21,400 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

Here in the fair city of Lawrence, KS, I would say that Dr. Huey is the second most common rose to be found, and second only because of the large numbers of Knockout roses planted around various parking lots. And yet, of course, no one ever actually bought a rose labeled Dr. Huey. Why people persist in selling roses grafted onto this monster is beyond me. This is why I am such a fanatic about own-root roses.

You have to follow the canes down and dig down to where they originate at the roots. Do not just cut them off. That only seems to encourage the Doctor to grow more. You want to rip off the canes at the roots so that you cause some cell damage and the canes will not grow back...at that point anyway.
Doctor Huey was chosen as a root stock for precisely this reason. It's VERY VIGOROUS! With it's strong desire to grow it pushes other varieties that are grafted to it to grow that much faster. Rose producers can get bigger plants to market faster and make more money. The less time and money a grower has to spend raising plants for sale the more they can make on them. Simple as that.
Up here in the North Country we don't have as much problem with DH showing up. I only have him come up when I've neglected to take out an already dead grafted rose. Even then it's pretty rare because it's usually because the whole thing, roots and all, froze to death over winter.

Maybe it depends on what you buy. I got Red Ribbons ground cover roses from them 2 years ago & I couldn't be happier with them! They've grown, spread & bloomed like crazy. They grew so well I had to transplant 6 to give them room. I moved them in the heat of July & they were fine. They got no winter protection in zone 5b, & have already leafed out with lots of buds.
I don't know anything about them except for this experience.

I have a few David Austin roses; someone recommended Queen of Sweden and I agree its Blackspot resistant. I have in my yard growing Tamora, a small apricot colored rose; Molineux, a lovely medium height golden yellow rose (my favorite) and Alnwick Castle, now renamed The Alnwick Rose, a medium pink rose with medium height. and finally Pat Austin a medium height orange/coppery colored rose. Most of the DA roses in the US are not BS resistant so buyer beware.
If I had to add roses again to my garden I would chose Kordes roses because many are BS resistant.

gibsongirl74_gw, thanks so much for liking our facebook page! I've observed Queen of Sweden and Tamora for several years in clients' gardens. Queen of Sweden has exceptionally beautiful blooms that are held upright on a 4 - 5' shrub, and Tamora remains a small shrub with plenty of pretty apricot/pink blooms. Both have remained healthy in our mild winter/hot, dry summer climate. We have several other Austins not on your list at Humpty Dumpty House, and they are among our most beautiful and best performing roses. Lots of pictures and detailed evaluations are on our Facebook - please visit. Your simple act of "liking" our facebook page can help us get our gardens reopened. Here's the link to our Facebook:

I noticed today while driving that everyones forsythia are in bloom here...But a lot of roses around just have the small swollen leaf buds so far... Ours are a bit more advanced than what I seen today...
Most people around here buy a rose stick it in the ground and forget about it... I seen so much dead wood last year sticking out of peoples roses I wanted to run into their yard and prune the poor things...lol

It happens occasionally, but I wouldn't say it's a normal characteristic. I have an own root rose I got from Heirloom about 12-15yrs ago called WONDERSTRIPE. It has at least 4 separate plants all in a big cluster. I really should remove some of them. I also have an own root STOKES I got from Roses Unlimited over 20yrs ago, and it shot up a second plant almost a foot away. Good thing tho, because the original plant died.


BCroselover; Your roses are beautiful! Is there any way to cut branches from that tree to get more sunlight? Well, at least maybe you can plant the new one in a sunnier spot. I remember once a friend gave me a small rose plant, that she had no idea of the variety. In the second year, it had one, beautiful bloom. The rose was bigger than the single little stem it was attached to! But it was stunning. I nurtured it all season, but it just struggled along until it died. (So I feel your pain!) I think I've identified it as 'Peace', so I might look into getting one.





I only have it with Abraham Darby and Gemini. Both are "newer" in my garden. 10 years instead of 20. Different sources for each. So I can't pinpoint why these two.
I remember reading years ago, in Sunset, to plant with the graft well above the soil line > in mild winter climates only. This was thought to discourage suckers. I have usually followed that practice.
In a previous garden I did as Seil says. Rip, don't cut! And it worked great. Don't wait another minute Sara_Ann. Remove a shovelful of soil so you can see the base of the Huey sucker and pull it down, out and away.
PS. 'reverting' would be used for another behavior.
I've only had it happen once, with Burning Desire, a J&P HT that wasn't very popular. I ripped off the sucker and never had the problem again.
Puttng the graft below the soil line usually hasn't been a problem, except once when the plant was completely buried and decided it wasn't going to leaf out. Fortunately I remembered where it was and replanted it--it is doing fine now.