22,795 Garden Web Discussions | Roses
Yes. Get a good set of Felco's if you can afford it.
Also, last year Costco's was selling a package of imitation Felco's that even came with replacement blades, hardware and a sharpener. The quality was good for the price, so see if they carry them again this spring.
After I spread the pellets around the rose, I turn the hose on to a stiff strong spray and water in the pellets thoroughly. They will start to disintegrate as a result--speed up the process and keeps the hard pellets from just laying there and attracting who knows what kind of critters (including ants?). Then I put mulch on top of the pellets--helps protect them and discourage the critters--and obviously is good for the future retention of moisture when the weather heats up.
Just make sure there is no salt in the alfalfa--that iwould be a recipe for garden disaster!
Kate
I take it that your GS is in a pot/container of some kind, and is not bareroot? If it is bareroot, soak it in a bucket overnight and plant immediately. If it is in a pot/container, the practice usually is to wait until the last danger of a heavy freeze has gone by and then plant it. In the meantime, put the container next to a southern foundation and water occasionally--and put it in the garage overnight if the nighttime temps fall down to freezing.
I'm in Zone 6 Kansas--our last freeze date is sometime around mid-April, so your last freeze date in Zone 7b might be around April 1 or there-abouts.
Kate
Good reliable yellow HT you're getting there, sara. Just remember it is not a big lush showy golden-yellow like Gina Lollabrigida or Henry Fonda. It is a more subdued mild yellow and not always the largest bloom in the garden. It is also (so far at least--mine is still "new") quite bs-resistant, fragrant, and seems to have a good re-bloom rate. A bit taller than most of my other HTs, but they tend to be the shorter ones anyway.
Overall, a charming yellow.
Do let us know how she does in your garden.
Kate
That's too bad! I tried rooting some for the first time this winter; two Valentine's Day roses - Pailine (I think) and Amelia. I left two sets of leaves, scored the bottoms of the stems, used rooting hormone, and potted them directly into soil. Then I set them in a window with a heating pad underneath and plastic pop bottles over top. Out of ten, one Amelia is still alive and setting new leaves. The rest are dead as door nails. The rest all went moldy. Next time I'll pot them into sand - I've read on GW that that's a good way. Don't give up! It's still fun to try!
I'm sorry I got the pic mixed up. If that is Ebb Tide, it is looking more like mine do in the summer. I'm hoping you get some really dark blooms. ET and Twilight Zone have pretty much the same color in spring and fall, but ET fades out in summer up here. I remember it was worse when the plants were really young. Keep us posted. Diane
Diane,
Will do. I certainly hope the difference in coloration is due to the plant being immature. The summers here are like hades, the trade off is a comfortable climate most months of the year. We have had sunny blue skies and daytime highs in the 70's since February, which is quite ideal for roses.
Lynn
Thanks for reminding me of backflow preventer. I took if off because I was trying to figure out the order of installing different parts. I woke up one night at 2am to what sounded like rain only to find out that it was the water spraying out from the backflow thingy. I bought a new one but forgot to install it.
OTOH, the emitters are dripping but at 1G I probably need to put it on for 1 hour for the roses that are in 7 gallon pots.
You know, Sara, if you really would like to keep them in the pots instead of the ground there is a thing called root pruning that would let you do that. Since I keep a lot of roses in pots permanently I've had to learn how to do that.
There are variables, of course, the vigor of the plant, the pot size and such, but in a cold zone you usually would only have to do this about every 3 to 5 years. I can tell when one of my pots needs to be root pruned when I water it. If the water goes in the top and almost immediately starts running out the bottom that usually tells me the rose is root bound in the the pot and there isn't much soil left in there.
Early spring is the best time to do it because you will be pruning back the plant anyway so pruning off some of the roots shouldn't hurt it. You don't want to have fewer roots with a huge plant on top that it can't feed. Besides it's going into full growth mode and will start growing those root back quickly. Let the pot get a little dry. This helps to keep the root ball easier to handle. Slip out the root ball and carefully trim off some of the bottom and sides of the root ball. I trim mine by about half. Then repot the plant with fresh potting soil. Water it well and it should start to grow again in no time.
Hope that helps!
It's seems that are Jekyll/Hyde Horticos: the good one and the bad one. I've bought there for the past 20+ years, because they usually stock varieties I can't find anywhere else. And sometimes I've had plants delivered that I couldn't possibly improve on--big, plump roots carefully wrapped and still moist. But other times...one year instead of 3 Ballerinas, they sent me one B. and 2 Sally Holmes, all tagged as Ballerina. Two years ago my order was missent to San Diego, and 3 weeks later arrived in CT, totally dessicated. To their credit, they are replacing the 3 that died, out of 4--but only after insisting that they're packed to survive at least 3 weeks! Well, good luck with that. I vowed never to return. But then, when I couldn't locate City of York anywhere (Googling hard), guess who had it. The grower you love to hate.
It's seems that are Jekyll/Hyde Horticos: the good one and the bad one. I've bought there for the past 20+ years, because they usually stock varieties I can't find anywhere else. And sometimes I've had plants delivered that I couldn't possibly improve on--big, plump roots carefully wrapped and still moist. But other times...one year instead of 3 Ballerinas, they sent me one B. and 2 Sally Holmes, all tagged as Ballerina. Two years ago my order was missent to San Diego, and 3 weeks later arrived in CT, totally dessicated. To their credit, they are replacing the 3 that died, out of 4--but only after insisting that they're packed to survive at least 3 weeks! Well, good luck with that. I vowed never to return. But then, when I couldn't locate City of York anywhere (Googling hard), guess who had it. The grower you love to hate.
Tilling up the entire bed and mixing in some compost is what I would do if I could do it easily. Putting a good layer of mulch on the surface every spring helps too. It breaks down over time and helps the soil and it helps keep the soil moist.
RRD is probably more common in knockout than other roses since knockouts tend to be bushier and healthier than other roses. I've found RRD to be more common on healthy roses than sick ones. If you spot RRD early, you typically don't need to get rid of the entire bush. Cut the infected cane down about a foot below where the RRD symptoms appear and most of the time the bush will be OK. If you have it in more than one location, then get rid of the bush as the infection is probably systemic.
I was at a pagoda in Northern Virginia a couple of weeks ago and they had maybe 15 rose bushes. All of them had RRD. Some were almost 100% infected. I tried to tell them they needed to get rid of all the bushes and then wait a few weeks before planting new ones. They just smiled. I'm not sure if they'll do anything.
I have abt. 8 KO roses and count on them for constant color...however, be aware that they are a magnet for Chili-thrips... they are my 'canary in the coal-mine', and it gets so bad in the summer I was ready to rip them out! I attended a meeting at FSC in Lakeland of the rose society, and we discussed what to do, the advice was Imidicloprid...Bayer makes a product both liquid and granular that you apply in March, it's good for 12 months...so I am going to try it..on the KOs also Belinda's Dream and the Don Juans, and several other roses that Chili-thrips love....it's strange because I now have roses that are not bothered by them, mostly China, Noisette, some old Teas.... so we shall see how it goes, I sure hope this stuff works I don't want to dig up any of my garden....sally