21,400 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

Glad to hear that others are trying this and getting results. I have a lot of wood chips left over from the 2 trucks the tree trimmers dumped for me last summer. I put the remainder of that pile in the backyard to cook further, and I have been putting kitchen scraps, coffee grounds and I ground up all my fall leaves and added it to the pile. It is turning black and full of those white and yellow beneficial fungus 'threads'. Every time I scoop out of the pile several giant earthworms can be seen wriggling everywhere.
I have a relatively small yard so I laid the woodchips and horse manure all over the yard--basically anywhere there wasn't lawn. It is turning previously barren areas into soft luscious dirt. This is still the first spring for my roses but they are putting out vigorous growth. I am sort of concerned about one thing--
When I started my initial big rose bed, it was before I discovered the woodchips. I created this bed by layering grass clippings, newspaper, shredded leaves, ground pine bark, some bagged soil, and horse manure. This 'soil' is very rich and is absolutely chock full of worms, but it is ALWAYS wet. I never water it and even after a week of no rain it is still quite moist. Is there too much organic matter? this may all be related to the horrible drainage problem in my backyard. It holds a ton of water every time it rains, but I am almost finished installing a drainage system to hopefully move most of the water from the back to the ditch along the street in the front yard. Maybe this will help to allow the soil to dry out some. Another potential issue is that I have a well in my backyard, and the pipe is located inside the rose bed. I wonder if this is leaking?
My Bronze Star rose is closest to the well pipe and a lot of the leave have been yellowing and falling off. But I don't know if these are just the old leaves from last year just giving up. It is the leaves closest to the bottom. The new leaves seem fine and the plant is blooming.

This is one reason I prefer the wood mulches over the rubber or artificial mulches. Over time, I have to replenish, but that is because the mulch is replenishing nutrients to the soil, for which I'm glad.
Now I had not thought of it as "Back to Eden" style, but yes, I add mulch to the rose area or landscaping every year also. When I dig to put in new plants, I see how nice and moist the ground is. It's always moist, black and I always see worms even in the first few spades or shovels of dirt.
So I'm definitely sold on annually mulching or in this case, using the method of "Back to Eden".


I think the black canes are from cold damage. It could have happened at the store or at your home. You mention 2 varieties so the 2nd one may have been more resistant to the cold or you got it later when temps were warmer.
Definitely cut them off, otherwise it seems to travel down the cane and make the entire cane go bad. Some say about 1" below the black part to where you have a healthy stem (inside the stem should look healthy also).
I had this happen this year, before knowing about the frost damage. My bare-root had about 6 canes coming out and I thought I had chosen such a good one, compared to the others that were in the store. But then I lost 4 of them before understanding what this is.
So I was down to 2 canes but like many plants, as long as the roots or crown are good, then your plant will return just fine -- in some cases, even better.
I also had another different variety already established in my yard, so while I had roses growing outdoors for many years, I had not experienced this kind of frost damage, so it was new to me. It could also be, as you said, one that is more established already.


Sammy, try taking a cutting. My Weeping China Doll rooted easily.
I have one as a standard in the front yard and the cutting. I plan on putting the cutting in a fairly large plastic pot inside of a green ceramic pot on the patio. I think it will look nice cascading over the sides of the pot.

aquaeyes - Red, Oranges, yellows. They all look terrible in pictures to me.
No good camera. Just my phone. And clever manipulation of its settings and the lighting to try and capture the truest colour.
Canadian rose - Black baccara can be truly black. Though I have to say I've seen photos as of late where it's quite the opposite in their yard. It seems to appear just as any other red would here.
But in my yard out seems to be striving to achieve its blackest black.
Gorgeous isn't it?

I was looking at it in the light of the sunrise, and thought I would snap a picture.
It's lost much of its black, and has taken on the very dark red tone.
It should remain this colour.
But I'm pleased to say. I actually managed to capture true to life colours in this photo.
Probably because the bloom had lightened so much.

This post was edited by Ordphien on Fri, Apr 25, 14 at 11:19

Pat -- Those roses are a really nice orange!
I just looked up narrow-leaf zinnias, and I have no idea why our nursery didn't have them -- they sound perfect for our area! They are mildly drought-tolerant and like the sun. They sound like a good companion for marigolds, which also don't like it too wet and like the sun.



1) i am from india.
2) i have one light orange rose plant and a pink rose plant
3) orange rose is 4 year old and it is still not flowering it has good leaves,long branches.i haven't see a single bud on it since 4 years.
4) on the second hand i have another pink rose plant which has no problem
5).i give water daily and proper sunshine is there,then why my rose plant is not blooming.it is supposed to be orange rose as told by gardner.
i am sending the pick of that rose plant



Just my opinion, but if you haven't grown roses before, growing a climber up over part of your house and have it look like Christy's photo is like learning to drive by entering the Daytona 500. There's some skill and practice involved in trellising and pruning to get that beautiful look.
Best to try a few roses first, learn about them, and get a feel for what they do in your area. You have no information as to your location--your selection needs to be based on your climate.

Hoovb: Great analogy--and true! Lol. Even so, you must admit these roses are gorgeous.
@photogirl11: I hope I didn't mislead you in any way. I'm sure it's doable, but as Hoovb mentioned, a lot of work and skill, no doubt.
Good luck.
This post was edited by christy51274 on Thu, Apr 24, 14 at 17:30

I think one of the Lamium cultivars might work well for you. They do bloom, but generally in Spring, finishing about when the roses get started. There are many cultivars with various amounts of silver mottling which would be attractive in a shadier spot surrounded by evergreens. One suggestion -- if you're a patient gardener, don't worry about planting enough to fill the area right away. The Lamium will spread gently over time, and is easily divided and replanted to fill in elsewhere.
:-)
~Christopher

I don't know that you NEED to deadhead--but the garden and the plant will look a lot better if you do.
Deadhead can mean just snapping off the wilted bloom at its base. However, the remaining stem may then die back to the closest leaflet--so then you have to go back and do a second pruning to get rid of that brown stem. I've done that--but with hybrid teas I find it easier to just prune back to the first strong, healthy leaflet the first time and save myself the trouble of having to go back a second time.
You might experiment and see what the rose wants. Just snap off the wilted bloom and then wait and observe where the rose wants to put out a good strong bud. You can then trim back to just above that point, and then you will have some idea how far back to go for good leaflets you can trim to.
But keep in mind that some people are also pruning to control growth --some claim their HTs grow 8 ft tall (I wouldnt' know--mine never do). If that is the problem, then when you "deadhead," prune a foot or two down the stem, depending how much shorter you want it to be.
Even then, I'd probably prune back to a likely looking leaflet so that I don't have to watch part of the stem turn brown and die back.
Hope that helps.
Kate

I left my HT one year and didn't prune at all. Thought it might grow really big but it only went to about 6 or 6.5 feet. Not pruning it made it tall and lanky, and roses didn't look big and healthy. They looked rather poor.
I get better growth and roses when I prune in early spring. I also did not dead head as much. Easier to do when there are a few but as the season goes, there will be many more roses that you can't keep up with. So while I don't dead head each spent rose, I do prune and trim in mid-season to get a more compact look. That will, in effect, take out some of the roses that are still blooming or that have bloomed, and allow the plant to make more after a few weeks.

How about new climbers in the ground? I just put down climbing Peace, but it still looks like a little skeleton with a few pink fingers here and there.. Should I expect any vertical growth anytime soon? Been in the ground about three weeks, since early April.

I have to admit that my climbing Westerland surprised me with very little winter die back. I had considerable damage to my HT's despite at leasr 2' of snow cover from the second week of January. Some are dead to the soil line.
The fact that Westerland was alive pretty much to the 6' I left on last fall is surprising. I never considered Westerland as a particularly hardy rose.
Let's hope all of you northerners experience some serious basal growth.



It doesn't matter what brand as long as it's a good light potting mix that will drain well. I've used some with water crystals and others with fertilizers and some just plain potting soil. They all work as long as they drain well. I don't usually get the ones with fertilizer because I prefer to control what kind and how much of that they get but if that's what you find it will work. I've used many different brands. Miracle Grow is good but there are good ones out there that are cheaper.
I know I've stressed a lot about drainage but that's very important. Roses hate to sit with their roots in water. That being said, potted roses will need to be watered more often than roses in the ground. Pots dry out quicker. So it's kind of a catch 22. You don't want the roots to be soggy but you need to make sure they don't dry out either. You have to find the balance that works for you, in your climate and with the roses you purchase.
There are smaller varieties of roses also, in case the growth size in containers was something that you were concerned about, even though containers do help to control the overall size.
This year, I added miniature roses to my plants-in-containers, and I also saw something at Lowes or HD described as ground-cover roses. They seem to be very low-growing but still put out a great look of roses blooming.
And as for what others said -- I agree, grow what you want to grow! The pot size and your pruning will help keep it in check.