21,401 Garden Web Discussions | Roses


I got sick of my Nancy Hayward climbing rose that hardly ever flowered despite supposedly being an ever bloomer. I hacked it back to less than a metre and got ready to dig it out of the ground and unload it on a friend who doesn't mind flowerless garden thugs. This morning I noticed a whole lot of flower buds on it. I don't know what I did right.

I have two kinds yellow roses. my Julia child roses so far have been slow to grow for me. one is getting black spot so far and the other is just not really doing anything. now my other yellow rose strike it rich is just doing great! it has blooms all over it and new starts on it and getting ready for more blooms. so far I have been disappointed in Julia child.

A little surprised to see the reception Sunsprite got here. I have both Sunsprite and JC, both 4 years old now. Sunsprite is a 7 feet tall, 3 feet wide bush now, and JC died almost to the ground last winter and is about 2 feet tall now. Yes, JC's bush shape is fuller than Sunsprite, but IN MY GARDEN, JC is not blackspot resistant. It was given he best spot in terms of getting full-day sun and good air circulation because DW is a big fun of the French Chef, but it spotted each year to the point of being 90% naked.
Don't get me wrong: JC is a great rose, and it can be spetacular in the right location (see Nanadoll's pictures). However, depending on the attributes that you are looking at, Sunsprite can be the superior rose. The only JCs I saw in person other than my own are at the botanical gardens in the City, none of which looks nearly as good/big/health as Nanadoll's or mzstich's (breathtaking!) .
A breakdown based on my own experience:
Bush shape: JC's bush is fuller, but it has twiggy growth as the plant vigor is affected by blackspot. (I don't spray). Sunsprite grows straight and narrow. JC might win if I spray, but l don't.
Flower: Sunsprite does not last long. JC bleaches out quickly. I like Sunsprite better, but that does mean anything at all as it is purely subjective.
Fragrance: both have strong fragrance.
Repeat: each had 4 flushes last summer, but Sunsprite's repeats have more blooms (and come with leaves).
Disease: needless to say, Sunsprite wins by a mile.
Sunsprite for me has been a truly carefree rose. It sounds that JC can be one at the right garden, but just not in mine. Sunsprite is one of a handful of roses that I have grown that I think beat out Knockouts in terms of being tough, reliable and environmental friendly IN WHERE I LIVE. In DC, the blackspot pressure is even worse than where I am and the strains of blackspot might be similiar to what are here. I would try Sunsprite first instead of JC if you don't spray.
Also, a second vote for Golden Fairy Tale, which has been ridiculously vigorous and total blackspot resistant here in my garden.

Can't remember which critter chomps out of the side of buds like that. All I do is snap off the bud, toss it out in the middle of my lawn, and go my merry way. Seems like by the time I notice such damage, the critter is already done eating and has gone his merry way.
Kate

Glad to hear you are feeling better! Gardening is such a stress reliever for me. On rough days I come home from work & work in the garden before I even come inside. It really helps me leave my work stress outside the house. :)
And I love roses! Glad to hear yours are doing so well!!

WOW... you guys are wonderful! Thank you SO much for your thoughts and suggestions. I think I'll give it a few more weeks before I throw in the towel and replace them with something else. In talking with others here in western ny, it seems that most everyone is experiencing the same thing, and that most new plant growth seems to be delayed.
When I pruned last month, I followed directions and left about a foot of growth. Most of it doesn't appear gray-dead and brittle (I've removed those parts); the bark seems to be reddish and still mostly supple. Would it be better to prune back even more or should I just leave it? What kind of fertilizer is best at this stage? Again, thank you for your help... I'm so clueless :(

Fertilizer cannot help plants until they have leaves. But the most popular fertilizer among folks here is Espoma Rose Tone, Plant Tone is just as good if you find it priced cheaper.
If you are pruning down by sections, look for a ring of green inner bark in the cross section. This indicates life. Canes that are only one year old will have green outer bark. These young canes should have white center pith. Brown pith in young canes indicates winter damage and calls for further pruning.

I feel your pain. It's not uncommon. I purchased Mary Webb from Heirloom and it turned out to be dark pink and not fragrant. I took it back and they gave me another rose.
I just posted a rose that was supposed to be Heirloom but turned out to be Electron. Am glad that I did because I love it.
Hard to know what your rose is until the bloom opens, and you can tell if it is fragrant -- see how it grows.

Another way to gradually amend a large bed -- in Autumn, gather neighborhood leaves and shred them. Apply as a top-layer over existing mulch. In mid-Winter to early-Spring, scatter high-nitrogen organic fertilizer (blood meal, Milorganite, lawn fertilizer, whatever) over the shredded leaves. Don't worry about the fertilizer kick-starting your plants -- most organic granular fertilizers need to break down before they're available to the plants, and that doesn't happen until things warm up in Spring. But the extra nitrogen will speed up the breakdown of the Autumn leaves, and encourage earthworm activity which will further mix your soil.
:-)
~Christopher


Cecily I use Drench and systemics - Neem also.. Thanks for the suggestions. Diane nj I have been wishing to go to the M Arboretum for a while. I have an excuse now, might even bring some roses. The McCartney rose always gets the most questions in the garden. I always sing 1 2 3 4 like himself when in the garden. I love that guy. I helped with Shrek farmerduck and was thinking about some of the Kordes fairytale roses. We have a wedding this August dd, The Southern roses are intriguing.


Try to plant them deeper next time. I have a feeling they were planted more deeply in the pot, right about where the first leaves start. After they're planted, step down lightly on the soil all around the rose to make sure the plant is anchored securely in the soil.

Interesting to know Oklahoma and Alec red made it through the winter for you. I also have those. My hybred teas and more tender roses I have I stored in my unheated sunroom . I have them in pots. But the way I am acquiring them I will soon run out of room to do that so I would like to start planting them in the ground. All the ones I have planted are zone 3 but mostly 4. I too would love to be able to go up to zone five, so many more choices then. I would think you are zone 4 that that wouldn't be a problem. To winter protect on some I filled small groceries bags with shredded leaves and put under them. Some I put small square cardboard boxes on filled with shredded leaves. That gave the yard a ghetto look, so I guess that isn't the best but it worked well. Some I bought that plastic green fencing and cut it about a ft. High then filled with shredded leaves. Very interesting about the shavings..I remember when I was young the fishery use to pack their ice blocks (they used to put the fish on to ship)in shavings all summer. They never had the big spcommercial freezers like now. We have sawmills around here so it would be easy to get for me.
Here are a couple responses I got to my post inquiring about growing hybred teas in cold zones. You may be interested in them. As usual wonderful info from fellow GW members.
Zone 5
Posted by don555 3a (My Page) on Wed, May 22, 13 at 17:14
I grow hybrid teas (6 of them I think) and lately a couple of yellow ones that I think are grandifloras. They must have been growing for the past 8 or 10 years and I don't believe I've lost one yet. Most years they kill right to ground level but then bounce back quickly in the spring and get 3 feet or so by late summer. Start blooming just after the hardy roses, but then continue pretty much non-stop until a killing frost. I cover them with leaves or straw in the fall, but they still usually kill to ground level (though this winter the bottom 15 or 20 cm or so seemed to survive, I guess due to the early and heavy snows.
The key is how you plant them. Dig a deep, long hole and then lay the plant in on an angle, maybe 45 degrees, so that the roots and the bottom 20 or 30 cm of the stems will be below ground level when the hole is filled. Even when the tops are killed over winter, the plants quickly put up new shoots from the underground stems in the spring.
Hope that helps!
T
RE: Zone 5 roses
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Posted by northspruce z3a MB CDA (My Page) on Wed, May 22, 13 at 22:54
I have 30-ish roses and most of them are not considered hardy. When I plant them, I dig the hole quite deep and don't fill it in all the way the first summer. This also helps direct water to the roots when I'm watering them. The first fall I fill up the depressions and mound up some soil, then cover them with leaves and hold the leaves on with burlap. In mild years I might get a foot or two of live canes on the hybrid teas, but in worse years they die back to the ground and occasionally I lose a whole plant.
Posted by northspruce z3a MB CDA (My Page) on Wed, May 22, 13 at 22:54
I have 30-ish roses and most of them are not considered hardy. When I plant them, I dig the hole quite deep and don't fill it in all the way the first summer. This also helps direct water to the roots when I'm watering them. The first fall I fill up the depressions and mound up some soil, then cover them with leaves and hold the leaves on with burlap. In mild years I might get a foot or two of live canes on the hybrid teas, but in worse years they die back to the ground and occasionally I lose a whole plant.
Check out jack rosarian.blogspot. He is growing roses in Minneapolis.
I surely must have read your post wrong, I thought you said something about getting rid of some of your roses! Really?

I have several tender roses, (hybrid tea, miniature and Hybrid musk) which I planted the bud union 6 inches below the soil. It is lot of hard work digging a hole that deep! Yet all my roses came back, without a hiccup. I was especially worried for those planted in the raised bed, but they survived.
In retrospect I'll go for 4-5 inches below the soil line, or simply go for European OGRs or other hardy roses :-)

Likely aphids. Put on a glove and squish them with you finger, then give the rose a hard spray of water to knock off any that you've missed, and let it dry. Repeat for a few days.
If you use an insecticide, the good bugs will die too. If you just use water, the good bugs will arrive and eat the bad bugs. Keep in mind that good bugs always lag behind the bad bugs, but they will show up eventually and do their job if you don't use insecticide.


Hands down my new favorite and I would like to thank everyone who recomened this rose to me last year. I do use a systemic funguside. It has a good 20 blooms on it right now (third flush) in its first year. I can't wait to see in once it is established.
Liane

I only have space for 10 roses, and Day Breaker has been my favorite rose by far since I planted it about 5 years ago. The flower form and color are exquisite and it is the most prolific bloomer of all my roses, with 20-40 blossoms continuously from mid-May to late October. The bush is compact and I like its tall growth habit.
The climate here in Portland, OR is perfect for Day Breaker and mine has never had powdery mildew or black spot even though I don't spray. About my only minor quibbles with it are that it attracts aphids more than my other roses, and it isn't strongly scented. But in all other ways it is just about the perfect rose.


Thanks! Should I keep it or toss it out? How would I even get it to root and is it possible?
After help from Adam's post, I did some web research. It seems that Ruscus hypophyllum is used in the flower trade. It is a member of the lily family. Propagation is typically done by division of the underground rhizome. It does well in shade.
Nice and green!
Here is a link that might be useful: Ruscus hypophyllum