Looking back at 2007 (late freeze, horrific drought)

16 years ago

Disclaimer: This does NOT apply to my modern roses (HTs, Fls)

I've been out and under my rose bushes. And if I didn't know there had been a hideous 2007, I couldn't tell that by looking at them now.

The late freeze damaged roses, and I cut the damaged parts off the months after the freeze. Before the freeze we had begun our drought; it continued and worsened through October (but for one good week in July). Our well did not fail, but it was much slower to pump (gasped sooner) so watering wasn't that much of an option. We ended the year about eighteen inches below average.

There was almost no fall growth in the roses and only a few blooms.

Fast forward: we've had four good months of rainfall- about average but not enough to replenish our ground water.

But the rains have made the roses look good.

Because there was very little fall growth, there's little winter damage to remove.

Spring growth has left me awe struck.

R. roxburghii, in the back yard, has pushed out leaves on every cane and stem that are alive; often (dry springs), Rr chooses to abandon some stems. Not this year. This year, it's leaf city. And the same thing has happened with most of our species roses, on their dry clay knoll down in the meadow. Leaved out to the tips of their stems.

The HPs seem to be coming back on all the canes that lived through summer. The bourbons are also well leaved.

And the tea roses... ah, the tea roses are masses of red leaflets as if they've forgotten 2007 happened.

Chinas are happy that they didn't have fall growth to loose. So do the older simpler noisettes. Even Duchesse d'Auerstadt (which often looses canes and stems in winter) looks so good right now that I wonder if I will finally get height on her.

And the roses aren't making exuberant new growth; rather they're making sensible steps in filling out their bush shapes. They're responding to sun and rain.

Right now, I'd say for the long term health of my garden, rainfall in winter is possibly more important than summer rainfall. Mature roses can handle some summer dormancy and I think it makes for stronger roses in the long run.

How does this fit with what you're seeing?

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Comments (5)

buford
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I agree. It's harder for me to tell because so many of my roses are new, one or two years old. My teas finally lost most of their leaves and are full of little red leaves.

While I was pruning my HTs, I did notice that the piths were dark going way down, even on healthy looking canes. I think this was from the freeze.

I am seeing many new basals. I do think the wet winter has been good for the roses. Except for some newly planted roses, mine didn't really suffer in the drought. Of course they bloomed less, but didn't seem to suffer from die back as other plants did.
melissa_thefarm
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I have had a totally different weather pattern so my observations aren't pertinent to your question, but perhaps they'll be interesting in themselves. It looks as though we're going to have a third drought year after a second year of Zone 9 winter temperatures. I'm looking at my garden and wondering what qualities are due to the heavy soil, what to the lack of water, what to the inherent character of the roses growing there, what to the difference between grafted and non-grafted varieties. The Teas and Chinas on the Rose Road, planted at the beginning of 2005, are mostly 3'-5' high, but perfectly healthy and sturdy looking. The one year they grew significantly was the first year they were in the ground, when we had a decent amount of rain. The Gallicas are mostly unhappy roses, in very heavy clay and (unfortunately) full sun; they're grafted, unlike the Teas and Chinas, which may make a difference; and they've never had a good year of rainfall. The grafted Teas also are less thriving than the own-root Teas, though that may be due to other factors (drought and soil).

I'm just going to have to see how the roses behave when we get another year of good rain, and heaven knows when that will be. Also, I'm forced to buy most of my roses grafted (on Laxa, I think), and have to propagate them from cuttings and grow the offspring to see what the difference is between grafted and ownroot rose behavior. Most of our roses planted 2002-beginning 2006 went into poor ground, while the last two years we plowed beds in moister and more fertile soil, which all the roses except the Teas and Chinas like better. I made large orders of once-blooming old roses last year and am looking forward to seeing how they do in the new beds.

Possibly my most interesting discovery is how many old roses react to poor soil and drought: not with weakness and death, but by staying relatively small but healthy and floriferous. This is true not only of the Teas and Chinas, but also of 'Alberic Barbier' and of the Bourbons. The latter ('Variegata di Bologna', 'Zephirine Drouhin', 'Honorine de Brabant', 'Gros Choux de Hollande') are in a sunny, windy, dry area, and while they aren't large, they're sturdy and healthy. My impression is that they're just waiting for a wet year to get bigger. They're also more or less once-blooming in a dry year, though rain in August or September would probably induce a fall flowering.

While I've said my roses are generally healthy, last year for the first time I had several roses suffer dieback from disease, and this may have been the result of drought-induced stress, as I hadn't seen it in earlier years.

The traditional weather pattern here, unlike in the eastern U.S., is wet weather from mid-fall to mid-spring, with a period of dry cold in the middle of winter, and dry summers. Roses like this just fine. Two years ago (?) we got an unusual strong rain in June, and 'Golden Celebration' was just covered with blackspot, normally a problem I see on the DA roses only in later fall. Lately it has been too dry: four months without rain in 2007 and 'Safrano' actually lost some growth; but a couple of dry, hot, sunny months would, I think, be perfectly satisfactory to my roses. I have no problems with a period of rest. It becomes part of the natural cycle of the garden and it's pleasant in its own way to see the roses shut down and then come into flower again with the fall rains. But the last few years have been too dry.

Melissa
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jean
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Last year was a near total loss. We had no rain from basically April to November. I was forced to water once a week or lose everything. The roses look good this year despite the freeze and despite the drought. I do not think I have any lasting damage. Mme. Camille looks like it will be 8 x 8 this year. I did not fertilize AT ALL last year after the one shot with 20-20-20 in May. My roses do not seem to have suffered. I was concerned that new growth + heat + no water would be more than they could manage. I think not fertilizing along with bare minimum water kept them healthy.

Jean
carolfm
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Ditto what Jean said. Some of the bushes are a little lopsided from the canes lost last year, but they are filling in nicely. Now, about that 29 degrees it is supposed to be Monday night.....

Carol
buford
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Carol, I know. If it stays at 29 everything will be ok. If it goes lower......

This is getting old.

Looking back at 2007 (late freeze, horrific drought)

Comments (5)

buford

melissa_thefarm

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carolfm

buford

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