Roses...... tips and tricks

[Johnno]

It's winter in the Southern Hemisphere, I've put in some gangly looking twigs in the ground which may be worth a few blooms and photos in Spring. The recent "floods" have given them a good soak compared to the "drought" we were experiencing a few weeks ago. These are the first roses I've had since about '94, when I had a very old traditional rose bush with a 12" trunk in the backyard and some Cardinals and Blue Moons out the front.

Since my last place, I moved house with a ready placed 10ft rose bush with a 6" trunk which required an extremely hard prune, put in a few others including Chrysler Imperial and Blue Moons (again), I wanted some white roses, however they seemed hard to come by.

And since it's Spring up north, I'm wondering how the roses are going up there and what tips and tricks do you use? What are your favourites? Fertilize or not? What does well and what doesn't? Do you grow from cuttings.....and does that make you a genetic engineer, since you are creating clones?

 

[Seeker 1313]

Hi Johnno,

I've grow roses in Texas. There is fertilizer for blooming flowers that I usullay throw into the ground at the time of planting, but it is not necessary. Water liberally and stand back--roses are really weeds hence the thorns, so it does not tke much care and they love the sun and stressful heat. Whe you start getting blooms, cut the dead heads off the plant when they die and the plant will produce more, at the end of the season prune the bush and wait for the next seasons go around. This year I planted climbing roses and I'm training them onto a Post in front of my home. I planted these from a cutting and they are growing beautifully, however, we have had an enormous amount of rain in this area this year and it does not seem to want to stop----I am not a genetic engineer nor am I especially talanted with plants having killed a fair amount of them trying to grow them, but Roses I have found to be easy. Good Luck