22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

We have never deadheaded our Knock Out rose - more than ten years old now . We do occasionally trim out the spent clusters on our Pink Double KO and our Blushing KO because they are much more visible from the walkway and we try to keep them looking neat. We haven't noticed any difference in the repeat cycle either way

In fact, we don't do much pruning at all with any of them - just maintenance.

I think it's mainly a matter of personal preference. It is nowhere near as critical for them as it is with the HTs, floribundas. climbers, and the like.

Thank you all for your input and suggestions.

huh?

I'm not sure if that'd be a joke or a silent wish for death........

Well, the second round of buds are coming on my Peace and JFK roses. I am now thinking that I had a senior moment in remember which bush I placed where.

I'm starting to agree that my picture posted in this thread is actually the Peace Rose, as the new blooms on the other rose look more like JFK this time around.

I am so annoyed with myself.

Scott in PA

Scott, thanks for the first laugh of the day! enjoy your roses wherever they are planted.

Navy Lady is very dark and very hardy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Navy Lady on HMF

This past Sunday, Bayses Purple looked fantastic at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in deep shade. It was covered with flowers. The previous times I saw it I thought it was pretty sparsely flowered, but now it has reached a mature old age and is doing its thing, I guess.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bayses Purple in a German catalog

I planted it a few month ago, and it has not budded yet. I did get to see a few specimans at the Rockfeller Rose Garden in the Bronx in full bloom: they look great. However, because of the name, I have high expectation for this rose. But what I saw is a tad ordinary. I am sure they are great roses, but I serectly was hoping for something with a little more that extra something because of the name....

Beth, FM is one of the few light roses I have that the thrips did not seem to like.

Roses from nurseries in places where BS is prevalent will all end up with BS because they don't spray. By the time you see it it will be too late but you can stop it in its' tracks by spraying. Buy the best bud union with the most and strongest looking canes and assume there is BS and begin spraying immediately.

Even where and when BS isn't an issue, it often will be in a nursery setting. No matter how good the cultural practices are, the plants are going to be stressed, impairing their immune systems. Crowding together in nursery rows fosters the perfect conditions for stressed plants to fall victim to the issues. Only in the absolute best of conditions can diseases be reduced without chemical intervention and those are rare, indeed. In Visalia, at Sequoia Nursery, black spot was seldom an issue anywhere in the nursery, except for the sales area where the plants were immature, stressed in too-small pots and crowded together either in green houses or out under shade cloth, all of which tremendously raising the humidity. Even when sprayed regularly, enclosing the plants inside boxes which raised the humidity even more, created the perfect Petri dishes for the fungi to germinate and proliferate.

If the diseases are that great an issue where you are, you may have to resort to spraying. Fortunately, where I am, they aren't. I have often been able to reduce, even eliminate the problems by defoliating new plants I bring into the garden and placing them in filtered light until they push new foliage. Not a 'cure all' but it has definitely worked quite well for many years and without anything smelly, expensive, potentially dangerous and toxic nor requiring the effort of actually DOING the spraying. Kim

BD is tallish but wider than tall here. The wall is 6' tall.

My Quietness only gets about 3 1/2 to 4 feet high but can spread 5 ft easy. This picture is kind of deceptive because you can't see how deep it really is.

Tammy, I am going from 10 acres to 1 acre, LOL. We are moving 15 mins away. I hope someone chimes in. I can't wait till mine go dormant unfortunately and I am not much good at rooting lately.

Traditionally, before the technology of refrigerating them was developed, most new roses were planted as bare-roots in the late fall. Transplanting roses as bare-roots is much the easiest way to do it. In your zone, there is a risk that a warm December could cause roses to grow out, freeze back, and deplete the plants or even kill some of them. However, that's the way I'd do it, as opposed to the expense and labor of potting. Just dig them with 12" roots and canes, strip all leaves, label them and bag them. Store in the shade until you can plant. They should keep well at temperatures mostly between 25 and 40 degrees Remove any growth buds that break before spring. After planting, spray the canes with dormant-strength Wilt Pruf.

Dr. Earth #3 is 5% N, alfalfa is 3% N. So you could use a cup of DE or 1.5 cups of alfalfa every couple of months during seasons of active growth. Either would have about the same effect. Half-life of slow N is about 6 months. It takes 2-3 weeks to get going, depending on temperature. Blood meal would be for a booster.

Thanks. I think I will continue using Dr. E every 6 to 8 weeks, then a couple of TBSPs of bloodmeal only occasionally. I will post the results (photos) in a month or two.

Thank you all for the help. I'm having a great time with these beauties.

andrea

Thanks, Jackie! I hadn't noticed this pattern occurring until this thread popped up, but it makes sense to gradually encourage the main cane to put out basals rather than cut off the whole top-heavy thing at once. I'll have to try that this year!

Cynthia

One thing I do with them, especially when they are on small cluster flowered roses like hybrid musks, is cut the entire thing off and use it as a ready-made flower arrangement in a vase. If you have two that is even better!

Jackie

Thanks, Kippy.

I am kind of hesitant about digging a trench because of the 60 year old red maple tree located right where the gophers are showing up in my yard. I know nothing is fool proof, but I don't want a second gopher colony in my yard.

Smiles,
Lyn

Save your pet poop and flush it into the gopher holes. Instant fertilizer and a real offense to the varmints. VERY satisfying, too! hehehe Kim

I love this rose. I have two and they are a joy. Your R&R is beautiful. Wish it had more scent, but a real winner for me. Thanks for sharing. lesley

Hmmm. Mine does have scent. Not from feet away, but it's got a good sniff to it. Maybe I'm happy with less strength of scent than you are? Also, while my deck does get hot (hottest spot on the property) it starts to cool off as the shade line creeps out, so maybe my scent lasts better than it does at your house. It's supposed to hit 81 today here, but my deck will possibly be 85 for a short time and then start to chill off considerably, and that's IF it ever gets that warm...

Oh RATS. Rats x 10. I'm so paranoid about bugs on my roses that I just went and killed it, and if it had been anywhere but on the rose with something I (stupidly) didn't recognize as a spider egg sac, and some munching evidence, I'd have patted it on the head and let it go on its merry way. I hope I get credit in life for all of the spiders I haven't killed.

Thanks. :( Better go google pictures of rose pests.

The good news is that I have never, ever, had only one garden spider in the garden - you will see more, and now you will know what they look like and to leave them alone. Sometimes I even go around by a different path when I encounter one of their large webs across a path. Of course, if the web is blocking one of our doorways I just gently pick up part of it, and try to move the indignant spider to one side.

Jackie