Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, just in time to buy your sweetheart a rose bush!  February is a good time to plant both bare root and container grown roses so they can establish their roots before spring and summer.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension identified four varieties of roses as Texas Superstars: Belinda’s Dream Rose, Knock Out Roses, Grandma’s Yellow Rose, and Marie Daly Rose. Texas Superstar designated plants have been grown throughout the state and proven to be good performers in the diverse regions of Texas.

Marie Daly Rose was developed for Texas as a new color of the famous antique rose “Marie Pavie.”  This rose variety has good disease resistance and is tolerant of alkaline soils like we have in Williamson County.  This is a shrub rose that grows to three feet wide and three feet tall with fragrant, double pink blooms.  It blooms from spring to frost in the fall, so this is a lovely rose to keep your Valentine happy for many months.

Grandma’s Yellow Rose is a large rose bush with deep yellow roses.  It blooms from spring until the first hard frost.  The roses have 17-25 petals and a light fragrance, making them a great choice for cut flowers.  This rose variety grows to four or five feel tall and three feet wide and can be used as a low hedge or border.  It likes slightly acidic soil best, but it can adapt to alkaline soil with good drainage.

Knock Out Rose is a hardy, double-blooming rose that has become very popular for its bright pink blooms.  It also blooms from spring to frost, and it get four feet tall and three feet wide.  Use a soaker hose or drip irrigation for watering and enjoy an easy-care rose.

Belinda’s Dream Rose is the first to be named a Texas Superstar and receive the Earth-Kind designation.  This is another large shrub with very large, fragrant pink double blossoms.  Belinda’s Dream has successive flushes of blooms from spring to frost, and it is disease resistant and does well in highly alkaline soils.

This year for Valentine’s Day, skip the chocolates and buy your Valentine a gift that will bloom year after year.  Or maybe buy both so you stay out of trouble on Valentine’s Day!

For more lawn and garden information, contact Kate Whitney, Horticulture Extension Agent at the Williamson County AgriLife Extension Office, at 512-943-3300.