22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses
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
Some of them make better trees than others. I like the smaller floribundas and the bushier HTs. Some of the newer HTs are really big plants on their own and want to make the huge shoots. The ones that are smaller and bushier are easier to keep looking rounded. Some pictures are photoshopped too so beware of perfect catalog images.
I like French Lace as a tree rose. Sexy Rexy was a great tree rose in Fantasyland at Disneyland. Sadly, they were removed.
They name the fires in CA too
How are all of you doing in this crazy cold weather? We are having cool and cloudy alternating with warm dry winds. All the rose leaves have blown off leaving just the wind frazzled flowers on top like sad pom poms. I want to prune them just to quit looking at that sorry sight. Today was nice sweater weather and the weekend will be back to shorts again.
minus anything is too cold for me
Thanks Seil,
I hope it works just half way well. The way we're going her in California, we'll have water rationing coming up. And I want to be sure that the babies get enough to drink....One way or the other they will. I really don't need to run the washer or take baths. They won't notice if I'm not as 'fragrant' as they are...
Thanks again,
andrea
Here is what I do. I use these cheap wooden skewers that i found in the supermarket and I poke several into the soil around the edge of the cup. I then put the whole thing into a small clear plastic bag, the kind that you find in the produce aisle at the supermarket that tear off from the large rolls. The purpose of the wooden sticks is to keep the bag from laying on the leaves.
A rubber band on top will keep it sealed and until you get roots I would not mist them because the sealed bag provides plenty of humdity:)
Hi mojavemaria.
Thank you both for the information. I am planting a row of five that will receive about 4.5-5.5 hours of sun daily, and then they will be in the shade for the rest of the day. If at maturity they reach 3-4 feet, or can be pruned and kept down to this size range I will be happy, well of course, I would have to see gorgeous purple roses too:)
I have both. The ET is older than the TZ by about a year. The ET blooms do not last as long in the sun, but in my experience, the ET puts on far more blooms.
Last May at one time I counted over 40 blooms on my ET.
My TZ which is planted about 3.5 feet away blooms well and last longer in similar sun, but so far has not bloomed nearly as much as my ET. This is on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast.
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!
Candy Land is a beauty. You made a good choice and I hope some tall canes are going to come on for 2014. I always feel happy when I see Candy Land in bloom.