21,402 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

Kitty, your pictures are beautiful. The retaining wall with shorter roses in front should finish off that area beautifully. I hope we'll see pictures when that area is finished. I'll be interested to find out what smaller roses you'll choose. Some of the short Austins and polyanthas would be lovely, or roses like Sweet Chariot, Blue Mist or Vineyard Song. You probably already have some great ideas of your own.
Ingrid


Thanks for the complements on the Mme Plantier/Geranium combo. Actually, when I did it, I wasn't even thinking about combos. I was thinking this is a boring rose 11 months of the year -- what can I put here that will be interesting the rest of the time? Geraniums bloom year around here, so that was the plan. Mme. Plantier only does that blooming thing for one month in June, and I actually put the rose there to hide the shed -- which it does very well. So most of the time, the rose is just providing a ladder for the geranium to hide the shed.
But that picture was three years ago, and those plants still are co-existing there just fine with very little care of any kind. Mme. Plantier doesn't even require spraying for mildew which makes it a rarity here.
And Debbie, with the morning glories, my advice is to take the whole yard out -- herbicide -- and then start over. The problem at my mother's house is she wants to save the roses -- but it would have been SO much easier to blast the whole thing and then replant the roses. And wear gloves. Morning glory sap is a strong allergen through skin. (stuff I learnt the hard way).
This post was edited by kstrong on Thu, Apr 11, 13 at 10:27

Well, Hey, another northerner (exiled to genteel Cambridge from t'other side of the Pennines from you (Oldham!....and I am never going back).
So yep, in agreement with everyone - pretend they have been bare-rooted and treat them as such - in the ground, plenty of watering for this summer and a dose of something heavy on the potassium at the end of the summer. As for the blooms, there is logic in removing new buds....but, I find that roses which have got mature top growth and fairly thick canes are less fragile than new cuttings or baby first year roses - the stored energy in the canes will mitigate the lack of feeder roots and moreover, the rose seems to have an innate 'sense' for how much blooming growth it can comfortably sustain - in our shorter, milder climate, it will flower quite sparingly, if much at all. Queen Elizabeth is a tall and vigorous rose for us in the UK (must be a giant in California).

Camp....
Since I live further north and up in the mountains, I have a shorter growing season than when I lived in Socal. What an adjustment ... lol.
I found that I need to dis-bud all of my rose garden after the first rose curclio migrates into the garden and have found that the dis-budding does lead to stronger plants. That said, you brought up a very important point, and I do apologize. I should have qualified my post "in my climate". Thanks for the heads-up.
Smiles,
Lyn
PS... after I protected QE from deer last year, the rose jumped to 6' tall. We'll see what happens this year, since it is starting the season as a less "stressed" plant.


My 'Oshun' has survived -22F temps with no winter protection. I have found that once established, Oshun cannot make up its mind whether it wants to be a climber or a shrub...it has long canes that would take well to pillaring I think. I've grown 'Oshun' for 4 years...going on 5 now this Spring...and haven't had much dieback to speak of that I can recollect. I did find that it takes about 3 years to reach its growth potential.

Absolutely a nervous daddy, I agree with the teasing. Lol. I'm just going to let her do her thing for now and she now she turns out. Her blooms opening it looks like so I'm just going to let her be. I'll keep y'all updated. Thanks to all who had input!

Kittymoonbeam:
Are you talking about Peace on own root or grafted?? We bought a grafted Peace almost two years ago, it's been struggling and still less than 2', quite pathetic especially when compared to the vigorous Honor bought at the same time.
We've fertilized Peace, watched out for it, it doesn't seem to have any disease, but just won't grow. Hubby and I are wondering if we should dig it up and put in a pot, letting someone else take up the nice spot (I have three babies from Heirloom who seem to be doing great).


If you want to do a spray program then Rosemania has some good advice and protective gear. Please don't spray unless you are going to protect yourself. Blackspot is tough and needs tough chemicals to kill it. It hangs around on the stems and soil waiting to jump onto the leaves. Only certain sprays will kill it.
You can also encourage new vigorous growth of new leaves by feeding and watering, removing competing weeds and putting down a heavy mulch layer to cover up anything hanging around on the soil.
Some roses are more likely to get blackspot than others and some years are worse for blackspot than others.

Those of us who live in bad blackspot territory (which Houston is) have the choice of selecting from the most resistant 1% of roses (and you can't trust catalog claims) or spraying. Spraying the Bayer Advanced fungicide containing only tebuconazole will stop the disease and keep your roses clean, but only if you reapply every two weeks. The exact product name is Bayer Advanced Disease Control for Roses, Flowers, and Shrubs. Don't accept anything else. Get a one-gallon pump-up tank sprayer with a spray wand.
The other thing is pruning and training. Your climbers will look much better and bloom much more if the canes are arched semi-horizontally and tied down to the fence. Remove a fraction of the oldest canes each year to encourage production of new canes from the base. Give them fertilizer and water.


Body bags are hit or miss. I used to buy them and I still have a few in my yard. But many of them were virused and even if they did well the first year or two and bloomed, they would succumb to disease or winterkill (which is hard to do in my zone). I admit, I'm always tempted when I see them, but unless it's something very rare, I'd pass.
It's not that Costco sells bad stuff, but most people don't understand that the roses that are sold in bags are an inferior product than other ways to buy roses and are most likely what can't be sold to more discerning rose buyers. Hence the very low price.
And if you do buy bagged roses, soak them for a while before you plant. They've been in those bags for a long time with no water.

What you mainly have to worry about is the roots are likely to go in that direction because the soil is normally less compact directly around a pipe so as the roots look for places to grow to they naturally look for the direction of least resistance. The roots than can wrap around the pipe corroding the pipe which in turn can cause damange. Personally I would move the rose. If you call your gas company they will come out and stay with you as you remove the rose, and make sure where you move it to there are no pipes. While they are there they can show you where they pipes travel around your home so you will know in the future where you can dig, and where you can't. Normally the do this as a service, there is no cost.



I've never used it, but last year I saw something at Walmart that claimed to work as a mulch stabilizer. It's a spray that supposedly holds mulch in place without compromising water and air movement (ummmm, yeah, right). I have NO idea if it works, but you might check into it. It was called Barkbinder, or something similar.
John






No plastic bags for frost covers. I made the mistake once of covering plants with plastic tarps and had worse damage than the places where I didn't cover at all. If the plastic is touching the plant in any place it will freeze and burn the plant. Everything under that tarp was black (and died) when I pulled it off. The things outside the cover were only a little crisp around the edges and survived. Sheeting provides the needed cover but if it touches the plants won't transmit the cold and damage them.
Thank you, Seil. That has never happened to me! Wonder if it is because the dry cleaner bags are very light weight and I always remove them first thing in the morning. I find them really useful for the budded out tops of my tree roses. I would CRY if those were damaged.