22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses


It looks to me like there's landscape fabric around the base. Please pull that away, remove the weeds, and add two inches of shredded bark mulch (either pine or hardwood). No fertilizer until spring. Your homework for the winter is to study various styles of trellis and decide what you prefer (and what will fit into the space allotted). Once you begin caring for your rose faithfully, it may become quite large. And welcome to the Rose forum!


Very good points and suggestions, Maria. It is critical to keep the cuttings moist for them to root but not too wet so they'll rot. A lot of people use misters for their cuttings but they can be pricey. Another way to raise the humidity around them is to take a tray, like a cake pan, and put a layer of pebbles in the bottom. Set the cups on top of the pebbles and fill the tray with water to just UNDER the bottom of the cup. You do not want the bottom of the cup to touch the sitting water. The water in the tray will evaporate and raise the humidity around the plants without getting them wet. In LV I would start these out in a shady spot for a time and then gradually move them out into the sun.

That's a very good suggestion about the tray with pebbles and water. I did it for these other two cuttings that I have managed to keep alive indoors for the last 3 months. As the heat has finally broken here, I decided to move them outside, but I'm not taking any chances. They are also very dear to me as they are from another rose plant, one that was in the ground, and thus was not able to take with me when I moved to Vegas from Oakland after my fiancee passed away. I still haven't decided whether to cut off the struggling roses last remaining green cane and try to root it, or whether to leave it on the plant in the hopes it will make it.


One of these years the mulch mound is going to really bite you. You'll have winterkill from canker near the ground that you wouldn't get if you just ignored the roses. If they are leafing out practically to the tips, they aren't getting any benefit from it.
Just do nothing to hardy roses.

jbb2179 :
I am still 'green' in the garden as well. I adore roses, and I purchased several roses from Heirloom. I will not lie, and will say that I was awfully disappointed with how small the plants were. I was certain none of them would survive the bi-polar spring Chicago had this year, based on how tiny the plants were. And, because I have not a single clue, I was very wrong :) These plants really grew! Some in leaps and bounds, and others much slower. I had some that are still giving me fabulous blooms. And one plant in particular has about 4 or 5 blooms about ready to open. My main goal this year was not to kill them, which I am very proud to admit, I did not. In the end, they are all great plants. And I was and am very pleased. I do recommend them, and I love that their website has the option to hold a wish list. :)
I attached a picture of the actual plants I started this year.
...also, right now, many of the roses are out of stock, but I was told that after January, they will start taking orders again! Good luck, and do let me know if you go with Heirloom and what you think!

Have been growing roses for 30 years and gradually seem to be losing some every winter. Most of my hybrid teas are gone so am wondering if someone knows of a nursery that sells own root roses which are supposed to be hardier or am I mistaken? Love hybrid teas for picking, but will be happy to just see a garden of roses that don't die in our cold winters often without snow cover. I have always mulched them with dried leaves after it freezes hard. Rose slugs are also a big problem, but will try the merit as suggested in this thread.Thanks for any help. Mary


If you know of some recycling places near you, some of them have nursery pots. I was at one recently and they had piles of them. I brought a whole bunch back to Lowe's once. The larger pots I keep. I'm not to proud to say that I took two 7 gallon black pots out of my neighbors recycle bin one trash day.

Lol, I've recycled a few pots from the trash too, Buford!
I just wanted to say that this is the best time of year to find those bargains. Most places are trying to get rid of all the summer stuff to make room for Christmas merchandise so they are slashing the prices to move it all. Spring is the worst time!

Was anyone else in awe over the unreleased Ralph Moore miniature rose?
Here is a link that might be useful: https://m.facebook.com/tamuroses/photos/a.113246532164331.20359.107207969434854/297350027087313/?type=1&source=46

Last year, I contacted the dept. if they give tours and maybe cuttings for environmental testing. They said that they do give tours on request (about a month or so in advance, may have changed) but due to legalities, they can't give cuttings. Eh, a half-loaf is better than none, I say!


Have any of you used wilt-proof? I use it all the time for transplanting in summer, and it is supposed to help with winter dessication. I've only used in on more tender plants in winter, roses don't need extra help here (PNW)--I just bury them deep.

Pickering going own-root would be a sad loss.
There are an awful lot of roses that are pretty much ungrowable in the north without a rootstock to push them. IME, that includes everything that usually suffers cane dieback over the winter. So if everybody goes own-root, there will be a major cutback in what can be grown where, and a lot more roses will not be available commercially because they can't sell enough of them.

I just put in a good-sized order (12 plants) with Heirloom Roses. I like the selection there (what isn't sold out yet!), and being in the PNW, I figured the roses would do well with shipping, etc..I'm also thinking that own-root is the way to go now if the climate isn't too cold. I'm a bit nervous because I've never gotten the band pots before--are they going to be tiny? They are going directly in the garden with cages around them (lovely, huh?). Super excited to have roses again!

After I started collecting Old Garden Teas, (mostly from the 1800's) I found it hard to go back to H.T.s, as Hybrid Teas bloom less often and need more feeding, and far more pruning than Tea rosebushes.
After a decade without them, I'm finally ready to grow a few Hybrid Teas.
Lux.

I really like the variety of shape that comes with OGRs. When I very first started growing roses (not that long ago) I first bought several HTs and similar types, just because that was all that was available locally, so that is all I knew of, but after i got them all planted & paired with companion plants, I was underwhelmed by how rigidly tall and awkwardly "leggy" they were. I have since added some Austin's and a few OGRs (already have several more the way too) and I much prefer their fuller, more rounded shapes, they look pretty nice even when they aren't in bloom (something I would neve say about a HT). I guess it depends on the type of garden you want to have though, I much prefer the informal "cottage" style gardens someone else mentioned above, I think having a mish mash of color and texture is much more interesting than formal rows, where as someone else may find it sloppy.. To each their own!
Jessica

Some hybrid teas will grow like that too. They were bred to have those long sturdy stems for cutting. It doesn't sound like there is anything wrong except that it's healthy and happy! I don't think you should cut them all the way down now. It's too late in the season. Just let them grow for now and store as much energy as they can for the winter. In the spring you'll be able to tell how far down they need to be pruned. You may lose most or all of that cane depending on how your winter is but it should grow back again next season.

Yes, there are some super-vigorous hybrid teas like 'Frederic Mistral' and 'Traviata' that can grow 8' in a season with straight, upright canes. If that is what she has, my pruning advice wouldn't apply. Best approach is to take long stems after each bloom cycle and try to keep the flowers within reach (7'). These roses would be pruned fairly low in spring, and zone 5 winter damage would require severe spring pruning.


I rented a home near san francisco, ca which had a Gingersnap in the garden, and I was impressed with how disease resistant it was where I lived. It had a very long bloom season for a modern rose, from late April through Halloween, or later and bloomed in spring, summer and autumn, and the blooms were a perfect color for Halloween. Very floriferous.
Lux.




Such a beautiful animal ...so frustrating.
Steve ....
My neighbor above me removed all of the vegetation that used to feed what I call his private deer herd. They have been trying to move down to my part of the slope. All of the roses out in deer territory (the front of my home) are fenced, as is the back of the house where I grow most of my roses.
The deer are starving up here and are desperate for food. I had one fenced rose attacked by a doe that must have been double-jointed. She had to squeeze under a stair rail and drop down about a foot to get to the rose. How she managed to do that is a total mystery to me. I've put up fencing along the stairs, so it won't happen again.
This season, the deer have eaten ALL of my deer resistant plants down to the crown of the plants.
In a way, it is heartbreaking to see the deer with their ribs showing at this time of year. I think many of them will not make it through the winter.
That said, I am still glad my roses are caged.
Smiles,
Lyn