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| I am asking this as a general question, I have some roses that make nice full bushes and I have some that tend to get leggy. I know that some roses have tendencies regarding this etc, however I am speaking more in the context of my roses vs. the same roses in other areas. 1 big example off the top of my head are how other people have gotten both Julia Child to take on this full bushy look as opposed to being leggy. Is it being more regular with watering or fertilizing regimen type of thing? My roses all get full sun. My JC is 3 years old, and flowers its head off, but doesn't really get a full bushy look to it. I have some other roses that I am surprised don't get more of a bushy growth pattern to them. They all seem to bloom well and for long times, but they just don't have that bushyness that I have seen others get. BTW, live in zone 9 Galveston Texas on the upper texas gulf coast. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Any chances of posting some clear shots of the plant? That might help. Also, is the plant against a wall or fence, or fronted by a patio, side walk or other handscape? "Leggy" impresses me as insufficient sun, but you state yours receives full sun. I've found Julia likes being generally shaped, like you would shape a green landscape bush, instead of being "pruned" as one might a hybrid tea. The way it grows, you're going to have lots of "dog legs" as it doesn't throw the long canes topped by flowers like a hybrid tea does. It doesn't even put out growth like a traditional floribunda. Mine are all "bushy" because I don't "prune" them, but just shape them so they are rounded. They flower all over their surfaces. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Julia Child after being simply
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| How often do you prune your roses? Some Southern folk prune twice a year; perhaps an August trim is in order for your roses. |
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| Mine has a nice bushy shape to it. I don't do anything special with it. It gets pruned in the spring but I don't cut all my roses way back like some do. I just take off dead wood and prune for shape. I'm a little worried about this spring though. I have a feeling, with this arctic cold weather we've had for weeks now, I'm going to have to cut most everything to the ground come April. We'll see how they come back from that! |
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| My JC is bushiest if I give it a fairly hard prune (at least 1/2) every winter and take it down 8-12" after every flush. A light cut results in a relatively lanky silhouette not nearly as attractive as when it is cut low. |
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| The only pic I have of it with me is from shortly after I transplanted it back in May of 12. It is about the same shape, but bigger, but it hasn't gotten bushy. Leggy maybe isn't the right word, but Seils rose is what I am trying to get. It is an own root rose from the Antique Rose imporium, so maybe it is just growing slower. I was just wondering if being better about my fert regimne would help, as in the past I have hit it with MG Liqui feed occassionally but not as often as I should. I will be going by a much better regimen of fertilizing from the Houston Rose Society this year. |
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| If that's an small, own root plant, you don't have any issues other than it is still immature. I'd bet if you pinch off the flowers to encourage that energy to go into plant creation, you'll have the results you want faster. What you're seeing is what happens with many which prefer to flower at the expense of growth. You may choose to accept its doing its own thing until it develops into the plant you expect, or you can encourage it to generate that bushy mass faster by not letting it flower until it more closely approximates what you expect. Either way, it'll get there. Preventing it from flowering should simply get it there faster. Kim |
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- Posted by dan_keil_cr Illinois z5 (dankeil_1@yahoo.com) on Thu, Jan 23, 14 at 20:55
| The way the weather has been around here the only place that I will cut is right at the base of the plant! I have to cut my back every year to the ground. Mine get pruned 3-4 times a year because I'm always cutting for a Show. The only rest they get is in July and August. |
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