Rose collector says key to blooms is picking right site

FREEDOM TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A rose has to be pretty tough to make it in Peter Schneider's garden.

Schneider doesn't coddle the 1,200 or so varieties of roses he and his wife, Susan, grow on their eight-acre property in rural Portage County, Ohio. Except for a few special plants, he does nothing to protect them from the harshness of winter. He avoids spraying unless a disease is rampant. He doesn't even give the majority of them any water beyond what nature provides.

"What happens, happens," he said with shrug.

As a result, Schneider is assured the roses that thrive with reasonable care are well-suited to their conditions. That's valuable information to the readers of his books and the articles he writes in magazines such as Horticulture and Garden Style.

Schneider, a widely known rose collector, is awaiting the release of his third book, "Right Rose, Right Place" (Storey Publishing, $29.95). It's expected to be available in the coming weeks.

The book makes the case that roses aren't difficult to grow, as long as they're matched to the conditions.

Peter Schneider, 49, caught rose fever back in 1978 when he bought a Double Delight plant, a striking red-and-white variety that was then newly available. He'd always liked growing things, he said, but this was his first experience with a rose.

He was smitten. "I went out and bought some more, and I bought some more," he said.

Roses even led him to his wife, his biggest rose-show competition back in the 1980s.

"If she didn't win at the show, I won at the show," he recalled with a smile.

When the two married 16 years ago and bought what was then a five-acre property, they combined their collections. He brought 500 roses from his previous home; she contributed another 350. He remembers that their wheelbarrow could fit seven 5-gallon pots, and they'd plant five wheelbarrow loads a day.

They've since added three acres purchased from a neighbor, which means more room for more roses.

The plants dominate the Schneiders' time during the growing season, but for them, it's a passion. Although they don't compete much in rose shows anymore, they participate in judging. And besides writing about roses, Peter Schneider is also partly responsible for the Combined Rose List, an annual rose directory he compiles and edits with Beverly R. Dobson.