like they have your success as as a goal
for them. Like it goes beyond just, you
know, that e-mail. Hey, hope your purchase
experience went well. Let us know if you can do
anything you know for you and then getting nothing but sales
emails from then on out. Heirloom Roses really truly does
want to help us beautify our spaces with the best roses.
(27:01):
And I for 1:00 AM now hooked. Until next time, my gardening
friends, keep on cultivating that dream garden, and by all
means, add some roses and we'll talk again soon.
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