22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

Kitty,

Thanks so much! How has multiflora behaved for you in your clay? As much as I despite Dr. Huey, it does have its merits here in our soil. If multiflora is a better alternative though I'd prefer it.

Josh

You can see what's left of the multiflora. It's the big mass in the middle going straight down. Two roots fused into one and then began to rot away as the own roots took over. If own roots don't grow, the plant slowly fades away. I try to improve the soil to give the multiflora roots a chance until new own roots grow but sooner or later, my alkaline water and the breakdown of the redwood and peat in the hole will be the end of any multiflora root the rose has. It lasts longer in a pot than in the ground.

Thank you, Cynthia! I've been transferring those which have started rooting in the foam cups into the bands to conserve room. It appears to be working just fine. Being able to nearly double the number per flat makes a HUGE difference when space is limited. I encountered something rather unusual yesterday. I'd combined six varieties in the same wrap. Three of them callused beautifully. Three just sat there and have done nothing. All were cut from plants in the same place in the garden and all are varieties which have successfully rooted previously, though not necessarily through wrapping. Evidently these three possibly didn't contain the necessary nutrient levels or required different temperature or moisture levels. I rewet the paper, leaving it damper and wrapped them so sit for another week or so to see what happens. Thanks! Kim

Hmm, that is a puzzle. Sounds like it's fortunate that those 3 slacker cuttings didn't mold or otherwise protest at the process so that you can try Plan B. It's infinitely reassuring to hear experts like you have to take several tries at this process, as I'm sure I'll have many questions like that whenever I get enough time to try cuttings. Regardless, it's just one more testament to the individual variability of roses, even under the same conditions.

Roses - often puzzling, but never boring!

Cynthia

Don't know if this would work or not as I'm not bothered by deer even though we have a lot of them just a mile North of us.
How about getting an electric fence unit like the ones they use to keep cattle inside the fences. Using insulated wire just run it around to each rose bush. Maybe make a few 'trunk' lines that you tap off from to reach the bushes. You would only need a single strand of wire from the trunk line to the plant. Strip off about 2 inches of the insulation at the end of the wire, fold it back onto itself and twist it together. That way there would be no sharp ends. Then mount it such that it does not hit the plant but would hit the deer when it reaches in to eat the flowers. A piece of bamboo with the wire attached should work.
Put the whole thing on a timer so it only comes on when the deer are out.
Maybe instead of putting it among the bushes you could place them down the walking paths. As the deers walked by it would push the stick out of the way until it came to the end, then Zap, deer is out of thereâ¦.. After about the 3rd of 4th one they run into they will think twice about coming back.
Of course you should first check to see if our Socialist government allows that.

Fencing may be the single most effective deer deterrent. The problem is that it can be unsightly and impractical to install. We have used both fencing and Deer Repellent Packs to keep deer away from our landscaping and flowers. The Packs are good for 90 days and can simply be hung right on the plants you want to protect.

Here is a link that might be useful: Easy Deer Repellent

I don't take anything off unless it's broken or damaged in some way. If the canes are green to the tips I leave the already healed cuts alone. Same thing with the roots. Only broken or damaged ones are taken off before planting. I soak the entire plant, canes and all, before planting.

I've never had to do that until I bought from a certain well known overpriced and overmarketed establishment in the UK. The state of the plants I was sent (in 3 different orders) was such that it necessitated me doing so. For some plants this meant that almost half of the cane lengths of what where far from overgrown plants had to go...
Nik

This post was edited by nikthegreek on Mon, Feb 24, 14 at 2:18

Pat from RU emailed me and said it's not available. I would love to get it from her.

Interesting post. I grew Tuscan Sun when it was first introduced. I loved how the colors were pretty from the bud stage to the fully open stage even if they changed along the way. Mine was own root (which is how it was offered when first introduced). Unfortunately it seemed to grow "backwards". I had it for about 4 years and by the 4th it was down for the count. It had the best of everything so the only thing I could attribute it's diminshing vigor to was our zone 7 winters (it is an orange after all and they are usually susceptible to cold snaps). I have never forgotten it though, and when I saw it offered grafted on Dr. Huey this year I was all excited. Will certainly be looking around for it at our local rose nurseries. I'm hoping that grafted will do better for my garden. Very nice rose. Good as a cut flower too.....Maryl

I got Lila Vidri as Leila Verde back in the day from Arena. I have two original grafted ones from Arena, and have made many own-root cuttings of it over the years, most of which I've given away to friends. It roots pretty easily, and does very well as an own-root plant. Truly spectacular fragrance (I specialize in fragrant roses), with excellent form that lasts well. Great color too. Sort of a FL/HT blend. I am always amazed at why this rose isn't more available from our own-root nurseries. Dot roses may be 30 minute roses in general, but Lila/Leila isn't one of them. Worth finding.

Trade Gris reminds me of my Vol de Nuit (Night Flight).

I am the most interested in Lila Vidri. It seems like it was a short lived rose in commerce. Supply & demand?

Is the gray a substance on the top of the wood or is the bark of the wood a gray color? It it's something on the top it could be mildew, although I don't know if your weather conditions are good for that right now. If it's the bark that's gray it's just an older cane. As canes age they'll get a darker woody/ barky color, sometimes gray , sometimes brown, it depends on the rose. If it's at the top of the can it could be some die back. Clip the tip of the cane and check the pith inside for whiteness.

I showed it to a horticulturist I know and he said it is a canker disease caused by various different fungi.

I thought it kind of looked like canker but couldn't find the wound.

He is gonna look at the canes I cut off tomorrow to verify it.

The beads are made the same as rosary beads (which historically were made by nuns from a bride's wedding bouquet. There are lots of descriptions on the internet.

The scent is often added from rose oil late in the process. . Any natural scent in the petals is probably driven off by the heating process that it takes to make the beads.

Laura2424 may have a rabbit problem.

When I was a little girl (way back in the 19 hundred and 50's) I remember my mom and aunts talking about rosaries made of rose petal beads made by local nuns in SE WI, the only nuns I remember were Benadictine order. Don't really remember if it was them or not. Have never looked it up. I remember that made quite an impression on me that someone would sit and roll those rose petals till they formed a bead.(all those beads, wow). Then they sold the rosaries in their little gift shop They were dark red beads and I thought they would smell a lot like roses, but I remember being dissapointed that they did not.
I'm glad your earrings smell nice around you, that would be a treat this time of year..,
Donna

Regarding the wait-time for clematis to "take-off" -- I know that "normally" they don't really "show their stuff" until their third year, but back in my old garden, my Type 2 clematis grew like gangbusters. I don't know if it was because the plants were very mature when purchased, or if there was something extra special about my soil, or maybe all the rain we get in this area (that was Long Island, NY...I'm nearby in central NJ now), but mine grew very fast their first year. And in their second year, with no pruning other than nipping back dead tips after Winter, they easily reached 8' tall (and that's height from the ground -- considering they were spiraled around posts, their actual stem-lengths were longer).

So I'm not planning on putting clematis along the fence until next year. They'll be planted centrally between each "fence climber" rose, with bird netting hung along the length of the fence and a few inches from the slats. By that time, the roses I planted last year will have enough length to be tied in place, and the clematis can figure things out between them. And the companion perennials I'm putting in this year will have filled in a bit, offering shade at the ground where the clematis are planted. If the ones I get turn out to grow more slowly, I don't mind. I'd rather have that than have them take off earlier than I planned.

:-)

~Christopher

Not a great pic, but autumn joy and awakening seem to do well together.

So you do find that the compost alone doesn't provide enough food to the roses and that fertilizer is still needed?

Compost benefits the soil and it's structure. I don't believe that it has all the nutrients that roses require. As I said before, I don't like useless work. I wouldn't' use the fertilizer if it wasn't necessary. However, using fertilizer once a month and a foliar spray in between takes very little money and/or labor.

I think asking Kim (Roseseek) more technical questions would be a good idea. He is a great resource on this forum.

I just spent the morning with my babies, , , no work involved, and it's a very uplifting thing to do. Even the little work I do on my roses is very much worthwhile to me.
You DO have to be a rose 'nut' I'm sure. But I love it.

Have a great weekend,

andreark

I have a purple splash that I have to plan what to put in the bed with her. That is one happy rose!

I really like the idea of framing the whole window, and I think I'll do that with whatever I plant as a replacement. Then I'll tuck some minis along the front.

I got to enjoy a nice, warm day to melt the foot of snow and try to evaluate my roses, too.

I have two own-root roses that will have to grow from the roots because all the canes are brown, dry and terrible looking. I hope they do 'resprout'! They are the ones I put off ordering from Vintage for years and finally got last season :( They are both climbers, so hopefully they have some natural vigor.

Then I have one grafted Austin that has all its canes lost except possibly for a big fat woody cane that just looks woody. I'm hoping that fat one can regrow something green, too. That one is replaceable at least!

I take it very cold temperatures for an extended time can make it look like the plants have never been watered, lol? My dead branches look quite shrivelled. I know we had enough moisture this winter, so it must be the cold (or cold winds?). I'm not used to winter damage, so it's freaky.

We only got to 4 or 5 F, but the wind chills were lower. Usually under 15 is pretty rare and doesn't last days.

meredith, sounds like my yard. I even have massive leaf loss on my Jasmine vine that had made it all the way up my deck (which is one story above the backyard). I am hoping it will come back, but I've never seen this happen before. Some of my gardenias look ok, but have some brown areas. My Cleara bushes leaves are almost black, I'm not sure if they will come back. I did see some new growth on some roses, even with the ugly looking canes, so maybe they will be ok.