Roses in Alaska: An Overview

Growing roses in Anchorage may sound intimidating, but it isn't. With no more effort than is required for most container plantings, your summer can be filled with roses.

Modern roses such as Hybrid Tea, Floribunda and Grandiflora roses, and the smaller miniature and patio roses, do well as container plants in Anchorage and are capable of providing color throughout the summer.

Tea roses are the kind people send on Valentines Day. They have long stems, large flowers, usually a single bloom or one with two or three side buds. Floribundas have clusters of flowers that are smaller that individually are smaller than hybrid teas. Grandiflora have clusters on a bush that is often larger and taller than a floribunda or a hybrid tea.

Unfortunately, most of those roses are too tender to survive the winter outdoors. As a matter of convenience, many people grow them as annuals, discarding the bushes in the fall and buying new ones each spring.

There are, however, ways to save them from year to year. When semi-dormant, the tender roses often can be wintered successfully in a cool, dark crawl space, a garage or a basement. Some gardeners winter their roses as houseplants in a southern window. Others take advantage of local nurseries and have their roses wintered in a greenhouse.

Another option is to grow roses that are hardy to Alaska. Various Old Garden roses and modern shrub roses do well in Alaska climates, which vary from zones 1 in Interior and northern Alaska to zones 3 and 4 in southern maritime climates from Kodiak to Ketchikan. 

The hardy Old Garden roses are predominantly species roses and their hybrids. The most well known in Anchorage are the rugosa roses, also known locally as Sitka roses.

An increased interest in old-fashioned roses is reflected in modern shrub roses being developed by hybridizers around the world. Those with the most promising hardiness include the Modern and Explorer series from Canada and some of the Kordes roses from Germany.

When buying a hardy rose, be sure it's on its own roots, rather than grafted onto other rootstock. During a severe winter, winter kill of a hardy rose is often caused by the failure of the more tender rootstock. If the rose is on its own roots, it's more likely to survive.

© 2002, Alaska Rose Society, All Rights Reserved.
This article was originally published in the Anchorage Daily News, May 31, 2002.

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Last modified: February 02, 2003