22,795 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

Here in Winston-Salem, I have a pink Aloha that I bought from Chamblee's last year and planted on a south wall next to my house. It was very small but gave me a few very pretty, sturdy blooms.
To my surprise, it has been one of the first to start leafing out this year with EXTREMELY glossy, healthy looking foliage. I can't wait to see what it does this year! I would recommend Aloha.

I took out my New Dawn last year.(not an easy task) It had a pretty spring bloom and then nothing…nada. It was such a monster I could not prune or control it.It got quite out of hand! I will miss the spring bloom, but it had to go. I would say Aloha might be a better choice. Good Luck. Lesley

And I tried to rush out and get mine before the rain came and wrecked them--but then I jinxed the rain and we hardly got any, darn it!!

DrPekeMom - What is the name of the dark red old garden rose? Beautiful flowers.

Well, I hope y'all haven't jumped the gun. I haven't touched any of mine yet. I lost too many to that Easter freeze a few years back so I'm going to leave mine on for a while.

I haven't touched any of my roses yet, though I stare longingly at them on a nearly hourly basis. That winter protection is looking pretty mangy! Seil, your comment gives me strength to wait though. Well, your comment, and the nasty, half-frozen, half-quickmud state of the backyard...

I have one brilliance fern (grows both orange and green fronds) growing like gangbusters, no other signs of life. I'm gonna have to get more of those! This one is ahead of the forsythia and hellebores, even!

I`m in Louisville,KY. and have not pruned yet. I hope to start next week. I have nothing but black canes and I am very concerned,You`all have given me some hope. I have never cut to the soilâ¦.this will be a first! lesley

Lexington, KY, this week most of mine got pruned to the ground. I left some brown/black canes that will be leveled later. I am more concerned about my roses on fort. rootstock. Can they make it pruned so low?

Back in CT we had huge numbers of oriental beetles which were often all black but I think there were blackish larger beetles which must have been the spring rose beetle. I'm sure they were outnumbered 100-1 by oriental beetles as were Japanese beetles so I didn't notice them that much. From all the descriptions I have seen however the spring rose beetle has color variation even when black so I still wouldn't be sure about the identification. The key would seem to be the size and look for a little greenish on the head and slight color differentiation resembling that of the JB.

Here is a link that might be useful: spring rose beetle

I just have to say that it was funny to see a JB with a large pin piercing it body! They are the worst bugs ever!

What a great thread! So much being said that I can relate to.I'm 81 and live on 2 1/2 acres. With the help of my daughter we have18 flower beds ranging in size from small 5X10 beds up to one of 5000 sq, ft. To save costs I originally bought a lot through mail order. Now, as I realize I never know how long I will be around, I buy larger plants so I can enjoy them now. We have over 100 different perennials and a lot of trees and shrubs. Sure, I have a few aches, but I'm too busy to worry about that. This has been such a long winter and things are really slow to get started. The daffodils aren't even showing yet. That is really late for them. Some of the tulips are up and buds are showing on some shrubs. Have most of my spring clean-up done Anxious to see how many plants we lost to the cold.

Thank you all for your comments about my "senior attitude" I was pleased that so many agreed with me regardless if you are a senior or not. The world is a crazy place now so i would like to tell congress stop making life more difficult and go plant roses!!! My barefoot roses in the containers are loaded with buds and several, Mardi Gras and French Lace are ready to open and share their color for us. I check up on them every morning when I have coffee with my dogs on the porch. Maggie and jake are 2 Shitz Zoe rescue dogs who know when I say "Lets go and check out the roses"--they both run to the door and shake their fluffy little tails and can't wait until we go out. (Could it possibly be they know there is a cookie waiting out there for them and it not the roses themselves that attract them?)
Living in a senior condo development built around a 40 year old golf course is not so bad. I get to garden the things that I want, like roses and nasturtiums, and not have to worry about who will mow the grass and clip the
shrubs.
I will take pictures of my lovely ladies when they are all blooming. I just have to figure how to add the pictures.
In my next post I will include the names of these newly planted lovelies. Most are floribundas.
I wish you all either a good planting week or at least a peaceful time checking out rose books and planning your garden so you will be ready when spring finally arrives in your area. Judith

Thanks to everyone for all of the wise advice! I'm happy to see that last post by professorroush especially (thank you!) because I have decided to go ahead with the planting of the rugosas. At the very worst, I'll end up with a good post for the "worst gardening mistakes ever" forum ;)

I do have a little bit of time to try and amend the area a little bit in the hope that I can add enough material to get the pH down a little bit at least. Do you all think I should mix in some peat? Or something else? Is there an acidic bagged soil widely available that is marketed for things like azaleas or anything like that? I love digging in the dirt so I'm not opposed to making it a bit of a raised/mounded bed either...

I have seen bagged soil for azaleas so you could try adding that to your soil instead of regular planting mix. I don't see how it could hurt anything and it just might help.

I grow a rose called Wild Edric which is either a rugosa or a rugosa hybrid in my alkaline soil and the leaves are as green as can be.

Thanks for the mildew update, don't need that! And it is rather similar to one I already have.

Any thoughts on something "long stemmed" that would look good next to 'Peace'?

St. Patrick (yello with green tinges in cooler weather. Cajun Moon (white with pink edge). Crystalline or Randy Scott are pure white. Gemini is cream with a coral edge (sometimes pink). Marlyn Monroe is apricot. There are nice photos of many of these at the Santa Clarita Valley RS page (link below).

Here is a link that might be useful: SCVRS Hybrid Tea Page

It isn't the fault of the nursery, some plants just do this. I have a love song that I am dealing witht the same issue on. It threw up a sucker last summer I didn't notice until this spring when it threw up several more. Thankfully it appears I avoided any permanent damage.

Thanks for the update. Let us know what happens!

Much of what I could say about the subject red roses has already been said. However I would add this about Crimson Glory. I used to have this rose many years ago, but haven't had it for a while. Its growth habit is relatively short and sprawls. It also usually has weak neck and needs to be grown disbudded if you want one flower per stem. It clusters much of the time. A fertilizer higher in phosphorus and potassium will help alleviate the weak necks. Another fertilizer issue is Crimson Glory's sensitivity to high nitrogen fertilizers. It will suffer foliage burn if you dump too much nitrogen on it more than most other varieties. If you don't use it already, I would suggest using a little blood meal added to a low nitrogen fertilizer for this rose. Blood meal is higher in nitrogen, but it is organic and breaks down slowly. It also has iron which is great for color development especially for anything based on red. Put that on all of the roses and watch the colors light up. You don't need much, maybe a half teaspoon per plant. Good luck.

Thanks Bustopher for the fertilizing info on Crimson Glory - just the sort of advice I need. I don't mind Mr. Lincoln getting big, I knew he likes to grow that way - saw one my friend has yesterday - he prunes, but lets it get big and it is a good bloomer for him. I just bought the Mirandy from Lowes in a big pot last weekend......haven't planted it yet, but it looks like it will really be a healthy bush. From what has been said, I think I will plant all these in an area that gets sun all day until about 2 or 3pm, then my horse barn will shade them. I am interested in growing all these and comparing them - plan to put them in the same area and intersperse with white euphorbia, white marigolds with some blue salvia [my son is in the Navy, and have a stone with the Navy insignia on it I will put in the middle of the semi-circle of these roses for a patriotic theme].
Judith