Don't grow Iceberg - ugh!!!

During my recent visit down south I grew to HATE Iceberg standards. They often detracted from an old historic house with their drunken antics. Then there were the ones that looked like a row of soldiers all standing to attention.

Worst of all were the Icebergs that looked like the owner of the house had just finished the mopping and had placed several mops (namely standard Icebergs) up against the outside wall of their home.

Then there were the funeral homes with their Icebergs either looking rather tipsy or very formal. I don't mind the bushes but not standards.

Other people had placed their Iceberg standards along a narrow pathway meaning that their visitors would need to stand to attention, arms by their sides to get to the front door!
What do you think?

LOL



One of the funeral places here has some lovely standards out in their front yard. There's one or two I wouldn't mind knowing what they are....

I got Iceberg as a freebie. It's sitting in a pot (blooming) while I try to figure out what to do with it!!

Bonita, you nailed it, I know just what you mean. So many Icebergs in gardens around here and yep, just about all are standards. I know they flower well and invariably look green and healthy, but anyone could be led to think this is the ONLY rose on the planet. No perfume, no personality, no charm IMO. I admit I have seen some lovely ones surrounded by box hedges and greenery, but as the say familiarity breeds contempt.

Autumn, maybe you could sneak into that funeral home garden and do a quick switcheroo. Lol

Well for me, personally I can't warm to any standards, we only have one, and that's only to keep the boss happy. I have roses for their magnificent blooms, so why have a rose where 4 foot of the plant is useless. imo

A well-to-do couple down the road has a "groundsman" to tend their manicured property. Their landscape is a mix of fashionable prairie style and snooty country club. It's not bad at all, really, and I envy them their drifts and mounds. But it gives me a green-eyed laugh to see their gardener oh-carefully spraying and trimming and grooming a bogan row of Iceberg standards.

But I;ll make a confession here: some of the most charmingt, most natural and engaging climbers I'veseen around the village are, yes, Cl Icebrgs.

I would rather die than plant a Iceberg , being a fragrance only person , can't see the point , but i can see that as a climber they would be good . I think that in suburban gardens standards have a place and i like them , you can underplant and it gives the garden something different to look at . Bonita , lol i had to laugh when you say about planting standards along a narrow strip ,as you come to the front door, cause thats what i'm doing next year , in my search for more available rose space , i demolished a bed which had hedge Camellias in it and plan to plant three of my favourite roses ,cant' fit any more cause it gets a bit of shade but they will be surrounded by lavenders and ground covers ,and they will be fragrant ....lol ...

Won't be long before Icebergs are declared a noxious weed in Tasmania.

When we were down there a few years back they were everywhere.

Someone said it: familiarity breeds contempt. The only problem with Iceberg, it's too much like Collingwood football club, too successful. So, everybody hates it, proven to be the best rose in the world, and still so.
Not a Floribunda if you perceive the breeding, but a Hybrid Musk, ininflorescence and health, and it does have fragrance. While Rosa 'Virgo' may not, Hybrid Musks do.
I'm very surprised Bonita, though I mistake your intention, it's perhaps only as standards that you decry them. I can agree that the combination of a great rose and the efforts of retailers to maximixe profits sees this humble rose elevated on 4' standards (I did myself), and to the ridiculous extreme of 6'.
Perhaps we can solve Bonita's narrow path problem with those?

Laurie, just as thought which has come to Carole's(wife) thoughts as it grows so well, how would it perform as a rootstock.

NewLozza , you are probably right , they are everywhere and thats the problem , although i do like the pink and burgundy ones better than the white . My son has decreed that he wants to plant a white Iceberg , and all my suggesting and getting him to smell my roses hasn't changed his mind , nothing will do but a white Iceberg , don't understand it , but there you go , he doesn't live at home thank heavens lol ....

Maree, what is his background, he must have missed something, poor boy.

One word sums it up Roseman , he's a " Gamer " , gorgeous young fella though , i can only think , on one of his X Box games , there must have been a white Iceberg , theres no other explanation lol !!!

Look at it this way, maree. How many cool young guys want to plant ANY roses at ALL?

You are on the money there Betsy

I know Betsy , fair dinckum you could have knocked me over with a feather when he said that , still can't get over it and he keeps reminding me lol , keep showing him PJP11 , but nope its got to be a blinking Iceberg ha ha !!!

betsyw wrote: How many cool young guys want to plant ANY roses at ALL?

Do I fit the bill, betsy...

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Ok everyone on the forum, we need to take a vote and try and work out which one is John.

woof.......woof....

You not only fit the bill, Neptune, you are the mythic archetype

Maree, How many pink or burgundy icebergs have you ever seen floating around. Clearly logical thinking by the young fella.

I used to have two Burgundy Iceberg bushes but I rashly traded one for a fishing lure for my husband as the lure maker's wife wanted BI and she had been told she had "enough roses already". Anyone else out there heard that comment before?

Neptune , that is so funny , brilliant , ha ha , just what are you looking at though and what have you planted , funniest looking Iceberg i've seen lol !! Bonita yes that phrase does sound familiar , but who's the boss of this garden " me " , no rolling of the eyes phases me lol ....

Lots of men have moveable eyeballs it seems to me. We keep ém hopping!

Look how subservient John is. His wedding ring tells a story here. Looks like he receives spades.

Bonita18 wrote:Lots of men have moveable eyeballs it seems to me. We keep ém hopping!

Look how subservient John is. His wedding ring tells a story here. Looks like he receives spades.

Just one experience groveler here...happy wife...happy life......

He's a wise man. Also, the presence of the rose bushes ensures he has "roses for all occasions" ....