22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

Pembroke, sorry they didn't work out. Keep trying though. It takes some time and practice to get the hang of rooting, I think. It took me a couple of years of trying to have any success at all at it. I still only get about 50% to take.
I use cuttings between 8 and 12 inches long. What you want is to have at least a couple of bud nodes below the soil and at least one above the soil. Make sure you scrape some bark off the bottom part and use a rooting hormone. Then the hardest part is keeping them evenly moist without drowning them or letting them dry out too much. And of course the waiting, lol!

Yeah, keep trying. Don't give it up, because eventually you can get them to root.
I'm finally (I think) having some success with potting them into clear plastic cups and placing 2litre bottles over them (bottoms cut off) and misting every day. I also have them inside a chamber I made with pvc pipe frame and clear plastic over it, with clay hydroponic pebbles under them, kept moist and greenhouse heating pads underneath. I just checked the last batches and so far they look good after a few weeks. I cut the stems into 2 pieces when I pot them up. Usually, the bottom half of the stem won't have any leaves, or maybe just one. I still pot those up anyway. Even those are looking ok at this point. I put 2-4 stems in each cup. Depends on how many I end up with. Sometimes some of the bottoms of the stems are kinda weird looking and I'll cut them off. Also depends how many budeyes each stem has. A couple of the roses I tried had large spaces between budeyes, so I only got 12 cuttings instead of 18-24 (per dozen stems).
I just today potted up cuttings of a florist rose I've been trying to find for awhile. SWEET BERRY. I'm really excited about it and hope these cuttings work.
I sure wasted a lot of time, money and cuttings the last couple months trying the burrito method. Wish I would've just gone ahead and done what I'm doing now. As long as you keep them moist they should eventually take. I found that many of mine that didn't make it had gotten too dried out. So make sure you keep them moist!
Take a look at the link below and you can see how Dan roots his cuttings. He has a pretty high success rate.
Here is a link that might be useful: DanTy's rooting set-up


LOL, Zap, that's how it all starts! The first year or so you try to plan then eventually you just start buying more and more that you "have to have" and pretty soon you're out of space and still buying and the next thing you know you're into pots!
As for those pots, you can grow any rose in a pot. I've had everything from micro-minis to a towering 8ft Reine des Violets and everything in between growing in a pot at one tme or another. I've grown Austins and two different climbers in pots as well. They all did fine as long as the pot was big and there was some support for them. In your zone they are never going to be as big as they would be in a warm zone and because of our shorter growing season they take much longer to out grow the pots to where they need root pruning.
Enjoy and post pictures!

My Cl. Lady Hillingdon baked against the house wall and had to be removed. It's grown very little since then and since I had no place to put a trellis or arch I planted it in a row of tea roses and will try to grow it as a large, free-standing bush. In another garden I grew one very successfully against a chain link fence where it had circulation all the way around it. The intensity of the sun has increased so much since then that I'm not sure how well the all-day sun it had would affect it now.
Ingrid

The "meeting next week" is actually the Pacific Rose Auction that is the day after tomorrow -- Saturday, and basically all day, starting at 10:30. I hope that was what you were referring to.
There's a new list of roses "i.e. Part Two" in the new bulletin, attached. The old list (the Jan. bulletin or "part one" was posted in my last post about this auction.
Tom Carruth is one of the auctioneers, and he also did a presentation at my rose society (CCRS) on the new things at the Huntington last week that was really interesting.
I'll be looking for you there.
Kathy Strong
Here is a link that might be useful: New list

I think that nurseries in the midst of shipping season are less likely to take time and speedily respond to emails or phone messages. If I were you, I would send them a registered letter, return receipt requested (which they will have to sign for) through the USPS, demanding a refund or replacements shipped at the appropriate time. Much harder for them to ignore!
And the cold storage in your garage is the best idea of them all. Having kept potted roses indoors by choice as an experiment, I can say that it is do-able, but takes tremendous effort to keep them truly healthy and happy.
Please let us know how it all turns out.

I don't think you have to return them. I once dug a garden when the ground was frozen solid. It was difficult but not impossible. The ground is hard, but not like concrete and it was only frozen really hard in top few inches. I took a pick ax and it came up in frozen clumps. One trick is to get some warm water to loosen the soil. You just need to dig enough to bury the graft and you should be OK. Just plant it now and then move it to a permanent spot in a month,

.View1, St. Patrick survived with very good care and the bud union buried deep. I never covered it and some years it got killed to the ground but always it recovered and although it stayed short it was a heavy bloom producer. Also, after many years in the ground, every rose will spring back strong because of its' well developed root system.

Thank you all very much. Unfortunately the CJ is quite established (I think I put it in about 2-3 yrs ago). As soon as the weather is conducive I will try to eradicate. I'm planning to do what "campanula" suggested. If anybody else has suggestions on how to get rid of it differently please let me know. Thanks again!

I'd suggest ripping out as much of it as you can find, then laying down sheets of cardboard (or newspaper in layers at least four sheets' thick) over the ground. Overlap the sheets so there are no gaps between them. Top the cardboard/newspaper with at least two inches of mulch, and leave it for a few months. Any creeping Jenny that still emerges should be pulled ASAP, or spot-treated with Round-Up by painting/wiping it directly on the leaves (avoid spraying which might travel to plants you want to keep). In time (if you're in a wet climate), the cardboard/newspaper will break down, but by then, the creeping Jenny will have been smothered to death. Additionally, any weed seeds falling onto the mulch will be prevented from getting to the soil by the cardboard/newspaper, and can be pulled very easily if they sprout.
Once the creeping Jenny is gone, consider other short-growing plants to fill the ground. Low-growing Sedums were mentioned, but there are many others. Consider Prunella, Thymus, various short-growing Campanula and Geranium, Dianthus, Lithodora, Lamium, low-growing Nepeta or Salvia or Veronica, etc. Also consider self-seeding annuals for this "job" -- their root systems won't become as substantial as perennials, and if you don't like them or if they start spreading too much from year to year, just keep them from flowering/seeding and there won't be a new generation.
:-)
~Christopher

This was a very interesting post, Nippstress! I had never thought about viewing my list of past roses by breeder before. So I went into my spreadsheet and re-sorted by that column...and my, did I have a varied assortment of breeders represented! Largest group for any one breeder was Buck, I'm sorry to say (this was from when I gardened in a real zone 4.) I had many Buck's that just got smaller and smaller, weaker and weaker every spring - until one spring they were dead entirely. I grew just about all that were available in commerce back in the early 2000's, but have very, very few today. Out of the 24 past Bucks on my list, 3 were given away and 21 died a slow sad death. I only have 8 Bucks left in the garden now, of which Applejack is my hands down most iron clad hardy Buck rose.
That said, I've lost several Bardens and Kordes, too, but most of the failed Kordes were climbers - always problematic in zone 4. I keep buying new Kordes roses though, and I do like to try anything by Ping Lim or Radler these days.

This is interesting thread, I have had poor luck with lots of breeders and it's all my fault, I expected more than the poor plant could deliver...some are just not 'bred' for this climate...now I just stick with the tried and true, Chinas, Noisettes, Old Teas....very few 'modern' roses can survive in Florida heat and humidity....I can't enumerate how many times I have tried to grow a beauty that was gorgeous for several winter months but gave up when June July and August rolled around....sally

The hardy roses are offered own-root more often than not. If you like to see your roses before you buy them, the local garden centres should have most of these in stock in April. (And yes, April is fine for planting shrubs and perennials, if there's no snow on the ground.)

I would advise against planting roses in April. No way. :)
If you get any of the roses that I mentioned, they should be found at the local greenhouses. They mostly sell only hardy roses for here. So when the roses come out at the greenhouses is usually a fine time to plant. Most people wait until after the long weekend in May. She'll know the holiday date - I can't remember it right now. If they're bare root, I would wait until middle of June.
Carol


Wintersowing in milk jugs, here, too. Gardening of any kind when it's below zero outdoors, snowing and blowing, is a good thing. I garden indoors, too, with a four shelf lighted rack filled with blooming African violets. In fact, I accidentally found help for my winter depression because I set up this rack in my bedroom a few years back in an effort to keep the plants safe from my toddler grandson. I have the lights on a timer and found that unlike an alarm clock, when the lights click on and bathe the room in artificial "sunshine" I am wide awake and ready to take on the world. In fact, in my new house the AV's on the rack are in the room at the end of the hall, next door to my bedroom. The doors to both rooms always stand open (I live alone now) and even though it is not direct light on my bed, if still feels like "dawn." No more hiding under the covers, hitting the snooze. I feel just as cheerful in winter as I do in high summer when the sun is up well before 6 a.m. (All that's missing is a few bird calls!)
I know everyone can't fit a plant rack in their bedroom (nor would they want one) but it does work for me! :-)

I agree with the person who said, get some ammendments and dig a trench and set the roses in that you have no time to plant or decide where you want them. Later on you can move them and you won't end up buying them over when you don't need to. Also, it's a good time to split them into several plants. If you plant one and it fails, you have another. You can plant in groups to make a big statement. Some will be rooted on every cane and you can make a hedge.
Happy Days to you on your new farm! Llamas are fun. Roses like what the llamas provide. Glad your dream is happening. Please post pictures. We love to see your progress.

Top idea, Tammy. I also went to college at 36 (history) and loved every moment. Mature students often wipe the floor with the youngsters - we are all so keen and motivated. Did 4 years of horticulture too - probably more useful than history in terms of vocational qualifications. Daughter is planning on moving into law too (although I suspect she is planning eternal studenthood since she has been in college for nearly 8 years now!)
However, your lifestyle sounds a bit too dynamic for me to get a handle on......aged collie and anti-social cat are quite enough livestock for me. Respect for your vim and vigour.

Thanks Kate. But I will be using the entire (almost former) azalea bed for the roses. The azaleas will go to a different side of my yard.
The reason I asked about the bed, is that initially, the top six to eight inches of the soil was removed and replaced with acid soil for azaleas. For the next several years the whole bed was fertilized with more acidic fertilizer.
I was hoping to remove the top 12 inches or so (azalea roots are very close to the surface) and replace it with soil from the area where I will be putting the azaleas (virgin territory) and then amend the whole 'stripped' bed with EB Stone Rose soil and added compost.
What do you think? Will that work?
Thanks again,
andrea

I had one last year growing in a 5-gl bucket where it did reasonably well. Below is a picture of the best of the flowers that it had.

As you can see from the picture, it did not look like the advertised old garden rose flowers in its usual pictures. It made me wonder if it was the correct bush. If it is Happy Go Lucky, it did rather well. I did plant it in the ground in the fall. I will wait to see if it makes it through our rather dry and highly variable winter temperatures. I think it is worth a shot to see how well it will do for you and what yours will look like.

I got mine several yrs ago from Hortico. They don't carry her anymore. I know that Cliff Orent had her when he had his EuroDesrt Roses. There's a possibility he could've had a mother plant that Heirloom Roses might've gotten when they acquired the rest of his stock. I would call them and ask if they did get one from him. They carry a lot of the other McGredy roses that he had. If they have a plant, maybe they will propagate it for you. I imagine others would like to have her. She's a pretty rose.





You are welcome, Andrea. I found it interesting as to why we all smell a rose differently, i.e. gender, location, time of year, age of the bloom, etc. I didn't know that women can smell "fruity" better than men and that men can smell "apple" better than women. No wonder the Help Me Find Roses website, often states, "Opinions vary". Thank goodness we are all different :).
By the way, zone6-nj, I searched for Glamis Castle on the Help Me Find Roses site and saw a notation in the comment section, saying that they loved this rose's bloom and scent. There are also comments about black spot, but of course that depends on location too.
Thanks jasmine! I appreciate the information. I'm glad some people like it!
For anyone on here that's ever smelled Sceptred isle, would you consider that strong myrrh? Or myrrh mixed with something else? Because I want glamis castle, and if it smells like this I'll buy it for sure. If not, what other roses smell like Sceptred isle?