Ayrshire Splendens

[Foghorn]

Just how hardy is this rose? I do not need another rose to tip in my bloody cold zone 5a. It looks quite beautiful.

I would appreciate any comments from those who have had experience growing this rose.

Thanks!

[hannes]

Hi Foghorn,
I grow 'Ayrshire Splendens' and I think it's a very hardy rose. We don't use your zone system and my climate would equal perhaps USDA 6b but if you have a look at the HMF website, it is grown in gardens in Idaho and Brooklyn, in BC/Canada (the oldrosarian grows it on Vancouver Island), in Sweden and Norway. And the ARS encyclopaedia of Roses classifies it as zone 5.

It's an excellent rambler in my opinion, an old hybrid of rosa arvensis, flowers are semi-double and of medium size, pale pink and later fade to white with just a little pink at the petal edges. The blooms are borne in small clusters and come in great quantities. 'Ayrshire Splendens' sometimes is a little susceptible to mildew though, otherwise it is an outstanding rose. You have to be careful where you plant it, it is very, very vigorous once the plant is established.

Here are two photos from last year (the small white flowers on the top photo are from 'Gruss an Zabern'):







greetings
Hannes

[rosarom]

Hannes, that is a great rose,so many blooms,excellent,I will put it on my wish list.So many roses I didn't know about,all so beautifull!

[hannes]

... forgot to mention that 'Ayrshire Splendens' has lovely orange (and quite large) hips in autumn. Also keeps much of the foliage over winter.

@ rosarom: Glad you like the photos, Corina. This is one of the great things with the once-flowering ramblers, there's only one flush but an abundance of blooms ...

I have 'Ayrshire Splendens' on a 4m/13ft. high obelisk and prune it hard every year to keep it in check. I know of a plant in Germany that covers part of the roof of a house and is easily more than 10m/33ft high.

I have mentioned above that the oldrosarian grows this rambler, she has a beautiful photo on her website: CLICK HERE.

Hannes

[the oldrosarian]

Aryshire Splendens is very hard to kill. In my attending to the roses, I have smashed, bashed and stepped on Aryshire's canes mutilating them to the base, and still it comes back. Mine is planted in poor, lousy soil, right in the teeth of gale force winds off the sea. And still it survives. My advice to you if you wanted to keep it down to size, is to prune out all the very thin, frail canes from the base and only encourage the thicker ones. It doesn't get very thick canes but they are pliable and you can wind them around anything. Oh did I mention it has tiny, hooked thorns that do an excellent job of shredding your skin.

[KiwiRose]

Hannes,
That is a fabulous-looking rose, and oh, how leafy and healthy! I am hoping that one day my roses will start looking this good :)

Rachel

[Foghorn]

Wow! That is beautiful indeed. Now for a spot other than the wish list.

Thanks everyone!

Foghorn

[Camilla]

I am now shure after looking at that rose for a while, I just have too get that beauty in my garden. :D
Lovely photo. I especially liked the oldrosarians coment on it. excelent. :lol:

Camilla