22,795 Garden Web Discussions | Roses
If you can find them locally they are available at Mills Mix with free shipping after a certain amount. Prices are higher locally than what those in southern areas seem to pay at that time it was $25 to $30 for a 50lb. bag. I used to get mine from a place called Country Brothers Supply Store. They did not stock it but would order it for me. Did a lot of calling before finding a place to get the supplies.
If they're on the underside edges of leaves they might also be rose sawfly larvae, don't know what the local name is, but they're a pest. I have the kind locally that lay their eggs into the cane, and they are a tremendous nuisance. The caterpillars are ok, although left unchecked they can defoliate a small bush, but I can mostly let the bluetits and finches deal with them. Generally, I find that bugs that appear in multiples are pests and bugs that appear as singletons are predators.
I am in Southern California -- where the weather is growing hotter and drier.
I grow principally Old Roses, and I have grown many roses up against a south-facing retaining wall, and the only ones that handle it well are very heavily-foliaged. I've had several things cane-burned so badly they gave up and died. We do better with trellissing up against the wall, behind the roses, but it is "iffy." You may do better if you have afternoon shade, but walls are tricky in hot climates.
With the weather getting so much hotter, and watering restrictions coming in, I think we will be growning mostly salvias, along those beds. If anything.
Brightstar, Thinking some more about your plans, I feel your best option might be to contact Heritage Roses in Australia Inc., who have groups all over Australia with a number of regional groups around NSW, including one in Sydney.
Because this is such a challenging/borderline possible situation, I feel what you need is some very specialised advice from locals with both expertise in the sort of roses you want to grow, and the local climate/conditions. From there, you could discuss the microclimate of your particular location and those spots you're planning to put your roses. I would think they would be able to tell you more reliably than we can how they would be likely to do, and/or suggest more suitable alternatives.
I'm not sure if there are any Antique Roses forum members here from NSW - is billyteabag from there maybe, and some others? There may also be a few in Victoria around, and we have Adam in WA, but they may not have detailed knowledge of your sub-tropical Sydney conditions. And a lot of people do 'lurk' without participating much. There may well be many in areas of the US whose conditions would be fairly similar to yours, but since you're planning on quite a large investment here, of time and effort as well as just financial, I think you need to be very sure before you plunge in.
The website for Heritage Roses in Australia is: heritage.rose.org.au and I see there that the co-ordinator for the Sydney group is a lady called Glennis... can't remember her last name.
Please do let us know how you get on, and don't hesitate to pick our brains again here or on the ARF. I hope you'll find some great solutions for your garden, and be able to post us some gorgeous pictures one day!
Comtesse :¬)
I ordered a few roses in December. I'm in Zone 6. I was told that the roses I ordered would ship the week of April 27th. I'm hoping it's not much later, because I ordered a rose for my mom's birthday. The original ship date is already a week beyond her birthday, so I hope it isn't pushed back much further. You would think they would notify customers of a later ship date if a later ship date was in fact the case.
Lynn, my YL has 8 - 10 feet tall canes that arch over. It's free-standing, and about 5 feet wide. For the first 4 years, it was a sprawling, messy plant and the pencil-thin canes couldn't support the blooms. The canes are still thin but now grow upright until they arch over, particularly with the weight of the big blooms. I think this rose would be great tied to a pillar or obelisk.
Mine is a grafted plant starting it's 6th year. I have never pruned it.
Jo
Mine didn't bloom last year after dying back really badly because of the cold :( That is, unless what I have is now Dr Huey, lol! We'll see this year. Mine never got very tall, even with non-extreme winters, but it had a bad graft. So I transplanted it in a new spot and buried the graft well. That made it very happy after a while, until those new canes got zapped by a sudden huge freeze! But it grew great last year. I could see it getting quite tall in the right spot :)
Please try to keep in mind that the article was published in 1999 and up dated in 2001. It is old and much more is now known. There is even reference to spraying with cygon(sp). A long banned incecticide. I believe I purchased mine in the last year it was sold. I admit to using it once for rrd. It only took one time to know that a biohazard suit would be needed to go near it again.
As a side note, the cygon bottle was placed high on a basement shelf and forgotten about. Well years later DH was doing a cleaning job. Knocked the bottle down and it broke open. Running as fast as possible without breathing to evacuate family and pets from home. What a disaster that turned into.
Seil: I knew there was another reason I liked Deja Blu so much. As I've gotten older I've begun to get very tired of being stabbed, poked and punctured. Consciously or unconsciously I find myself favoring the more thornless roses. Thanks for the reminder.......Ky Rose: It just keeps getting better for Deja Blu as it is in a container and, although it is on the short side, still puts out enough nice stems for the vase. I appreciate your input on the height differences. Important information for me in this case......Thanks Diane for the disease resistance report on DJD as well as Deja Blu. You are correct that Deja Blu does need spraying, but it does fine with the shortened spray schedule I use........I thank all of you for giving me the information I needed.......Maryl......Below is a small vase full of Deja Blu
Jim, that is impressive indeed, lots of blooms! Thanks for sharing.
Not a great photo, but here is my oldest 'Firefighter'. The wall on the right is six feet tall.
About half the flush was already picked for bouquets. Behind FF is Iochroma 'Purple Queen'.