"Henry Hudson"

We have chosen to set out this group as separate from the Shrub Rose section because of the increasing significance of winter-hardy roses in the colder Provinces of Canada, from which we are receiving more and more requests for cold tolerant roses. These roses, generally of shrub form, will withstand long periods of below freezing temperatures with little or no die-back. Some are considered climbing roses, as they will re-grow canes which can reach eight feet or more in one season.

Both Rugosa and Canadian Explorer Roses are cold tolerant. They do particularly well as "own-root" roses because even if they freeze back in a very cold winter, they will come back from their roots as themselves, rather than as the alien [often unattractive] wild rose used as the root-stock beneath the graft. A Finnish rose, Polestjarnan (Polestar) is an extremely cold hardy climbing rose [see Ramblers section]. See also the Albas, Gallicas, and Species Roses, most of which are very cold hardy.