Pat Welsh Southwest Garden Advice, plus garden ideas for everyone » Roses

Transplanting a Yellow Rose

Pat — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 04:02:18 +0000

Question from Martha:
I have another question for you. I have a yellow Softtouch rose bush. I have recently put it in a bigger container with good Miracle Grow soil. I has started to flourish, with buds all over it. However, when it blooms, the blooms do not look fresh. They are kind of dried up looking, and usually dry up within 2 days. What is the problem? It may be that it is not getting enough nourishment in the pot and needs to be planted in the soil.

Answer from Pat:
I am not familiar with the qualities of Miracle Grow potting soil, but it is probably not a problem. Nor am I familiar with a rose variety called ‘Soft Touch’. (The patented “Softtouch” roses I know of are a particular kind of realistic-looking artificial flowers.) I don’t know of a living rose with that name which is not to say that none exists. I just don’t know of it. “Midas Touch’ is a yellow hybrid tea rose. Do you mean that one? Anyway, it doesn’t matter which rose you have. Basically you chose the wrong time of year to transplant the rose into a larger pot. If you live in a Mediterranean climate zone, the right time to transplant existing roses is in late winter when you prune roses. Disturbing rose roots in mid-summer can damage flowers and may kill the plant.

However, you can try to save it. Cut off the damaged flowers down further than usual. Keep the plant well watered and treat the soil with John and Bob’s Soil Optimizer or, better yet, humic acid, since this might help the roots to recover and regrow. August is the time for summer pruning anyway, but summer is the wrong time to disturb the roots of roses.

As an example, in August a few years ago I asked my gardener to pull out some invasive ferns that were growing too closely around a lovely little red rose I’d had for years. In order to do a really good job pulling out the ferns, he dug up the rose first. Then he took out all the ferns that had entangled themselves in the rose roots and replanted the rose. The rose was covered with buds. The buds opened and the flowers dried up as you described happening to your yellow rose. In my case my rose promptly died. I pulled it out and said nothing. From then on I remembered if some other plant gets entangled in a rose, I must wait until winter to disturb the roots and get the invasive plant out of there. Or I must hire someone else to do the job or get down on the ground and do the job myself by gently pulling out the ferns when the soil is thoroughly wet.

Transplanting Rose Bushes

Pat — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:45:30 +0000

Question from Sharon:
In April, My son, who lives in San Marcos, Ca. planted 4 canned floribundas. He now, wants to transplant 2 of the roses. When is a good time to do this? Thanks so much. Sharon

Answer from Pat:
Wait until January to transplant these roses. To transplant them now so soon after planting would seriously set them back.

Proliferation of Odd Flowers on Roses

Pat — Thu, 26 May 2011 04:25:40 +0000

Question from Sally:
My husband Brandon follows your month by month book for his roses but what happened to this yellow rose? All flowers have funny green buds in center. What could be causing that and what is it? Check out the picture of the Disneyland rose there must be a hundred buds in the middle of the flower.

Answer from Pat:
The condition that causes many buds to form in the center of a flower is a rare condition called “Bud Proliferation” or sometimes just “Proliferation” of rose blooms. Thank you for sending the photograph. Proliferation doesn’t often happen in home gardens. It was first noticed in nursery flower fields in Holland about twenty years ago and now has come to America where it is a problem for the growers of cut flowers. It did also happen back in the 18th century since we have written records of it.

No one knows what causes proliferation, but it most likely is caused by unusual weather conditions, swings in temperature and less sun than usual. Extreme changes of temperature or some kind of climactic causes apparently make the apical bud go wild and keep on growing many buds instead of making just one bud. Who knows? Perhaps it is caused by the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere or a change in the amount. Another possibility is that it is caused by a disease but that is less likely.

Proliferation occurs more with some varieties of rose than with others, but once a rose has begun to do this it usually continues for a few years on that particular plant, and then when the plant is mature it will stop and make normal flowers again.

Proliferation does not harm the plant. If you don’t like the look of the flowers cut them back to the next 5-leaflet leaf and then the new shoot will grow and flower and it will be normal. So in some ways proliferation is similar to blind shoots and the solution is the same: cut it back and it will then bloom properly.

Rose Canes That Fall Over

Pat — Thu, 26 May 2011 04:24:00 +0000

Question from Sally:
I do have a few questions: My husband Brandon follows your month-by-month book for his roses but this year the roses are growing really tall and are thin and fall over see picture. Are they getting to much of something to make them grew too fast????

Thank you for any help you can be!

Answer from Pat:
When roses grow lanky and fall over it can come from any one of several possible causes. One is not enough sun. The fact that Brandon’s roses are growing next to a fence may account for them getting less sun than they should. Roses need 6 hours of sun a day. There also may have been a lot of foggy weather in spring. I think this rose in the picture was trying to reach for the light. The best solution is to prop it up and cut off the top of the blind shoot

and allow the ones with buds to bloom. You might as well have the fun of the flowers that I see will soon open. After they bloom, cut back a little further than usual to strengthen the cane. I think this problem will clear up in warm weather.

A second possibility is an imbalance in the fertilizer. Roses grow best with a 5-9-6 balance of nutrients. A deficiency in phosphorus and potassium (the 9 and 6 numbers in the formula above) can result in lack of vigor and overall plant health. A lack of these nutrients might be the cause of thin canes that fall over instead of thick sturdy canes like one wants.

The third possible reason that rose canes grow thin and fall over is because of variety. Some varieties make strong, stocky canes and others do not. Climbing roses will always fall down because they are meant to be tied up. Always choose strong, vigorous varieties that are free-blooming and disease resistant and grow each one according to the type of rose it is.

Also choose and plant the very best varieties available. It is not a sin to pull out a rose in winter that did not do well and replace it with something better. Recent All America Award Winners are almost all good. Do some research on this. Some varieties are better in one area than in another. Attending a few meetings of the local Rose Society can teach one a lot about the characteristics of rose varieties, since most Rose Society chapters have a few experts who know which roses are most successful where you live.

A good example of a rose cane that will always fall down is when a sucker is allowed to stay on a rose plant. Suckers springing from below the bud union shoot up tall and then fall over. This has been a problem for many gardeners this year due to the rains making suckers grow faster than usual and before gardeners have noticed a sucker will take over. The old China rose ‘Ragged Robin’ is rootstock of most roses. ‘Ragged Robin’ is a climber with red flowers, yellow centers and thin canes that always fall over eventually if they are not cut back. Always remove all suckers in winter when you prune your roses or else they will take over your plants and crowd out the varieties you originally purchased. Keep an eye out for them since they can spring up any time of year.

Choosing Roses

Pat — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 08:42:18 +0000

Question from Cindy:
We are replacing some of our older roses and thought I’d ask your opinion on specific ones to buy! My thrust is fragrance and length of stem to use in arrangements (not floribunda.) I’m interested in fluted edges perhaps, I love a cabbage type of rose …. and really any color other than red. Suggestions?

Answer from Cindy:
Here are a few fragrant roses you might like because they are all fragrant and disease-resistant (except where noted):

‘Dick Clark’ this year’s AARS winner is a grandiflora with long stems, disease-resistant foliage and fragrance. Color is cream with cherry red picotee petals. Most AARS winners of last 10 years are amazingly floriferous, disease-resistant, and easy to grow. Most of them bloom non-stop in sun, but not many of them have fragrance. Reason for that is that fragrance goes along with genetics of the red and purple heritage of Mr. Lincoln, Double Delight, and other highly fragrant but mildewy hybrid tea and floribunda roses.

‘Just Joey’ (apricot with wavy edges of petals. Very good AARS rose), ‘Dolly Parton’ Grandiflora orange red with long stems (but gets diseases, Kniffings roses says people always buy it anyway because they fall in love with the strong fragrance and long stems), ‘Memorial Day’ (Orchid pink), ‘Scentimental’ (Striped red and white) It’s fragrant and clean, but a floribunda and not very long stemmed. I didn’t like the striped petals and tore it out. ) AARS Winner ‘Secret’ is excellent and fragrant, 2002 AARS (pink blend Hybrid Tea; it has 35 to 40 petals), ‘Yves Piaget’ is a fragrant Romantica rose. Deep pink. I know someone who has a whole row of these roses in her Rancho Santa Fe garden to use as cut flowers for the house. Not hugely long stemmed but utterly charming and oh so fragrant in a vase.

‘Fragrant Cloud’ (1970 orange red 28 to 35 petals.) ‘Fragrant Plum’ (mauve, 20 to 25 petals.) Many species, Old Garden Roses, and David Austin Roses are very fragrant. Fragrant Austins I like include: ‘Abraham Darby’, ‘Gertrude Jekyll’, ‘Graham Thomas” and ‘the Prince’ (I love it but it is deep, deep red). There are dozens more and always new ones coming along. A fragrant rose I grew and enjoyed was ‘Outta the Blue’ . It is a shrub rose but with long stems, less fragrant than ‘Angel Face’ (foribunda) but better, deeper color, more like magenta with a few cream blotches, and no disease problems as ‘Angel Face’ had. Another one is ‘Big Purple’. it has many petals.

One of the best roses I’ve ever grown for long-lasting use in a vase of mixed flowers was ‘Betty Boop’. (It lasts a week cut in the house.) It had no fragrance and didn’t mix with other roses, but just looked super in a bouquet of many flowers. It’s a many colored, wavy petalled, cream edged with red, pink, and orange, shrub rose with many single flowers on a stem, so does not fit your needs unless you need something for a flower bed away from the rest of your roses. Mixes well with blue, yellow, and white.

Here’s another idea: Rosa ‘Big Purple’ (Heirloom Roses)Extraordinarily fragrant. From New Zealand. (40 petals.) Ships in March from Heirloom Roses. Hybrid tea.

Choosing a Rambling Rose: Paul’s Himalayan Musk

Pat — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 08:35:41 +0000

Question from Deborah:
I live in S. CAlifnornia (SFV/ LA). am building a backyard pergola. want a very large rambling rose to overarch….any suggestions
summer is very hot

Answer from Pat:
Many rambling roses take heat well as long as they get enough water and fertilizer can sink roots deep. The first rose that came to mind was Rosa Mme Alfred Carrière. It is lovely and fragrant also, but known as a noisette, not really a rambler. This rose has a reputation for doing well in California’s hot dry climate. A huge rose once called “the California Rose” was “La Belle Portuguese.” (Bell of Portugal) It used to cascade out of trees in the hot back country and never got sick. Just one huge bloom season and little care and it blooms about two months so gloriously it will knock your socks off. Fragrant besides. It will waft on the air. Yes, you can still get it and it would be terrific but needs a strong support. When I say huge I mean it!

You don’t mention what color you prefer and both the above are pink. I have always wanted to plant Paul’s Himalayan Musk. Here’s a description:

One of the best and most beautiful of the ramblers with long, trailing growth reaching up to 30ft. It bears dainty, sprays of pretty little blush-pink rosettes, each held on a thin stem. Once flowering, but produces blooms in abundance, making a magnificent display.
This rose is ideal for growing into a tree, for pergolas, or for covering buildings. Despite its vigour, Paul’s Himalayan Musk has a grace which endears it to gardeners. There is a wonderful, haunting fragrance.

When to prune climbing rose

Pat — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 01:36:46 +0000

Question from Brigitte:
I have a climbing rose that might be anywhere from 20 to 40 years old. It has a very large winding trunk and looks similar to the lady banks rose except that it has clusters of small pink one inch flowers that bloom in the spring. My gardener recommends pruning hard in October, but your book seems to recommend pruning now, at the end of July. Could you tell me if I should be pruning now, back to the large laterals? Would I also be leaving some of the vertical green shoots for the blooms next year? It is growing on top of an arbor and can get out of hand within a year of growth. My location is in Glendale, near Pasadena.

Answer from Pat:
Before knowing how to prune your climbing rose, it would help to find out which rose it is, but as a general rule, if your climbing rose
blooms in spring and never ever at other times of year, the time to prune is after bloom (Usually in June or July) and not in winter or
you risk cutting off the buds or new wood that will bloom next year. If your rose blooms once in summer, prune after bloom has finished. Your rose could be one of several so it’s difficult for me to give you the correct information. (Why not take a photo of the plant in bloom to your local chapter of the rose society and see what they think it is?)

If the small pink flowers you describe are in masses in spring and have the shape of perfect little rosebuds before flowers open, it is most likely Climbing Cecile Brunner. I suggest you ‘Google’ that variety and compare the photos to what you have. Another you might have Paul’s Himalayan Musk. (You didn’t mention fragrance.) Both of these are fragrant Rambling Roses and can grow very large. The time to prune rambling roses is in summer after bloom. But the time to prune ever-blooming climbing roses, or those that bloom more than once a year is in winter along with other roses. So it’s pretty important to be sure of when your rose blooms and how. If your gardener reads, you can show him books or Google “How to Prune a Rambling Rose” and it will say the same. (Perhaps if you read it to him, he will understand and accept what you are saying.) It took me many years to teach this fact to my gardener. Then finally he pointed at a Lady Banks that is climbing through a hedge and said to me “That rose didn’t bloom this year.” and I replied “That’s because you cut it back in winter.” He said “Oh!” and a light went on in his head. From then on I never had a problem with that.

Yes, these one-time climbers like Cecile Brunner and Paul’s Himalayan Musk are very large. Some experts believe in cutting back only lightly but if you go with that idea the rose can take over. If you have a rambling rose, read what I suggest in my book on pruning 258 on pruning climbing roses, but basically here’s what to do: Once the rose has bloomed, in summer, prune it after bloom. Take out all dead wood. Remove any suckers arising from below the bud union. (However if your rose is on a single trunk it may be growing on its own roots and will have no suckers.) Then you can take off as much as 25% of top growth, cut back laterals that have bloomed to 2 buds, so new growth will sprout to bloom next year. It is all right also to cut out old canes that have bloomed so new canes can grow, but sounds as if your rose only has one main trunk or base cane. If fresh canes (not suckers) have already arisen from the ground or from low on the plant that have not bloomed this year, and if there is room, leave them on to bloom next year, but it is okay to confine all growth to one trunk for many years if that is what you want.

There is much information available in books and also on the Internet on how to prune a rambling rose. If I were you I would read several. They all differ, and you can pick up various ideas and choose what suits your rose best, but one thing is for sure, for once-blooming roses, summer pruning after bloom is best. Glendale is a great area for roses.

When to prune climbing rose

Pat — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 08:23:53 +0000

Answer from Pat:
Before knowing how to prune your climbing rose, it would help to find out which rose it is, but as a general rule, if your climbing rose blooms in spring and never ever at other times of year, the time to prune is after bloom (Usually in June or July) and not in winter or you risk cutting off the buds or new wood that will bloom next year. If your rose blooms once in summer, prune after bloom has finished. Your rose could be one of several so it’s difficult for me to give you the correct information. (Why not take a photo of the plant in bloom to your local chapter of the rose society and see what they think it is?)

List of Fragrant Roses

Pat — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:31:03 +0000

Regarding a list of fragrant roses, Sunset Western Garden Book has a long section on roses and says which ones are fragrant. In a box on page 595, the great hybridizer, Tom Carruth explains why few new disease-resistant roses are fragrant and names his favorites: ‘Memorial Day’, ‘Scentimental’, ‘Secret’, and ‘Yves Piaget’. (‘Yves Piaget’ is one of my favorites too.) If you add these to the ones I mentioned in my former email, you will have the beginnings of a great list. A great fragrant climber is ‘Royal Sunset’. To find more refer to the best rose books but even better, talk to great gardeners and horticulturists and nurserymen wherever you go. The best rose books contain excellent lists. Also send to nurseries all over the world that specialize in roses and ask them to send you their catalogues. I have found many of these more informative about varieties than books on the subject.

Fragrant Roses Can Be Controversial

Pat — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:39:26 +0000

Question:

Hi Pat

I am an amateur gardener living in Perth, Australia and I was wondering if you would be interested in being interviewed by me for my e-book and subscribers. I would do this by phone as a recording. I like what you have on your website and feel that many could benefit from hearing you in an interview. My website is www.betterhouseandgarden.net. Though people from all over the world visit my site, most of them seem to come from California. I would like to know your opinion of my website. Roses are one of my major interests.

Cheers

Pete

Answer:

Dear Pete,

My first instinct was to say “yes, I’d love to do an interview for you,” My first impression prior to looking at your website was what a great name it has. It’s similar to the magazine name ” Better Homes and Gardens,” but when I began reading I saw that it didn’t sound as if it came from a magazine. One improvement I could suggest would be that when providing a list of fragrant roses you base your choices on your personal experience and research instead of perhaps relying on lists that are already out there. Conditions in Australia must be different from here and would be interesting to hear about.

For example if there is a Rose Society where you live you could go to the meetings and pick up much there. Also, there might be Rose Nursery and ask them about fragrant roses, and also ask great local rose growers and visit rose gardens, so you can make your own list of really fragrant roses that are fragrant here in Southern California instead of a copy of the list you found on a list on the internet. Most people find ‘Just Joey’ to be truly fragrant and it’s disease resistant too. Ask folks what they think about that one. But here in San Diego County, Kniffings Nursery has said that ‘Dolly Parton’ is the best, most fragrant rose they carry. Go smell it in spring and see what you think. There are many others. I agree with you that ‘Abraham Lincoln’ is wonderfully fragrant, but it gets mildew, black spot, and rust; it’s a real trouble maker as is the deliciously fragrant ‘Double Delight’, though less so; it’s mostly prone to mildew. You need to tell folks these kinds of things. You need to get out there and learn things that most folks don’t know and then put that information onto your website, not just regurgitate stuff you find elsewhere on the internet.

I love fragrant roses too. You mention the climbing rose ‘Fourth of July’ but you fail to say it is a great, and very easy climbing rose with almost total disease-resistance. ‘Fourth of July’ thrives with little care and is almost never out of bloom, but it is not what I would call a really fragrant rose here. In a moist climate it is fragrant, not in a dry climate as you seem to be saying it is. In dry climates, such as ours in Southern California, it often seems that ‘Fourth of July’ has no fragrance whatsoever, whereas a florabunda rose such as ‘Angel Face’ can bowl you over with fragrance. You do not mention that one or ‘Outta the Blue’ another good fragrant rose that is also disease-resistant, though a little less fragrant than ‘Angel Face’, another lavender rose. Many lavender roses are fragrant. But Angel Face is not disease-resistant; it is prone to mildew and rust.

If you are going to have a really helpful website you need to give folks this kind of in-depth information. I also saw the list you relied on that you found on the internet but there are much better and more fragrant roses than those that are given on that list. To name another one that comes to mind is ‘The Prince’. This David Austin, English rose has simply delicious old-rose fragrance and it’s a wonderful deep red too, with many petals and an old-rose shape, but it opens up even close to the coast. Many English roses are very fragrant, such as ‘Gertude Jekyll’ I could go on and on.

Roses, however, are not my greatest area of expertise. Members of the San Diego Rose Society and Richard Streeper, in particular, are far better sources of information, though Richard does not seem to dwell much on fragrance. His main approach is prize winning roses.

Perhaps also I should point out that most rose experts today believe that, when pruning, one should make a straight cut above the bud, not slanted as you show on your site. A slanted cut could dry out the bud and kill it. Your information is out-dated. (The correct information about cutting straight across is in my book and this information is also quoted from my book as an authority on this subject, by Google on the Internet, but I did not get my information from another book. I got it from experts, such as our Farm Advisor, Vince Lazaneo. (Others are mentioned in the Acknowledgements in the beginning of my book and there were even more, now lost in the mists of time.) When in doubt about something, ask Vince. He is a great source of the most up-to-date scientific information. He told me about the straight-across cut. I didn’t get that from a book.)”