22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses


hi Karen, interesting that your posting should come up now. I live in a condo and on my porch I have 3 pots next to each other. The first one is Julia, next to that is the climber , dublin Bay, on the other side of that is
Honey Perfume. I hope as they continue to grow against a white porch railing that the red dublin bay will grow along the top to the railing and the 2 yellow roses on either side will look good against the red climber. good luck, Judith

Yep, that definitely is a spider mite problem.
When I moved into my new place, I kept my Miniature rose home cause I was way too busy with unpacking, settling and all and within that time span, Spider mites ravaged my plant. When I put it outside, under the rain, it came back :)
Thou, spraying the plant with water regularly (sometimes, daily) will help keep the mites off. I grew a Patio rose in my home and got it to bloom, all the while avoiding spider mite infestations by misting the plant with water.

Spider mites. They make me crazy. To break the reproductive cycle, stiff stream of water as suggested above and try to get the underside of leaves as well. See if you can see very subtle webbing along the leaf underside. Sometimes I use a miticide....but I try not to.


Patience is the key to all gardening really, not just roses. When you plant something it's an investment in the future and you can't expect instant gratification. I'm like Kate and the others here. A rose gets a good 3 years to strut it's stuff. Sometimes that goes even long in the case of climbers or a special rose I really had high hopes for. I kept a Cl. Peace 6 years when it NEVER gave me a bloom because I was so hoping it would be gorgeous. My brother finally helped me dig out the 8 ft. flowerless thing one fall. I've had Candy Land in it's place for 3 years now and while it blooms like mad it's still only 2 ft tall, lol! You can't win!



I'll be interested to see how your experiment turns out. I don't really know anything about growing DA roses in the tropics, but based on my experiences in the summer heat of the Midwestern USA, I would think that all your rain and humidity (plus limited sunlight) means that you will have major blackspot problems and have to spray a good fungicide a lot to try to keep ahead of those problems. Most of the rose-growers I know are trying to find ways to cut back on or even eliminate their use of fungicides--which may not be good for you or your environment.
I hope you selected DA roses that are listed as "very" or "exceptionally" healthy. Even they will have BS problems, I'd guess, in a very wet environment, but they are still better than the DA roses that are disease magnets.
I hate to discourage you--and I hope you report back next year that I was completely wrong--but I know how much trouble BS is in my drier, sunshiny region, so I can't help but think those may be major problems for you.
Good luck, and let us know how your experiment progresses.
Kate

Hello Kate, don't worry. You're not discouraging me :) I have been hearing the same from many different people and also have been reading a lot. I'm just very curious how the DA's will react to this weather and hopefully they will grow into healthy large plants. So far I've tried to focus on good air circulation to prevent BS and I have used Bayer Advanced Control but I'm looking for an organic alternative.
I will post some pictures about my DA project after a couple of months. I noticed that there are hardly any postings about DA roses in the Tropics. I'm located at I'm at latitudes 1ð and 6ðN, and longitudes 54ð and 58ðW and only 2 to 5 degrees north of the equator which is very very tropical. Basically similar to Malaysia but less high elevations.
BTW I'd accidentally posted this thread in the General Rose Forum after I discovered the Antique Rose Forum for DA roses. I have posted the same thread in the Antique Forum. If anyone would like to share their experiences or have some great tips please go to http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/rosesant/msg0122043413265.html?2
Thanks again Kate.


Yep -- I would also recommend Francois Rabelais and also Amadeus (Kordes, 2003) -- which is similar to FR, but a larger plant that blooms in bigger sprays. Both would be available in the U.S. Both of them are healthy bloom machines.
Here is a link that might be useful: Francois Rabelais on HMF

Nanadoll is right. Those heights listed were in cold winter zones where roses freeze each winter. For Calif. I would add 1-2 feet.
Another factor is how hard you prune. A friend takes her roses down to 8-10 inches!!! I don't. Eglantyne here is pruned yearly to about 2 ft. and when blooms are cut the stems are longer than needed, to shape the bush (a little off season prune). I've also read that rootstock affects growth. Of course water, soil & fertilizer.
I think the important thing about Austins for a new grower is to know the ones on that list are the Austins of a more manageable size on a small city lot. The 10 x 10ft. monsters are wonderful. You just have to have fewer of them unless you've got space. Or you have to be severe in pruning, which may lessen bloom. My 'Evelyn' & 'Abraham Darby' will rapidly grow a cane that is 8 ft. long. It's often referred to as "octopus" canes. So far 'Eglantyne' and Symphony have never done that. Nor 'Heritage' (which grows taller than those).
Keep looking for bush pictures and you will see the difference in the smaller Austins on that list and the truly big ones.

Thanks for your answer Iris. I have heard, and listened to, similar comments from both Austin and HT growers.
I have two in ground beds and a number of large pots. The in ground beds are 19 and 7 months old. Michael, said that I really shouldn't prune these roses until they are in their second year. So later this month will be the first time I do any pruning at all. I have taken extra when deadheading but that's about it. (My beautiful Pristine wants to be 7 or 8 feet tall.) I have also been told that HTs in Calif don't really need to have more than 1/3 taken off along with any dead canes. And I understand that DAs don't really need anything but the lightest trim.....Unless of course they are growing long tentacles.
My DAs are in large (24 gal) pots and are only 5 months old now. So they haven't had the time to grow very large yet.
This will be quite a learning experience. I love it already!
Thanks again for listening and responding.
Happy new year,
andrea

I always worry that I am taking off too much, too, and they always seem to come back just fine. I think in order to get basals you need more real dormancy than you are likely to get here. I don't see splits until the roses are older here, and I used to get more breaks in my Iowa garden.

Just saw that message Diane. I always wondered, where do you get a majority of your Austin's from? I know your jude and cadfael are from DA, but how about PAoK, Eglantyne, golden celebration?
I do want Eglantyne grafted - got it own root from chamblees last spring and saw 2 blooms, then again it seems to want to take its time growing, still very small. So I'm not judging now.
Thanks for the replies all!

My first DA roses, at my current home, were from David Austin directly. I've purchased older Austins from Palatine and Pickering in Canada. But mostly I now buy my Austins locally from a very fine nursery. The roses are in five gallon DA pots with metal tags, etc. Gorgeous roses that the nursery will keep and care for you, if you prepay, of course, in a special greenhouse till you are ready to pick them up and plant them at home. They are huge and usually blooming. So, Jude, Cadfael, and Eglantyne came from DA directly, but Golden Cel and PAoK (and others) were purchased locally.
Watch for Bro Cadfael--he'll get going, I'm sure, and grow larger than LofS.
I'm sorry for your cold, but it will be over soon if not already. Way back in late Nov or so, we got an Arctic blast and had several days below zero. Nothing was ready for it, and Idaho, being a total nonentity to weatherpersons, never gets any publicity about these things, whether it's the third hottest location in summer or subzero in winter. Gripe, gripe, one of my favorite things to do. Still I've never lost a rose to cold or heat, and I don't protect anything. Diane


It depends on the type of rose. A band of an HT is going to be good in 2-3 years. An OGR or Tea will take longer.
If you can, I would move the roses now while they are dormant. As long as your ground isn't frozen, you can replant them. If you wait until they start coming out of dormancy, they might lag a bit more for the first flush. Also, you will want to trim them back to about the size of the root ball so they will thrive in their new spot. Since these roses already have a large root system, I usually just make the hole big enough to fit the existing root ball.
I'd wait until March, possibly April. You do want to wait until chances of the ground being frozen more than a couple of inches are gone. Newly transplanted plants and frozen ground around their roots are not a good combination. It will also give you a chance to see how much winterkill is happening, and possibly readjust your expectations accordingly.
Bands of hardy roses usually mature in about 3 to 5 years. These are the ones that seem to be making progress. Roses that aren't hardy enough will never mature from a band.