Roses

[Scarlet]

My standards are flowering....

[burnie]

Buds just beginning to open, summer not too far away.

[nickdub]

Cheers Nick - what's the reason for putting them in the ground? I have a major garden pest (aged 3 1/4) who might well destroy them out of curiosity. I'd rather do them in the greenhouse if possible (I have some raspberry cane pots, so I can get them good and deep).

What are your views on rooting powder?

No reason why pots won't work - I use the ground because I've got a number of buildings which provide North facing walls, so the soil there is more or less permanently damp - so its easy for me just to stick a few cuttings in, leave them for a year and then those that do root are a nice surprise :-)

I think hormone rooting powder is probably one for the experts - I tried it, and for me it seemed to make no noticeable difference. For the extra cost and the fact that I'm not sure its stores well, I'd rather just take a few more cuttings and accept a lower % are going to root OK - if you are running a commercial operation, then the cost/benefit will look entirely different.

[bikermike]

No reason why not - best bet is to put a few in a slit trench in the ground somewhere shady and put plastic bags over them for a few weeks - with luck you may get a 50% strike rate.

Cheers Nick - what's the reason for putting them in the ground? I have a major garden pest (aged 3 1/4) who might well destroy them out of curiosity. I'd rather do them in the greenhouse if possible (I have some raspberry cane pots, so I can get them good and deep).

What are your views on rooting powder?

[nickdub]

Will they be vigorous enough though, I thought the reason roses are grafted onto dog rose roots is to give a better shrub?

Depends on the variety, how vigorous a plant you will get. I think the main reasons most roses are grafted/budded is convenience and predictability from the POV of the nursery. As they are selling their product they need to be able to do things in a v organised way and be able to predict roughly how well their plants will grow.

I've grown a few ramblers on their own roots OK and also the near species stuff like say "American Pillar" grows fine - if you tried it with a bush rose you might end up with something stronger than you really wanted I suppose - worst case scenario you can always give it onto someone as a present :-)

One upside is you don't have to worry about suckers :-)

[burnie]

Will they be vigorous enough though, I thought the reason roses are grafted onto dog rose roots is to give a better shrub?

[nickdub]

No reason why not - best bet is to put a few in a slit trench in the ground somewhere shady and put plastic bags over them for a few weeks - with luck you may get a 50% strike rate.

[bikermike]

Quick cutting question: I understand the best stuff to use is this year's growth. I've got a rose out the front with wonderfully-scented flowers, and it needs pruning, some stalks of this years growth are already 18" long 1/4" thick. They are still green, but definitely self-supporting, not spindly. Will I have much chance of cutting them soon to try and root?

[burnie]

Light pruning to remove crossing stuff and anything that looked weak or sickly, all looking quite strong, had a top dressing of FBB too and removed any encroaching weeds/grass.

[Thelma Sanders]

I succumbed and bought 2 more roses last week - a yellow C�line Forestier to grow against the allotment shed and a pink Penelope for a the only uncovered fence in the garden. That's me sorted then - simply no room for any more

[burnie]

I should be pruning, but will wait till next week so the frosts predicted don't do any damage, same with my apples.

[bramble]

I have been just reading through this thread and it reminded me of the stupid thing I did last September.
I broke a branch of my En Harkness rose by accident.
Not wanting to throw it away I separated it into two pieces and shoved them into an old metal watering can.
They are both growing now and I can't get them out of the can.

[bramble]

I have Just Joey in the garden as well.
Vigorous grower and flowers right through the summer.
I also have a lovely old rose called Ena Harkness.
A deep wine colour with a fantastic scent but it has a weak stem so seems to droop a little.
Well worth growing just for it's perfume.

[bario1]

Planted these out today in a nice sunny spot on the plot. Added manure and rootgrow just like in the D@vid Austin videos, so expecting great blooms!

[bario1]

My roses arrived yesterday! Popped to the plot this morning on the way to work to stick them in a bucket of damp soil till I can get them planted out properly. They look like nice robust plants.