My Two Favorite Roses
My two favorite roses are blooming right now. ‘Cassie’ and ‘Sally Holmes’ are both shrub roses with fragrant white flowers. In our garden, they both keep their foliage disease free without sprays of any kind.
‘Cassie’ has small, semi-double flowers.
The flowers may be petite, but they are borne in great throngs, and ‘Cassie’ keeps pumping them out through almost the whole summer. At the same time, this is a very compact rose, growing no more than about 4′.
I’ve also noticed that ‘Cassie’s’ flowers attract lots of tiny pollinators.
While ‘Cassie’ is a bit of a pixie, ‘Sally Holmes’ is luscious. She also tolerates some shade.
I feel like I finally got the pruning right for this rose. Before this year it always seemed a bit misshapen.
The new birdhouse is a nice touch, don’t you think?
Planting ‘Sally Holmes near the big old Deutzia (Deutzia crenata ‘Plena’ – I think) also turns out to have been a good call.
The Deutzia’s frilly double flowers nicely complement the simple blooms of ‘Sally Holmes’.
I’m really not much of a rosarian, so when I say that these two roses are my favorites I really don’t have much basis for comparison. There are just two more roses in our garden: the rambler ‘Darlow’s Enigma’, and the wild Illinois Rose (Rosa setigera). Neither are in bloom at the moment.
Even so, while I may not know much about roses, I do know what I like.
gardeninacity 
These are so beautiful. Thank you for sharing, as always!!
You’re welcome!
Love those white blooms–so fresh and summery. Like you, I’m not much of a rose person, but sometimes, they’re just the right thing in the garden.
I don’t want any more roses, but I definitely want to keep the ones we’ve got.
These are gorgeous!!!
Amazing ❤👌
I like these two roses too, but of the two I think I prefer Sally Holmes. I grew her back east in my Massachusetts garden, where we lived for many years before we moved to Washington state. I prefer simple roses over doubles.
If I had to choose between the two, I’d also probably go with Sally.
I remember you are a fellow Sally Holmes fan. She is a real star and blooms all summer. long. I’ve never pruned mine, Do you cut her right back or just tidy her up?
I eliminate the narrowest stems and cut the larger stems back to about 3′. Now you have me wondering if I should bother.
Love the roses. Especially Sally Holmes. I am not great at growing them, but have had some luck with a few.
Both are quite pretty. I like the simplicity of the bloom. Such long blooming roses is a plus and fragrance is a must.
They are beauties! Especially little Cassie, who blooms all summer. Who could ask for anything more. Love that snappy bird house!
Thanks!
Very nice! Love the Deutzia/Sally Holmes combination is great. I saw Sally on sale at a local hardware store and almost brought her home. Fortunately the store is nearby so I can go back.
Everybody needs at least one Sally.
Sally and the duetzia are a perfect combo. Don’t you love it when planting ideas work out so well?!
It makes you feel that all is right with the world (even though it obviously isn’t).
I remember Cassie from last year; she’s a real star.
It’s good to know about the roses that bloom throughout the summer. The deutzia and Sally Holmes are a nice combination.
There are a number of nice long-blooming roses.
I’ve added Sally Holmes to my bucket list. I’ve been meaning to ask you if you label your plants or how do you track everything?
No labels. Inconsistently. Sometimes I go back in the blog archives.
‘Cassie’ is gorgeous–I will have to look for that one. Your ‘Sally’ looks wonderful with the Deutzia. White and green makes the most elegant pairing.
Agreed!
I grew up with a beautiful rose hedge that was a rose chafer magnet. You’re lucky they haven’t found you.
I’ve never seen a rose chafer, and I hope that doesn’t change.
Very pretty!
Thanks!
The Sally Holmes roses in amongst the bird house looks very cute..
I love them both, goodness Cassie is prolific!xxx
They are beautiful indeed – I only have a few roses in the garden but have no idea what they are. Unfortunately they all seem to bloom for a short time and then that’s it so I must get some longer bloomers into the new border.