Rose of the Month

By Bill Belknap,

I honestly do not remember how I happened upon this rose. It is a Weeks Rose introduction and the writeup on it implied it was an excellent rose. I purchased two one year when our society ordered a number of roses from Weeks. It was an own-root rose and I had just started my change to purchase only own-root roses. The color seemed really nice and I did not have a climber. (Nor did I have a place to put them, but they looked so beautiful in the catalog and I was sure a space would turn up sooner or later.) To say it has done well is an understatement.

Fourth of July was hybridized by Tom Carruth with Week's Roses; it is a cross of Roller Coaster and Altissimo. It wasintroduced in 1999 and was given the AARS award that year; it has a light, fresh cut apple and sweet rose sent. The blossom is unusual since, at least for me, is a red rose with “bright white” streaks to varying degrees as shown in the photos. It is a very striking blossom with 10-15 petals, semi-double and blooms in clusters. Be ready for a fairly large climber as it will easily reach 12 to 14 feet. In my yard canes are a maximum of about ten feet primarily because it is not on an arbor and properly supported. From Week's Roses website:

"An explosion of eye-popping color for the landscape is just the beginning of the festivities ahead from this fragrant new Climber. You'll get a bang out of the big sprays of large long-lasting blossoms. And the fireworks just seem to keep coming because it blooms and reblooms readily in the very first season. Sparkling green foliage, superb vigor and good hardiness complete the spectacle. The first Climber to take the coveted AARS award in 23 years, making it to the top through an unprecedented expanded 3-year trial period.”

"I planted Fourth of July just this last March (1999) from a potted up specimen at my favorite nursery. In only four months this rose is now 8 feet tall and extremely vigorous, with abundant beautiful blooms and disease resistance. This is the very best rose in my garden to date and it's not even mature yet. The bloom and colors are outstanding, lasting blooms and wonderful fragrance. I can't think of one negative thing about it."Kay Stanley, Slidell, LA.

Below is a photo of one of my two Fourth of July roses. I initially heeled them into my vegetable garden and after a few years cut them back severely and transplanted them to a new bed near my neighbors fence. It and a few blueberry bushes replaced some cannas a few of which can be seen in the photo. I planted them in this location about two years ago. They did fine the first couple of years just putting on a little growth. However, I only fertilize with Purely Organic in the spring and provide only a little watering – less than five times during the growing season. They get mulched with compost and wood chips ground to a course consistency. I had planned that this year I would definitely put in a small arbor to link the two roses using 4x4 posts and rerod, but up to that time they had not done that well and I did not get around to doing it. Very bad idea. I watered even less this year and the roses have still put on phenomenal growth especially one of them. They now need deadheading and a fair amount of pruning. The foliage is a nice fairly deep green and as you can see very little blackspot. I have been fairly good this year about spraying as it is susceptible to blackspot in our area, but as you can see, it does respond well to spraying. I have been using Bayer's Disease Control for Roses, Flowers & Shrubs and Mancozeb or Manzate in powdered form combining them as a single spray. Bloom is fairly continuous throughout the year.

I really like the bloom and only regret that it is not located with a better view from inside the house. The blossoms vary quite a bit which gives the rose a really special showing. It certainly deserves it's name. If you need a really beautiful, primarily red climber, and don't mind spraying, I highly recommend you try Fourth of July; you will not be disappointed.