22,795 Garden Web Discussions | Roses
Voles tunnel only in soft humus or compost like the decomposing pine needle matting under pine trees. That's why they are called pine voles. Unless you have soil like that the problem isn't voles but you can easily find out. Dig a bit in your beds and look for tunnels. They'll be only one or two inches deep. I'm guessing that the main anchor roots are dead and the rose is getting by with hair roots close to the surface. And BTW, I found that the best weapon against voles was my cats. They can find them easily and dig them up and they love to eat them.
I've had this problem in heavy clay. as well. Maybe it has to do with soil compaction? I have a large Mme Alfred C annd she suddenly started dying back, getting funny growth. I was afraid she'd ben hit wih RRD (I had a big wave of it) but the growth wasn't quite right. Then this Oct I had the garage she was leaning against rebuilt and in pulling her away I discovered she was loose as could be. There just wasn't any soil in the hole, just a layer on top and big air pockets below. I packed good soil back in and I hope she will revive this spring.
I've had this problem of air pockets often on roses I have bought in nurseries. When they pot up bareroots, they don't pack the soil down. After it's been planted and the nursery soil starts to settle it leaves air pockets. With clay, the surrounding soil is so rigid it doesn't break down and "flow" together, so it's like planting in a pot.
Did you read the next post in that blog? When you stick to organics, you're feeding the soil for the long-term, which allows the plants to get long, slow feeds. When you use synthetics, you're feeding the plants more directly, yes, but that's essentially all you're doing. If your garden gets all the plant nutrients via synthetics, you're likely missing out on the other benefits of a good, active "live" soil -- beneficial fungi and nematodes, larger populations of earthworms which keep the soil turning, etc. While you do miss out on some of those benefits in a pot, by "seeding" your potting mix with active soil from the garden or compost pile, you can still get "good stuff" happening in there.
:-)
~Christopher
Here is a link that might be useful: GardenMyths: what is the real value of organic fertilizer
This post was edited by AquaEyes on Fri, Feb 7, 14 at 20:38
Hi all,
My roses are about 10 months old but they are more like 4 months old because they were in water logged soil and almost died. Right now they are recovering nicely and the roots were poking out of 1 gallon containers. Half of them now are in miracle gro moisture control mix and the other half are in self-made peat moss and compost mix. I suspect those in the miracle gro mix will need fertilizing soon as we are getting a lot of rain lately and the ones in peat moss mix will probably need fertilizing now. I will add plant tone and compost as per Christopher's suggestion. Hopefully it will kick in on time for those in miracle gro mix.
You might find the attached history interesting. I think it is accurate, at least as of October 2011, and I don't know that much of anything has changed since then. Zary was at Gardens Alive at that time, and still is.
Here is a link that might be useful: Financial History of J&P
It will wake up the roses so they smell better!
But putting the grounds into a compost pile as suggested is likely the best idea to neutralize whatever is in the grounds, caffeine or not.
I would think that any caffeine would have dissipated into your cup of Joe. So you can go out and smell the roses!
I'm appalled, Susan. The web site of my nursery has all sorts of angels, prayers, good will, sweetness and light. But the person who answered the phone, who was also the one who did the mailing, was outraged and hateful that I would complain about receiving a potted rose, fully leafed out, when temperatures were in the single digits.
Overhead irrigation does not, in itself, cause blackspot. It may go some way to create the conditions necessary for infection but, although I don't know the exact infection cycle of diplocarpon rosae(Blackspot), I do know that precise conditions need to be met for successful sporulation and infection of most fungal pathogens. Late blight (phytopthera infestans) in potatoes require a very precise set of temperature, humidity conditions, over a prescribed time for the fungal spores to germinate and penetrate the plants cellular system. These conditions are known as 'Smith Periods' and can be predicted since the cycle takes place over 2 consecutive days with minimum temperature of 10 ðC and 10 hours of relative humidity higher than 90% on the first day and 11 hours of relative humidity higher than 90% on the second day.
Presumably, blackspot fungus also requires particular conditions which are not likely to be met with a sprinkler system operating in normal daylight hours or for periods of time less than several hours. I would not let this situation be a reason for failing to enjoy growing roses....although there are roses with a higher resistance than others....and this can be both fun and exasperating, in discovering which roses do well for you.
The one main difference between my experience growing roses in CT where BS is a fact of life and here in SoCal where there is no BS, is humidity. Water on the foliage dries but humidity persists. Also, from experience, you don't need rain to get BS in CT. It will arrive right on schedule in the spring if you don't spray. It may even be that rain makes no difference at all or perhaps it is beneficial because it washes off the spores. I think if constant humidity is there at whatever level is necessary, there will be BS. I don't think watering practices have anything to do with it.
I have just finished cutting all of mine back, including the climbers. Got them sprayed last week with dormant oil. We can still have a hard freeze in MARCH. We are @3400 and anything can happen. If we get a freeze then some of the new growth will shrivel and burn, but they still will come back. This year I had to remove the leaves because of the weather being so warm they didn't want to loose them.
Camp Verde AZ
'Pretty Jessica' is doing very well in my garden even though it is planted in a fairly difficult spot (palm root competition and too much shade). Mannerly size, lovely globular, wonderfully fragrant blooms.
'The Prince' is getting a little bit of powdery mildew here from time to time, but it is forgiven because of its absolutely gorgeous, velvety, dark crimson, very fragrant blooms. One of the smaller Austins.
My absolute favorite though is 'Charles Darwin'. I grow two in big containers and they are incredible floriferous. I love the always changing yellow color of the blooms (from mustard yellow, to a very pale one, to a yellow with a slightly apricot touch and anything in between). My bushes are completely healthy. They show signs that they might have outgrown their containers. My guess is once in the ground, they will become really big roses.
'Heritage', only in the ground for one year, but I am not too impressed so far. The color of the rose is mostly a pale apricot-pink here (not the cool light, pale pink, that I had hoped for), which I don't like so much. The blooms shatter very fast and the bush gets some powdery mildew.
'Mary Rose', one of the earliest roses to bloom in my garden. I love the bloom form. My rose is growing in a big container and gets some mildew from time to time.
All my roses are grown own-roots.
Good idea for a threat. I love to compare notes on how the Austins are doing in CA!
Christina
I am right by the bay and we have cool summers (temperatures rarely get into the 70s). My garden is no-spray. Powdery mildew is a menace here and anthracnose and cercospora trouble the roses that are prone to "spotting".
Belle Story - grafted. 10+ years. Spring and fall flushes with smattering of blooms in between. Good health but is prone to cercospora spots in summer. It has earned its place in my small suburban garden because of its enchanting and breath-taking blooms. Great fragrance, as well.
Molineux - I have 2. Own root (4th year) and grafted (10+ years). Always in bloom. Good health. My workhorses. Can be pruned to stay 4-5 feet.
Geoff Hamilton - own root; 5th year. Gorgeous blooms but a once-bloomer in my garden. I have seen it grown grafted in a warmer summer area where it has 3 big flushes.
Crown Princess Margareta - own root in its 4th year. Good spring flush and then all she wants to do is throw out long thin thorny (she has drawn blood) canes; I have almost no rebloom from her. I am tired of constantly hacking her back in attempts to control her exuberant growth. A few miles inland, a CPM, grafed and grown as a shrub, is almost constantly in bloom. CPM will be gone from my garden after this spring.
Mary Rose - own root; 4th year. So far, she is staying small. Great fragrance, good rebloom and healthy plant. A favorite.
Abraham Darby - own root, 4th year. I am trying to grow it as a small climber. It is generous of bloom and has decent health. The blooms leave something to be desired (mine don't always look like the pics on HMF) and I would replace it with a better rose but for its fragrance...
Young Lycidas - grafted, 4th year. Good repeat and blooms are very fragrant. Color is lovely - magenta-purple with a silvery sheen. Foliage is, well, weird. Crinkley and appears diseased but is not. Needs staking as the canes are pencil-thin and can't hold the heavy blooms.
Strawberry Hill - grafted; 3rd year. Gorgeous, fragrant blooms in shades of pink, peach and lilac depending on the weather. Generous of bloom. Prone to mildew and rust in my garden. (I hadn't seen rust in my garden before). Nasty, wicked thorns that snag. I grow it as a small climber and I am hoping it becomes more disease resistant with age as its foliage when not mildewed or looking like cheetos is absolutely lovely.
The Wedgwood Rose - Grafted; 3rd year. This rose has me baffled. I get 4 flushes but each flush has only 3-4 blooms. The size of blooms have ranged from the size of a quarter to 4 inches. Completely disease-free....of course.
The following were added to my garden in March last year, so too early for me to cast judgement but I am adding my observations on health and bloom. All are grafted.
Princess Anne - lovely shade of magenta-pink. Much admired by visitors. I can't detect a fragrance but most others say it is strong and very pleasant. Good-looking shrub. Canes are covered in thorns but they are not vicious. Stopped blooming after October.
Wollerton Old Hall - lovely blooms. Great fragrance. Bloomed well into December. Is my favorite of the new four.
Lady Emma Hamilton - would grow it for the fragrance alone. Plant appears to be healthy and repeat seems to be very good. I think you will enjoy having her, FJ.
Princess Alexandra of Kent - big blooms with a color range of pink and coral. Fragrance is iffy but, when there, it is pleasant. Has been constantly in bloom and is blooming now. Unfortunately, prone to powdery mildew. It's in an east facing bed and I will be moving it to a south-facing one to see if I can keep the PM in check. Also, the blooms have a tendency to ball so I am hoping the south side will help in that regard as well. (I try not to get roses with a high petal could but I guess I wasn't paying attention when I ordered this one.) FJ - I think getting her own root is probably a good idea. Mine is already 7 feet wide.
Jo
Wollerton Old Hall
Is this an indoor space? Or is this the garage. I am confused because of the fridge. This area looks perfect for that system. I also like kitty's suggestions.
I am not gifted in the storage department. Every piece I have is covered with stuff, and my garage looks like a thermonuclear event took place.
I am envious of people who have that knack for making storage areas look cool and functional. That is not me. But the orange is very cheerful,
If the roses are well established and in good condition (and those are big ifs), my experience is that roses will survive unprotected even the worst winters at least where we lived in Z6b Connecticut. It is not really the severity of the winter that matters. The damage is caused if either the onset of cold is so fast that the rose has not had sufficient time to prepare or if there is a warming spell that tricks the rose into thinking the cold is over and this is followed by a quick return to severe cold. Over the years I had quite a few that were tender like many of the yellows (Oregold, St. Patrick) that were killed to the ground but they almost always survived.
That is good news, henryinct. I am very worried about my 85 in the ground and even more worried about my tree roses in the garage. Even tho heated and attached. Those grafts are in 28 degree weather. Mine are all very healthy but this whole effort is a crap shoot.