22,795 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

I didn't intend for this, but I've observed that the local squirrels seem to not like the feel of the coffee grounds I've been spreading in the garden beds. My little front yard garden used to have squirrels and various birds eating the leftovers I'd toss there from my Amazon parrot. While I keep seeing the birds feeding, the squirrels never touch ground there, as far as I've seen. Even tossing out some whole almonds failed to entice them to walk across the coffee grounds. Of course, your results may not be the same, but for those who have "squirrel issues" in their beds, it's worth a try. And even if you don't, collecting used coffee grounds from Starbucks or other neighborhood coffee joints helps decrease what goes into the landfill. And besides that, it's a really great, nutrient-rich, FREE soil amendment that will cause your earthworm population to explode.
:-)
~Christopher

It sounds like deer. You need to spray Liquid fence every week for 5 weeks, then you can cut down to every 2 weeks, then once a month. I just sprayed liquid fence tonight, rabbit ate some of my newly planted roses. Liquid fence is not cheap, $30 a bottle. It's easier for me just catch the rabbit. Just set up a live trap with lettuce! Can you hunt deer in your yard? Check out this thread, it might help you. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3042886/deer-repellant-that-worked-100


I like the tradition of growing roses in cemetaries. Out here (in LA; and maybe everywhere?), in the newer ones at least, nowadays they mow them every week, so even the bouquets get tossed once a week. It's understandable, I guess. Not so poetic perhaps.
There are a few trees allowed though.



Few of my roses get routinely fed every year, and I have quite a few of the closely spaced HTs that get pruned to the ground every spring that Michael mentions. I'm basically a lazy gardener, and while I have the intent of fertilizing my (now nearly) 1000 roses, by June I'm just too ready to sit back and enjoy the roses without a lot of work. What I definitely AM diligent about, though, is feeding the soil everywhere in the yard. I keep a layer about 3" thick of leaves on the beds all the time, which adds texture if not exactly a ton of nitrogen to the soil. I also distribute alfalfa hay around the rose beds once a year for a shot of nitrogen, but I'm not 100% systematic about even that. If I'm really diligent, I'll throw some 10-10-10 fertilizer and Ironite around the well-established roses once a year, but that maybe only happens every two years.
I do water once a week if it gets dry in August, though heaven help us I'd like to "un-water" the yard this spring (wettest May ever in recorded history here). I can get by without the fertilizing because I have good loamy soil that retains nutrients, and the newly planted roses are always supplemented with a handful or so of manure, compost, and alfalfa, so some of that probably supports the surrounding established roses everywhere. As others have mentioned, this all changes with sandy soils or very dry climates.
By all means, if the roses you have bloom well without feeding, it's not a necessity, but the usual rule of thumb for most roses is they'll bloom better if we add some nitrogen to them periodically during heavy bloom seasons. In many places, they'll also bloom fine without it just not perhaps as much, it all depends. In my world, the fewer "have-to" things I keep about my roses, the more fun they are. I "have to" get them planted, keep them watered and mulched, and cut out dead and diseased canes. Anything else is gravy for me.
Cynthia

You can probably get away with benign neglect in a place that gets regular rain but in arid places that's not going to work. Yes, there are roses growing all over the world in abandoned plots for centuries with no care but unless those types of roses are what you grow you're going to have to give them some minimal care at least. I think you'll find that with a little bit of watering and fertilizing your roses will bloom and grow even better!


What growing zone and state you in Gretchen Weaver? Thanks
Can you post clear pics of your problem?
Have you had a lot of rain recently?
Soil to dry?
Was anything sprayed on your rose leaves lately?
Anyone spray weed killer recently that may of drifted?

Thanks Beth, I had Pink Gruss but had to shovel prune. Couldn't keep her clean when I went no spray. At one time I had a good 600 roses but I wasn't getting any younger. RRD or the shovel for disease took out most of those. Lost some due to Dr. Huey root stock which won't grow for me. This rose and Rosarie d'hay are the last 2 left from the early days.
Much appreciated guess ozmelodye, but not a flower carpet. I have the flower carpet series.

I'm nearly positive it is a polyantha. At one time I had many of them, The flower is semi double but many singles at the end of the year, No sent, shiny foliage a mix of larger leaves and small. The color is variable from this lighter pink to much darker but always has some cream in the center. The flower matches La Marne perfectly but I'm not seeing any smaller leaves mixed in with the larger leaves on help me find. She grows up but very full so that you can not see the ground underneath.

Hi everyone! New to this forum but everyone seems so knowledgeable. Feel free to chime in on this one. Welltraveled-I am in zone 5 mid mich also and am trying to grow the eden rose for the first time. It's my first rose so all of this is new to me. Do you do anything to help it winter? Cover or mulch over? Haven't planted it yet, debating on a spot. Does it spread out much and how much climbing do you get?

There is a Pink Eden Climber just being introduced, and a thread recently discussed it with the man who discovered Pink Eden (patent name is Margaret Mae, or something similar; named for his mother). I don't think he hybridized this rose, so it may have been a sport. It's on HMF with a few recent photos. It's being sold by Meilland, and they are starting European sales and on to Japan, I guess. Diane


Easy elegance Roses are great. I have Centennial which is a bit hard to find. All of their roses are own root and have a two year guarantee. The Centennial Rose went through this brutal New England winter with literally no damage, even under five feet of heavy snow and cold temps and over wintered in a pot sunk in the ground. It has a ton of buds already and the flowers are gorgeous. The only drawback is lack of scent. I bought several different bands from Northland Rosarium who seemed to have the best variety. Macy's Pride is another which gets rave reviews as do others in the line bred by Pim Limg. I purchased Music Box, Sweet Fragrance, Champagne Wishes and others from NR, they were adequate size for bands and very healthy. These are breeder photos of Sweet Fragrance and Centennial Rose.


Sharon











Diane's JC roses are something to behold, they're gorgeous!
Disease resistant but I gave Sunsprite away as the blooms blew quickly. For me JC and Midas Touch are better roses.