VERY interesting!

I think it sounds like you did a fantastic job rescuing these poor roses and that they'll thrive nicely under your care. The leaves look rather chewed by some rose slugs and a bit stressed in general, but I think your new growth should come in nicely. You're right to keep these in partial shade and just focus on keeping them adequately watered for the time being. Don't fuss over them too much and keep the fertilizer modest if at all - no more than "weakly weekly" with the mixture you describe. You want the plants to focus on growing their roots rather than too much top foliage.

I wouldn't even consider pruning them at all this year. At 1-2 feet high, these are babies in your zone, and they need all the cane they have to grow new leaves to support further development of the plant. Given their histories, it's unlikely that you're nurturing some forgotten Dr. Huey plants, and they certainly don't have that look so far. Others will chime in with advice that are closer to your zone, but you've given them a great chance at a new start and we want to see pictures as they mature!

Cynthia

Congratulations! A new "mystery" with the potential of exciting discoveries...we hope! You did what they most likely needed. Keeping them in filtered light until they begin showing you they're resurrecting is a good idea. Just keep them well watered and when they begin sprouting, gradually harden them off, moving them into stronger light as you would newly propagated cuttings. Once they seem to need more room, repot into larger pots. Your instincts are good. Just follow them! Kim

Cynthia, thanks so much for your advice. I figure that whoever these plants are, they have a strong will to live, and I do like that in a plant!

My instinct was just to keep them watered and get them a bit more sun than they've had, so they can recuperate and grow. I just wanted to be sure there wasn't a good case for cutting them back now.

I do like using the Sea-hume on my rescue plants (and I've got quite a few, just not roses until now), because it seems to help stressed plants without jolting them into production mode like fertilizers will.

Hopefully, they've seen the last of those slugs and spider mites but I will keep a watchful eye out.

The other two plants are in better shape, and have smaller, rather charming leaves. So I know they can't all be Dr Huey (but I wouldn't really mind if they were- I kinda like Dr H).

Thanks again,
Virginia

jerijen, you may be sure that I will be seeking ID's for these foundlings as soon as there is something besides ratty leaves to look at.

I know you have some experience with unraveling that sort of mystery, and I hope to get your help with at least figuring out what class(es) they belong to, even if I can't ever get a positive ID on the variety...

Thanks,
Virginia

Thanks, Kim. I don't mind a little mystery when it comes to plants; it's fun to figure out what you've got, but it's also fun to speculate about what you might have...

The roots seem fine, but I didn't expect that the plants would need larger pots just yet, and they didn't.

I'm glad you said to wait until they started putting out new growth before giving them more sun, since I wasn't sure how long to wait before increasing the sun exposure.

It's funny that you mentioned cuttings, since I also just potted my first rooted rose cuttings ('Lady Banks' alba and lutea). Very exciting!

Thanks again,
Virginia

Just a quick update- there were more roses under that pine tree than I had originally thought. I ended up bringing eight more plants (in addition to the first two) to repot. One I discarded once I saw what was going on at the root level, but I'm now the proud owner of 9 rescue roses.

One of the two roses that really looked okay (clearly shade-tolerant, and everything-tolerant) had an unexpectedly large root system, so it actually got moved to a bigger pot- the others are all in 1-g pots. My guess is that the two best-looking plants are the same variety- the leaves are quite similar.

I was excited to see just a tiny little bit of new, reddish growth near the base of one of the plants I re-potted last week. Very encouraging...

The first of the rescue roses has bloomed today- it has a small and charming orangey pink bloom, and I'm wondering if anyone here can offer some thoughts about what type of rose- or even what variety of rose- I may have here.

Here are some photos:

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Early leafage- the first two photos were taken mid-July...

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Here is a shot of the whole plant in a 1-g pot- it is still this shape, only with more foliage at the top and at the bottom, and none in between...

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I learn that rose buds can have leafy sepals...

{{gwi:292874}}

Flower earlier today- it was overcast today, but this was taken in fairly decent light, and is a close approximation of the actual color.

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The flower a bit further along today...

{{gwi:292876}}

The flower early this evening- the lighting was a bit dark for the last two photos, and makes the color look a bit bluer than it actually is- really I'd call it salmon pink or coral pink... Maybe it's a Pernetiana!!!

Thanks for taking the time to look at the photos, and for any advice about a possible ID.

Virginia

You might post the story, location and photos to Bill at Roses Unlimited in Laurens, SC. He and Pat probably the greatest authority in the area.

On a plant that immature the bloom may make some changes in form and petal count as it gets bigger and older. So what we may suggest today may not be what it really is in the end. Let it mature some more before you start enquiring into it's identity

Thanks, seil, I'm not actually looking for an ID so much as an idea of what type of rose this is.

I'm thinking it looks like a Tea, but don't have much experience with distinguishing between rose classes. Or do you think it's too immature for even that much info?

Virginia

Thanks, catsrose- I have quite a few roses I'll be wanting to ID, so I don't want to pester the good folks at RU. I'll probably seek their help with ID confirmation of a couple of mature plants that I think I may have figured out, though.

I'd like to figure out something about what types of roses these are since that will help me make some decisions about care and planting. Is this a climber, a miniature, a shrub, etc.?

Of course, If someone posted a positive ID, I'd be pretty pleased, but as seil points out, immature flowers don't always resemble later blooms, so I'm not expecting help with the variety, but it would be helpful if someone could say that's definitely a China, or definitely not a China since I'm still trying to figure that stuff out...

The good news is that this morning I finally saw some new growth on the last of the nine roses I brought home. So they're all leafing out now, and that's given this newbie some confidence that I can maybe do this rose-growing thing...

Thanks,
Virginia

This post was edited by vmr423 on Mon, Aug 4, 14 at 17:12

That's the lovely thing about roses, Virginia, given half a chance, they WILL grow. When you get right down to it, it's actually rather difficult to KILL a rose. It pretty much takes something really ignorant done to them, extreme conditions or extreme inattention. Otherwise, they are perfectly equipped with all they need to make efficient use of the barest of necessities. Kim

Kim, I didn't grow up with a gardening background, so now that I finally have the time, space and plants to try to cobble together some sort of garden, I often feel a bit like an imposter- finally doing what almost seemed impossibly arcane when I was younger.

Then I just try to focus my thoughts on the very basic idea that all plants- even those supposedly finicky roses- want to thrive, and they already know how to do that. All I need to do is provide them with some good dirt, adequate water and access to sunlight.

Virginia

Then you've definitely chosen the right plants to begin learning with! You're definitely NOT an imposter! Just because you may not have been exposed to gardening, or had the time/desire to garden earlier doesn't mean you can't or aren't going to become an intuitive success now. Imposters are those who permit others to do the work for them, producing beautiful results, then accept the credit for the efforts. You've already proven you aren't one of those! Kim

Thanks for your kind reassurances. I guess what I meant when I said I sometimes feel like an imposter is that I don't really have gardening "credentials"- whatever those may be. And so whatever success I've had has just been down to luck.

I've always wanted to grow plants, but somehow picked up the notion that it's an intimidatingly difficult thing to do, and you need to have lots of experience and chemicals to do a decent job of it.

I'm trying to rid myself of that mindset, because it conflicts with my intuition (increasingly a conviction) that gardening is nothing more than helping plants get access to their basic needs, and then paying attention to any signals they send out that they need more or less of whatever I'm providing. (Plus weeding, improving the dirt and squishing bugs.)

Having said that, though, I am pretty lucky to have good dirt, a warm climate, and plenty of rain. And to have found a local gardening mentor who is providing me with plants and showing me how to do things like taking cuttings, etc.

And I'm also pretty lucky to have found these gardening forums where I can get good info from gardeners with a lot more experience than I have if I have questions or need advice.

Thanks again,
Virginia