Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi,

I've two darkish pink (apparently) roses that grow up the front of our house. We've inherited them when buying the house, I don't know what type they are. They grow from the flower bed below and are attached to a wire frame on the wall. I trimmed them right back to waist height weeks ago and they are about six foot tall now with loads of buds, some aphids and some black spots on the leaves.

I'm new to roses, do i need to trim them back or attach them to the wall any more, they seem to be up growers rather than wanderers and what's best for aphids? Finally what's causing th balck spots and what can I do to help?

Thanks ever so much. I really love that they are there but don't know the first thing about them.

FMN

I'm not a rose expert, we also inherited some when we moved houses.

For aphids we just spray with a w-u-l spray (a squirt of Ecover in a litre of water sprayer) and/or squish them! For black spot, we just cut off those that are really bad. We try and keep them strong and healthy by them being somewhere they want to grow and feeding them and pruning them as per our 'Growing Roses Organically' book. They seem to do okay.


By smallblueplanet


By smallblueplanet

__________________
Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Wow well your roses are gorgeous, so I'll follow your advice - thanks.

Just lucky, they say the camera never lies!

Perhaps a book might help though? Amazon.co.uk: Growing Roses Organically (Rodale Organic Gardening Book): Barbara Wilde: Books
There's some at a good price from Amazon Marketplace.

__________________
Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Some roses are very prone to black spot - Zephyrine Drouhin (sp) is one - and that's a dark pink climber. However, it has the most fabulous scent. I had it in my old garden. Just pick off the black spotted leaves and bin them (not compost bin) and remove all the old leaves that fall to the ground in winter. A rose called the New Dawn is, I believe, an offspring of ZD, is a paler pink and doesn' have the black spot problems. (I had both, one either side of a rose arch. Must buy them again for here!) I put 2 clematis plants there too, one through each. A very dark, small flowered called Polish Spirit went through New Dawn - fantastic contrast. A bigger, pale mauve flowerd one whose name escapes me, looked good through ZD. - just in case you ever want to add to the picture!

__________________
Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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