21,401 Garden Web Discussions | Roses


The only thing that's ever worked reliably for me is the Scarecrow Motion Sensor water sprayer from Do Your Own Pest Control. It's $50, but worth it to save the hundreds in damage they'll do. You can watch videos of it in action on YouTube.
The best part- it's safe and harmless to the critters. I've had mine for 2 years. I hope you'll get more blooms soon!

I just buy Alfalfa pellets from the feed store and put it in the planting hole or work into top layer around the plant. Saves alot of time ( and mess) and acts as a slow release as it breaks down. I learned that from our regional president of ARS so figured it must work- and it does!

I second the method of dressing the plants with alfalfa pellets...I heard this from experienced gardeners. One day in the pet store we bumped into an old friend of my DH's, she was there to buy the pellets for her roses, then DH told me the rose growers around always use this method. Next year instead of buying rose fertilizers I will simply buy some alfalfa pellets and miracle grow...plus we make great compost every year.


I wouldn't make a blanket statement that minis are more prone to blackspot. Where I live even very disease resistent roses get blackspot, like my Julia child Floribunda which is so disease resistent for others. I have two potted minis that I do not normally spray that don't get blackspot at all. One of my mini's is orange and the blooms do fade on it, but I don't think it's due to the sun as much as it's just the way the bloom declines as it ages. My mini is in part shade. Post a picture for us when it blooms, I'd love to see it.



Thank you all for the information and encouragement. I will try to be patient (never my strength:) and hope for the best. I was just reading an article today saying that stock investors should learn from gardeners: focusing on long term and managing the uncertainty. Well said then.
Vivian


Rosecandy - Thank you, no apology needed, your enthusiasm is sufficient. Andreak - I think right now I have around 100 roses. Some hybrid teas and floribundas I have two of, but not all of them. I have a thing about them being at that perfect stage, so that is when I try to cut them and when I cut them last week, most of the bushes had quite a few blooms on them.

Henry, great article! I have a few roses where the entire cane is brown, but there's growth on the bottom. I figured I would wait awhile to see what canes are alive. With this past harsh Winter, I think a good amount of patience is in order - and a good sized pocket book to replace all of the dead roses. :-)

Thanks again to everyone. I am starting to feel like it's possible to enjoy roses again. :)
gallica: Thanks for mentioning about the garden clubs; it jarred my memory and now I recall there being a rose sale put on by a nearby garden club a while back. I didn't give it much thought because the nurseries had been so discouraging, and the prices at the garden club sale were $30 and up. I guess I thought the garden club was selling the nursery roses for ridiculous prices. Now that I think about it more, it must have been a real rose sale and perhaps I'll be smart enough to cash in this time. And I do remember riku now that you mention him. He was in Saskatchewan or Manitoba, I think. I'll look up his posts.
plantloverkat: I checked on that thread and found a lot of roses to look into. Thanks!
canadian_rose: I appreciate the heads-up on Chrysler Imperial, as that's what started this whole thing. :) It's good to know it won't be a great grower because she's touted as a "climber" and I was going to arrange a small garden around her climbing. Now I won't. That saved me a lot of hassle. I had a good laugh picturing myself telling my husband about why I want him to drive me around in fall and collect other peoples' bags of leaves. :) But I'm intrigued to be honest; and I just might be crazy enough to try that method if it will allow me to grow roses. I'll take a look at your methods (anywhere specific I should look?) as I am also very interested in growing roses in pots. I've heard others say it (in this thread, too) and I have a few questions such as, do you water them? But I am going to stick Chrysler Imperial in a pot for now anyway.
true-blue: I looked up Cornhill...thank you! I was so used to going to Hortico (I know there are divided opinions, but I always bought there and had good success) and picking up whatever rose my heart desired. Cornhill might just be my link to trying different roses that aren't stocked here. I really didn't know you could grow that many kinds in this climate. Thanks again.

Most welcome. If you go to the far north gardening you might find people who are ready to trade hybrid spinosissima roses suckers.Prairie peace is one such rose.
Here is a link that might be useful: Prairie peace

Oh lovely!!
I just planted a bare root of Buxom Beauty. What do you think of this rose?
Your Love Song is soooo pretty! Such a lovely rose!
Tropicana has the shade of orange that, to me, is just perfect!!! Wow!
Which fragrance do you like better - from:
Buxom Beauty or
Sheila's Perfum
Thanks!
Carol

I experienced much the same thing, View. I lost more of the potted ones than the ones in the ground. I'm not sure why either. They were well protected and had snow cover as well. Like you, when I took them out of storage in April many of them had green cane. Later that all died back and now they're just stumps. Where as the ones in the ground for the most part died to the soil but are coming up with new basals from the grafts. The only thing I can think of is that it was just too cold for too long a period of time and the damage was already done. There was one two week period when we never got above single digits at all and were well below zero every night. As low as -26 degrees a few nights. That's pretty cold and is probably what did them in. I haven't counted all of them out yet because things have not been very warm here still but if they all do die I'll have lost some where around 60 roses altogether. A few in the ground but mostly in the pots. Even the tree rose that was heavily wrapped and in the shed has no signs of life yet. I'm sad about some of them but I have a huge want list and will slowly replace them with those. I'm looking at it as a chance to regroup and maybe make some better decisions on what I want in my garden. This isn't the first time I've suffered heavy losses. I lost 30 some in April of 2007 when we had that Easter freeze. I'm sure this won't be the last time either. We can do our best but Mother Nature is still in charge. Every once in a while she lets us know that.

seil, the temps have been in the 60s & 70s here in Brooklyn since May 1. Sat, Sun & Mon were in the low 80s so my other roses are really leafing out. Even my wimpy Austins that were only about 10" tall after 3 years came thru the winter great & look quite healthy now. I think I should stop complaining about them.
So I guess I'll wait another few weeks to see what happens with my casualties. I wonder if I threw Honor out too soon; it looked dead to me so I dumped it to make room for new roses. Oh well.
Cynthia, thanks for giving me hope. I went out to check & Sexy Rexy's miniscule growth is coming from the graft, not below. I really hope that Bride's Dream makes it since it's the kind of rose that takes your breath away. Only time will tell.

It is showing "out of stock" at Angel Gardens, but a note on their site says to send them an email to ask if they might have some smaller plants that they are growing out.
Under no circunstances should you order from the last vendor that you mentioned. I don't care if the rose is $1, it won't be worth the trouble.
This post was edited by diane_nj on Tue, May 13, 14 at 19:53





Twilight Zone rose and Dark night!
(Ancient Aliens show lover here!)
In addition to the others mentioned, there is also a hosta 'Stargate.'
If there are any Doctor Who themed plants out there, I'd be all over them!