21,401 Garden Web Discussions | Roses



Pair of thin gloves and squish. Any leaf with a hole I put thumb on leaf topside and first finger on underside and draw towards me--usually always some green goo. They are so small and hard to see it's not worth looking for them but if there are holes they are there.

I share your pain, Mori. For many decades, oleanders have been the go-to, all purpose, cast iron shrub in these parts. Once established, the require virtually no water. They're always in flower. They can be left alone to do their thing and look acceptable without pampering. NOTHING eats them due to their toxicity. They exploded back into growth and flower after a chainsaw attack. Since the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter made its way across country from the south and began spreading the oleander specific version of Pierce Disease (grapes), the Oleander Leaf Scorch has decimated them all over the place. Many sources simply won't carry them anymore. There really isn't anything to suitably take their places for color, erosion control, many months long color, durability, privacy, etc. Not that I really LIKE them, but having such a versatile tool taken from your repertoire really puts a dent in things. Kim

"Fortunately, there are varieties of grapes which, to date, have appeared to be immune and resistant to Pierce's Disease. You may not be able to obtain the exact wine you seek, but there should be SOME sort of "grape booze" to satisfy you."
This is true. But were I to substitute the word 'roses' for 'grapes' in the above phrase, I just don't think it would bring great cheer here.
There are, apparently, a few resistant roses, but as with grapes, there will be significant sadness and loss because of the mentioned diseases.



I grew rugosas in Rockport MA and agree with roseseek. All of the nurseries on the north shore sell primarily plain old rugosas, not named hybrids. Red seems to be the most common, maybe it likes the cold. I was about half a block from the shore, not pure sand, but average back yard soil for the area. I added mulch and bagged manure to the planting hole but probably didn't need it. There were ancient looking rugosas flourishing all over the neighborhood in yards that are often untended for months at a time.


It depends on the dirt, I think :) I was just digging in one of my beds and I'd definitely use that dirt in a pot. It's fine and drains so well, but it used to be clay, so it also holds moisture. I love that dirt.
I usually mix my regular dirt (more clay and not so nice), potting soil, and peat moss for containers. I like the microorganisms and stuff that's in my real soil, and the clay is nice if it's mixed with other things.
Drift roses sound pretty vigorous, so I'd probably just watch and see how they do. If the rose were a wimpy variety, I might worry. You said 'good garden dirt' so you probably avoided the really bad ideas, like my brick-making clay with no amendments :)


I should mention that it was just this year that the mite has been proven to spread RRV.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg0516471625225.html
"This is the first time P. fructiphilius has been proven to transmit RRV and the subsequent development of typical RRD provides evidence that RRV is the causal agent of RRD."
Here is a link that might be useful: tink to earlier thread

Well, I can speak from experience abt. spreading 'whatever'...several years ago we had over a week of drizzle and gloom, so I took advantage of the cooler weather and stormed around the garden pruning and cutting, etc. with no regard for sterilizing my clippers.... a lot of my roses soon chastised me by dying, they had contracted canker.. and I was spreading it by not dipping my clippers in alcohol.... now I religiously 'dip and clip..dip and clip', I carry a coffee-can w.alcohol and dip-dip-dip after each clip..... the can is large enough I can carry 2 clippers and rotate them so they get a soak.... when I'm done I just put the lid back on the can.... and have not had any more canker..... bleach only causes everything to rust.....and Lysol is too pricey.....plain cheap rubbing alcohol works, full strength, and can be used over and over.....sally

There are about five plants, and I think two are the originals. Those two have a large rootbase. The other three I believe spread from the original and are smaller. There were more plants but I removed some when I took them over since there seemed to be too many too close together. The majority of the long canes are still thinner-- my parents used to just hack them back to keep them from sprawling out into our gangway, so these are growth since I took them over. They're quite long though, some have probably reached 10 feet.
I'm not sure what you mean by repeat-- do you mean do they rebloom? If so, no. At least not at any point that I can remember. They were always prolific bloomers though, even back when they were growing wild and mangled yearly by my parents cutting them back.
When I took the bed over (it's a small strip bed between the gangway and garage), I dug it out and weeded it (it was a mess of nightshade tangled with a knot of rose canes), detangled the canes and pruned out dead canes, then I made a trellis with wire and nails on the side of the garage, and wove the canes onto the wire. I also mulched the bed and fertilized in the spring with a 10-10-10 time released fertilizer.
They grew like mad after that. Since then I added more levels to the trellis. They go up to the top of the garage now. Lots of new growth, and other than the mildew next to no troubles. Last year was the first year I remember them ever having mildew, but it's possible that they did and we just didn't notice the way they were kept before.

Immature plants can easily become infected with any sort of fungal issues. Brunner and all of her variants are about as disease resistant as any other rose could hope to be in most situations and conditions. I agree, it sounds as if they don't require more water due to the weather conditions you've been experiencing. In our climates, usually when something as bullet proof as this contracts anything, it's likely due to insufficient water or having been severely pruned. Might these have been significantly cut back in the past year? Removing too much of the wood and foliage mass can also inhibit the plant's immune system due to reduction of food storage and production. Often, permitting them to rebuild that mass helps over come the infection. I guess it is possible that cultivar could simply be prone to mildew due to your conditions (air flow, sun exposure, climate, etc.). It's just one which is not susceptible to any of those issues here in much of SoCal, so it's surprising to hear of it misbehaving elsewhere. Kim


I grow Rock & Roll and Scentimental. Scentimental is always a white rose with red stripes for me, but Rock & Roll starts off in spring and fall as a red rose with white splashes and stripes and fades to the red & pink color as it ages. When the summer heat really sets in, Rock & Roll opens as a red rose with a few pink splashes and stripes. It does always smell wonderful and the red doesn't burn or blue in the sun, but the stripes and splashes just aren't as distinctive.


The first two blooms opened up much more coral orange with just cream shading at base, but the rest of the blooms opened as I was hoping for...creamy white with the coral orange edging. My pics don't do the coral color justice...it's not as red as my pics appear. They are small blooms...maybe 2 1/2 inches...I don't have Dick Clark, so not sure on comparison there. I have seven blooms so far on a bare root planted three months ago. It's been in the upper 80's and low nineties with full out sun since she first opened and first bloom that opened is just now starting to wilt a bit. The foliage is really very green...apple green. The contrast looks great.


My new 'Darcy' seems to have thicker canes than yours. We've had only the most mild and gentle weather here, so no test of their strength. Is it possible yours got too much N fertilizer such that the canes formed were soft and weak? Just wondering.
I use an inexpensive wire tomato cage for small, floppy young roses. That seems to support the canes well without having to provide a stake for each cane and doesn't show much. Then when the rose is older and stronger I take a wire cutter and just cut the cage away and out.

Hoovb -- I think you are right. Being a newbie, I made the mistake of allowing Darcy to get plenty of sun while overwintering it in the garage. Due to the cold snaps we have had here this past spring, poor Darcy, which leaved out too earlier to start with, has had a lot of cold damages once it was moved out of the garage. It suffered more "winter" damage than a Tea that is planted in the ground/did not have any winter protection. I had to prune away a lot more than I would like. I agree that the canes being so brittle has something to do with the exuberant new growth. I only fertilized with Rosetone and fish emulsion, but might have been a little too liberal with the amount applied....
Thanks



Lola, I suspect there are various fungi that cause cane spots, and some of them are harmless, some not. For example, black spot makes red cane spots which carry the disease over the winter. I know I have also had spots from some other cause. I stopped worrying about it some years ago, and nothing bad has happened.
Okay, the mystery is solved I believe and I am not very happy. It is the story of two gardeners who don't see much of each other....
My husband is working the night shift seven days a week right now and I am helping my mother who has not been well for some time during the day. Apparently he sprayed some insecticide hoping to get rid of the green worms which have been heavy this year and doing some rather unsightly damage and those would be chemical burns on the new growth.
I appreciate everybody's input and I am going to quit reading about rose diseases now and just continue on as I always have and hide the sprayer from my husband. The Medallion will come back but it will be a while before it resembles it's former self. Spraying the Malathion on top of what my husband did has resulted in some burn on all my roses now, some more then others. I am going to just remove the worst of it and tell them I am sorry and let them recuperate. I got rid of the two miniatures which have worried me for the last year. They were not anything special anyway and they sure had a nasty case of perpetual powdery mildew. It seemed very resistant to any course of action I tried to take over the last year and I don't have room for harboring sick roses. That was odd because I have never had that problem with a rose.
I am glad to find this site and have really appreciated the feedback.