21,401 Garden Web Discussions | Roses


It is rewarding. And I hope that by seeing me outside in my yard, more people in the neighborhood will start spending time enjoying theirs as well.
I have a neighbor down the street that has the most beautiful outdoor furniture, heavy wood swings and benches. I've been here a year and a half now and I've never once seen her sit on them.
I have enjoyed gardening since I was very young, my grandfather was a gardener.
I don't know how many people who never gardened in their youth get started when they are older, I hope to make some converts around here.

I haven't had tennis elbow from pruning (I did have shin splits from tennis when I played in high school and college though haha), but I have had what the doctor called a "morton's neuroma" in my digging foot! After a couple of months of severe foot pain when walking, I finally went to an orthopedic doctor and he did x-rays. What he found was a thickening of tissue on the nerve between two toes on my right foot, . He said it was caused by irritation or repetative force on that area of my foot and forms a sort of benign tumor. When he asked me if I did any activity that would cause pressure in that area....I said digging in the garden! Two cortizone shots into the nerve (and a lot of pain from the shots) later, it went away...and luckily hasn't come back!
Tammy

I wanted to post this earlier but had to get permission first. Oh, I wish I could write like this !
The author was a rose hybridizer and this was published in an older New Zealand Rose Journal. I hope you all laugh as much as I did when you read this.
Nola Murray. Wanganui Rose Society. Hybridising Hazards.
For all that raising roses at my age does have its disadvantages: I'm prone to all sorts of mechanical troubles. Back-ache! How I've learnt to live with that one! As the curtain rises on the germinating seeds, the act commences, and I'm at risk.
Each year the ground recedes at an alarming rate as the structure weakens at the seams. Later on, when I'm weeding, fact-facing and finding among the seedlings, giraffe-like, my legs adopt a sort of flared-out position, and nuts and bolts fly everywhere. Talk about the agony and the ecstacy!
My eyes take their share of punishment too. When like a bee, I zoom on to the stigmas, I need my glasses. I put them on, I pull them off and attack them furiously with hard rubbing, and lots and lots of huffing and puffing. I replace them only to find that I'm no better off. It's not the glasses; it's old age creaking up and not seeing eye to eye with me.
Why can't all roses be accommodating and have nice long stamens that I can cut off with a pair of scissors? Some stamens, with their hide-and-seek games, seem bent on destroying me. My eyes smart, and, as the bough bends, the back aches and my legs feel like inflated balloons about to burst, but, as I start my skid on the disaster course, knotheadedness saves the day and - drives me on. It's a battle I'm determined to win. Straightening up-and it's no easy matter coming from right angles to the perpendicular-I emit a groan, breathe out some explosive unmentionables, grit my teeth and bend to the attack again. No elusive stamen is going to foil me! When you lack an eye like an eagle and want to cross pollinate, you just have to put up with all sorts of steering column problems.
Smiles,
Lyn

It isn't one that I recommend for cooler climates, your mileage may vary. Mine is 15+ years in the ground, it is a one-caned wonder, I don't dig it out because I can't get to it easily. It can have a bud about to open when I leave for work, and then fully open with stamens showing when I come home in the evening. Gemini, with somewhat similar coloring, is much better.


So many times people come here for advice and have a sad rose that needs help. This just proves that with some basic care an old rose might just thrive again. It's always worth a try.
I talked with a neighbor whose daughter moved to Colorado (where Dixie bought a house) and said that Dixie is doing well and has a lovely garden. The old neighbors keep in touch with each other. Dixie was always so beautiful. She reminded me of Doris Day and she smiled and laughed and loved bright colors. All her roses in that bed were bold 60s-70s era roses.



My previously perfect SdlM did have blackspot a while ago, as did a surprising number of other roses, and it's now affected with mildew, as are quite a few others, including Mutabilis. I'm going to turn my head and pretend it isn't happening and hope the plant straightens itself out. The SdlM on the other side of the house has been affected by neither. Is this what they mean when they talk about the excitement of growing roses?
Personally, I don't spray and if a rose has constant problems or doesn't outgrow them it's history, and I try to find one that is better suited to my conditions.
Ingrid

Posted this last year and it has held true for me, the holes in the cut ends cause me no worries. I suppose in theory you could have a carpenter bee nesting in the cut end and sawfly larvae in the stem itself but they seem to be active at different times. If I recall, the sawfly larvae was much earlier in the season than the carpenter bees.
Here is a link that might be useful: borers

I think I should clarify that the bee tunnels are only 2 inches. I don't think the bees themselves hurt the canes below 2 inches.
But canes which were drilled have dead wood streaking down from the bee hole. It goes 8 to 15 inches down the cane. Think of looking down at a pie, and seeing 3 of the 8 slices are rotten. The other side of the cane (5 slices) are fine. Budding and growing.
It looks girdled. Pruning it out did not turn up any other holes.
Sometimes the dead wood continues into the graft--other times it stops a few inches above.
So far, all pruning of unpruned canes turned up no dead wood.
I have since pruned the pot ghetto and the situation is the same. Any roses which do not have holes in their canes, do not exhibit dead wood. It's consistent. all bored, no unbored.
The bore holes that are the most problematic are the ones which are at the graft--the stump of an old cane which was removed all the way down. The bees have burrowed right into the graft. In several cases the graft looks damaged from freeze --which being holey in winter didnt improve.
So- I do not think the bee bored beyond 2 inches- but for whatever reason, the canes they bored have problems that no other canes have.
So, I plan to prevent further holes in the canes.


I am growing Little Darling from a band and it is doing just great - need to repot. Dont know about fragrance yet. You will adore the color of Fragrant Apricot! I grew it long ago, cant recall about fragrance, but ordered it last fall from Roses Unlimited - it is growing great in a pot and I am about to plant it in the ground. I have Honey Perfume on order - grew that one at another home, its a lovely color that looks wonderful with purple. Just planted a young Livin Easy. It is a luscious shade of orange sherbert, but thorny. Color is wonderful! Angel Face is indeed very fragrant, but needs to be sprayed for blackspot. One of my favorite colors of roses - will probably try another one. I have Julio Iglesais on order - I recall it being very fragrant.


This late snowstorm so many are dealing with is such a pain. We just had an extra cold two weeks after a touch of spring, and everything stopped dead in its' tracks. I remember the lone Edmond's rose I received last year. It looked as you described--not super great, but not the worst. It was quite small, too. I probably wouldn't order from them unless I had to. Hortico did a good job of packing my roses, and they were very moist. I also think things were hung up at the Ag Station because once the roses started traveling, they actually made pretty good time. I'm just so far away. Well, thanks again, Tammy. I look forward to seeing some photos of your new roses. Diane

This must be why Palatine will only ship 3 day air to CA. That's a 50 dollar minimum for me. I want to find a friend to share an order with so we can split the shipping. I do like their plants very much but this year I ordered with Vintage to help them. That was 50 extra dollars I could spend at Vintage instead. But next year I want a Royal Ascot.

@ Jackie
Yep! It was said to have grown in Cagayan River according to Japanese records. Which is why one of its Japanese names is "Kakayan Bara" literally meaning Cagayan Rose. If I ever find myself somewhere near Cagayan, I'm gonna look for these rambling treasures.
It's too bad it doesn't do well in containers. Luckily I live near a river (a dead one but lots of plants grow wildly on its banks.) People here don't mind them much so I bet having R. bracteata grow on its banks would be ok as long as it is maintained. Few people are able to access the river's "banks" mainly because it is flanked by sides of houses so there's no danger of people getting pricked by R. bracteata's prickles.
What I really liked about R. bracteata is it's petals. They look like they have this pearl-like sheen. Are there other roses that have this sheen? Except maybe its hybrids like Mermaid of course. I'd like to breed this sheen to my roses in the future if I get the chance to grow these.

It's not just the sheen in bracteata's petals, it's the white-ness. Mine is more than a tenth of a mile from our house and I can see the blooms shining white against the deep green leaves, even though other whites just don't show up at this distance.

This site by Chapman University has all of Huell Howser's California programs. There are so many good ones but one of my favorites is the year Death Valley got it's hundred year heavy rain and the wildflowers bloomed like a colorful carpet there. There was even a lake which is hard to imagine if you have ever been there. If you ever had a lousy day and came home, you could watch one of his shows and feel better about the world.
Here is a link that might be useful: #125 Springtime in Death Valley
This post was edited by kittymoonbeam on Mon, Mar 25, 13 at 20:24

Well, I dont recall thinking it as thornless the first year. Or this year even. I just realized it when i was pulling hips off of it last week--that It wasnt catching me at all.
I looked it over and found 4, or was it 5?, thorns on the whole bush-- all on one basal branch set. Only a couple were normal thick hooks.
I'll look again tomorrow. I was rushing, maybe i missed more.
Or maybe next year all the branches will be thorny.??
If it indeed only has 4 or 5 thorns- on the whole bush this size- isnt that basically thornless/nearly so?

Just wanted to update that I think this rose must be the Easy Elegance rose" Yellow Submarine" and the very low thorn count is a fluke of the weather which probably won't last.
This rose is the only one I could find with the same BIG hips. And otherwise, it's a pretty close match to the description.
Here is a link that might be useful: Yellow Submarine at HMF



On the remaining part of the slab, get a few (?) large decor pots and put mini's and minifloras in them. This way you can walk down the middle of the slab with rose's on both sides.
You could hire a Kango hammer and break it up yourself - lots of noise and dust but also quite good fun - as long as there are lots of beers afterwards.
You don't actually need to remove all the concrete, just break it so you get some movement of water (drainage).
If you go that route, you may need to adjust for the increased alkalinity of the soil.