22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses


Thank you ladies very much! It's done really well next to the deck where I thought I would have problems with fungus. Seems pretty tough, I hope it continues to do well.
Also, nanadoll, thanks for the compliment on my photography...I use my cell phone of all things, because I don't have a digital camera. These new phones are really something else!

Just about everything said so well above resonates with me, except for mirendajean's tenacity in nursing back roses from the brink of disaster. I've been all too ready to send unhappy roses to rose heaven, usually without regret, but not always. Lack of patience is one of my faults, and that's why I've always said I'm not a gardener in the true meaning of the word.
What can I add to the above? Almost nothing really, that would apply to all gardeners. One quality applies to me, and it is my driving force, but I'm sure I'm not alone in this. It's a vision I hold deep in my heart of creating an earthly paradise that is uniquely mine, which will satisfy all my senses and make me eager to go outside every morning and make it the last place I long to see before it's dark at night. Sometimes, in a few magic hours or days, I feel I've come close to my vision. It's always fleeting, and soon the weather, disease and non-performing roses blur the picture. But the memory lingers and I keep on trying.
Maybe that's a sort of patience after all.
Ingrid

I had to chuckle, reading your post, Ingrid. Perhaps the "persistent vision" in the face of frequent opposition is a type of "self delusion"? I think we've all pretty much faced that kind of opposition. Diseases which appear from nowhere and refuse to be controlled. Vermin which seem almost supernatural, appearing out of the blue and disappearing back into it after munching the roots, flowers, hips or canes, leaving only their handiwork as evidence. Promised rains which never materialize. Yet, in our optimistic delusion, we stubbornly soldier on in hopes of creating reality of that vision! I devour the sumptuous photos of densely planted borders, full of texture and color. I have to keep reminding myself they can only exist where there is actual "soil" and the rain totals significantly more than about a foot a year, many recent years, only a fraction of that. Kim

I got my plant from Hortico several yrs ago, and it got off to kind of a slow start. But it seems to be a pretty consistent bloomer now, if I keep it deadheaded. It's is in a giant ceramic pot next to a metal arbor and has taken to climbing up and over the arbor. The blooms were a good bit larger than usual this yr. So maybe it just takes some time to get established & do its thing

Here's a alfalfa recipe...
Manure Tea
Cow tea, Alfalfa Tea and Fish Emulsion solutions still work the best with roses of all types, including Miniatures. The mixtures feed the soil, supporting the organisms that convert nutrients into forms available to plants. A long chain but a simple one. Food value is built in as well, but the primary boost comes from activating the soil organisms. If you don't have access to natural manures to use for a tea you can make an artificial manure. It can't burn and tiny root hairs love it. If you haven't brewed up one of the teas, your roses haven't enjoyed a natural treat.
Equipment Needed:
32 gallon , leakproof , plastic garbage can with a TIGHT lid
Alfalfa mealor pellets [about 12 cups per barrel]
OR a 10 pound onion sack of cow chips or horse apples[sack of manure]
Fermenting Method:
Add the active ingredients to garbage can, fill nearly to the top with water and stir. Cover tightly. Let steep for 2-3 days, stir again. Recover. Stir and steep off-and-on for more than a week. the result will be a green fermentation solution with a foamy consistency. Its ready to apply. It also smells really bad
Application:
Use an old bucket to bail out a gallon or so per bush. Minis can use about half as much. Can safely be used every six weeks during the active growing season. Works great on all sorts of plants in containers. Leaves green up, new growth appears, bloom take on a richer hue. When the garbage can is nearly empty , there will be a rich sediment left. Fill with water, steep a day or two or so and apply again. One loading of organic will make two batches.
What Happens:
Alfalfa contains a growth hormone Tricontanol and organic base on which organisms can feed. Alfalfa meal or pellets broadcast or scratched in the soil do the same thing, but tea works much faster.
Fortified Tea:
This post was edited by jim1961 on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 21:15

Click on the link below for the American Rose Society Color Classes. Kim
Here is a link that might be useful: American Rose Society Color Classes

And after you read that remember that there are many shades and blends of each class too. Mauves are different shades of purple. There is NO BLUE roses so do not get taken in by adds for roses of that color. There is one called The Green Rose but it doesn't really have green petals . Instead it has a large cluster of sepals. For some strange reason it's classed as white?

Have you checked out the possible causes of collapse that I described? Jeri is not telling you to uproot the plant, but to pull on it to see if it has any roots.
The wilting is a different issue from the single cane, but the single cane suggests something is wrong with the site or the cultural practices, or else this plant is somehow a dud.

If you haven't done any kind of spraying than it has to be some type of root ball issue. Do check to see if it's still firmly rooted or not.
I have brought back a one cane wonder to a decent plant by digging it out and potting it so I could give the best sun and attention. It requires a lot of patience though and isn't always successful. But if the root ball has been destroyed there probably isn't much hope.


It appears from my interpretation of the 2 videos that I linked to earlier in this thread that it would be safest to consider that previous diagnosis not based on the transfer by grafting technique should be considered suspect until more experience with the PCR test is obtained. It would be nice to have pictures of the 6 failures that they mentioned and pictures of future failures and future positives.

Sounds good. If you do like Cecile Brunner for the bed next to your house (where this one is now), the bush form is very mannerly - I have had two of them for 10 years, and both of them are only 4-5 feet tall. You could replace your house eater with a BUSH Cecile.
Beware, though. There is a THIRD form of Cecile Brunner (they just proved this recently with DNA analysis) which is called "spray Cecile Brunner" - it gets much bigger. Good Luck!~
Jackie

I don't really want more than one of them. I like it, and THIS one plant of it has significance to me since I bought it the day after my daughter ran away from home and the day my father died (NOT a fun 24 hours...) but one thorny wonder of it is enough. I'll get something else to replace it that blooms more for me than this one does (it's only repeated when it lived for a time in a rather hot San Jose yard) with bigger blooms.
That will be fun pondering!
Melinda

I work in a garden center that carried KO, as well as a few others. Usually they are just super neglected and also suffering from the effects of shipping - and sometimes being left in the refrigerated trucks for too long. Many end up developing black spot and other problems.
That being said, I've bought a few clearance roses (HTs and Floribundas) that had an assortment of problems. I pruned the problem leaves, gave it a spray, and watered well. I haven't fed them yet, but after a week they seem to have significantly recovered and are putting out new growth. I'll probably feed this week and have high hopes they'll recover nicely.
I've heard the KOs, especially the climbers and carpets really take off.


Fungicide spraying is preventative, not curative. You have to spray BEFORE it gets bad.
After about ten years of growing GC, I would note the following:
1. GC is quite vulnerable to black spot, as mine gets it here where black spot is pretty uncommon and mild, while 95% of my other roses never show a spot.
2. GC doesn't like hard pruning, so take off as little as you can. It forms a nicely shaped plant without much correction needed, just deadhead to keep it blooming.
3. GC has truly nasty prickles--I never go near it without gloves.


'Harison's Yellow' is not actually a climber, but it is a pretty rank grower so if there is something nearby it will probably clamber over it..
It's really a "plant it and forget it" rose - almost a species (although technically it is a hybrid). It's one of the feature roses of the Heritage Rose District of NYC- it was originally discovered there back in the early 1800's. It does tend to sucker a lot, so if you plant it in your garden, keep that in mind. Otherwise, it's easy and not particular at all.
In fact. it was so easy that cuttings were carried west by the early settlers and you see it all over now. So it certainlycould be the one from your childhood.
Some people compare the "fragrance" to linseed oil, which is probably the closest description of it. Not your typical rose fragrance.





Henry,
If it was herbicide it would show up on other things too.But this bed was in a turf area off a sidewalk area and no Roundup used. When I saw it it had been on the plants for a few years. These plants were neglected.
I am seeing it all over town on Knockouts.My neighbor has a pink Knockout and I am keeping an eye on it!
Turf areas often have yearly weed and feed type applications.
The link below leads to the 2 videos (part 1 and part 2) that discusses the herbicide - rose rosette virus confusion problem.
Here is a link that might be useful: link for above