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Did my Don Juan survive?

14 years ago

Hi everyone. I'm very new to gardening, forgive me for my 'newbieness'.

I planted 4 Don Juan climber about 3 years ago & I'm unsure of whether they are thriving successfully. Would someone be able to tell me whether the red canes are winter kill and whether they seem to be doing Ok?

*I'm attaching a link to the pics on photobucket

Here is a link that might be useful: My Photobucket

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Comments (12)

saldut
14 years ago
I have abt. 8 Dons over 5 years old, and here in Fla. they are blooming like crazy.... yours look good for the area you are in, to my eye.. you have new growth down at the bottom and they look healthy to me....... I try and train the canes horizontal and they put out shoots along the cane for flowers, cut off the tip and it sends a signal back to the laterals to grow and flower..... just give them some time.... good luck, sally
langelica
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you, Sally!! I needed the reassurance that I haven't wasted 3 years. :) The dark red canes scared me. They were probably red last year & I'm just getting myself paranoid. lol

I'm sure your Don Juan's are gorgeous in the Florida sun! Do you have photos on here? I'd love to see them.
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A graft looks like a gnarled fist just above the root. If you bought your Don Juan at a regular retail nursery or garden center, it is probably a graft. If the thin canes are coming from below the graft, they are from the rootstock and should be pulled off [to remove the eye]. If they are coming from above the graft, from the same point that the other canes emerge, then they are just week new canes and can be pruned or pulled off. Keep only nice firm thick juicy canes and just one or two of those.
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I have grown three climbing roses from the Canada rose breeding program that are cane hardy here in MN zone 4a. They are William Baffin, John Cabot, and John Davis. They are really large shrubs that can be trained as climbers, but completely winter hardy except for tips and late season new growth. WB is the most hardy and disease resistant, however I have never seen any repeat flowering despite claims to the contrary. WB is also very vigorous to the point of being difficult to control. He will turn into a small tree or a thicket if left alone. John Cabot is relatively easy to train on an arbor or trellis, but also has a tendency to spread out. Moderate to light repeat that varies from year to year for no apparent reason. To my eye, the flowers are more appealing than WB's. Blooms are semi to lightly double in a fuschia tinged pink. Can get minor fall spots if not sprayed. John Davis is, I think, the most civilized of the three. The four inch flowers are clear pink and fully double. JD is the least vigorous, but still a good grower after the first two years. JD has a reliable repeat. JD can get a touch of Powderey Mildew in years when PM is around. Quadra and Rambling Red are two red climbers that grow OK here, but both have moderate to severe die back in the winter. They do not have the spectacular spring flush of bloom that the first three do, but are consistent bloomers over the season. Because of the winter kill, they do not get over six to seven feet for me and show no sign of getting out of hand. Three climbers that I grow as pillars or tall bushes because they die to the ground or mulch line every winter might be worth trying if you are willing to do extensive winter protection are: Climbing America, Golden Arctic, and Roberta Bondar. Good luck. Charles
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What you are talking about is called the "Minnesota Tip" here. How it works is that you dig a trench as long as the rose is tall on one side of the rose starting a little ways out form the base of the rose. Then you dig up the opposite side of the root ball so that you can lay the rose down into the trench and then bury it all with soil. You are not bending the canes down but actually lifting the roots on one side to lay the rose down. The roots on the side with the trench will bend much easier than the canes. Like you said the canes will snap if you attempt to bend them down that far. It works but it's a lot of work to do and undo in the spring. Burying the canes can also lead to other problems like cankers so I wouldn't suggest it. I would suggest that you stake and cover it instead. Put in three or four good sturdy stakes around the rose and then wrap around the stakes a couple of times with burlap and tie it up with twine or staple it to the stakes if they are wooden. Mulch the bottom with what ever mulch you prefer about a good foot deep too. That should be enough protection for the roots and the canes to get them through winter. You will probably still have some winter cane die back but it shouldn't be excessive.
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Witchygirrl, once it leafs out again it should be fine. I just got my order from Chamblees and most of them have their leaves but a few have them off for some reason or another. The same applies to my order from ARE, and it never seems to slow the roses down one way or another. The canes look fine and while there aren't a ton of them it looks plenty healthy. I have to echo the concerns about Don Juan in zone 6, though it's reassuring that Moses has some examples of it doing well. Don Juan has never even come close to surviving my winters at all in zone 5. Sara-Ann and Witchygirrl are both in zone 6 so it's liable to survive with being in a protected sunny spot, but I wouldn't expect it to climb. Odds are you'd lose the canes down to the ground, and as others in warmer zones have said it might succumb to a particularly hard winter. Still, you never know till you try and we look forward to seeing pictures of "neener-neener, it survived and looks FABULOUS" from both of you. Cynthia
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jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
14 years ago
Some roses take on a reddish/purple cast to there canes when they go dormant in colder climates.
langelica
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you the explanation, Jim. It makes perfect sense now. :)
michaelg
14 years ago
Cut into the canes farther up-- if the centers are dark brown, the cane is damaged and needs to be cut down to healthy wood. The fact that no sprouts are visible may suggest that the canes are damaged. 'Don Juan' is not a very hardy climber, but it will come back from the base and bloom. If the basal shoots don't bloom after they grow out this year, they are coming from the rootstock, not from 'Don Juan.' There are several red climbers for zone 5--'Quadra' is a really tough one.
saldut
14 years ago
Hi langelica, no, I don't have any pics, I don't even have a camera ! because my hand shakes......... and I keep nagging my son who has a great camera to take some pics, but you know how that goes ! sorry.........sally
susan4952
14 years ago
I have had my Don Juan in zone 5 for 15 years. Yours looks fine. Did you prune him this spring? Such a pretty rose.
zack_lau z6 CT ARS Consulting Rosarian
14 years ago
Zone 5 isn't always worse that Z6 when it comes to winter for roses. The colder weather can insure that the rose doesn't wake up in the middle of winter. You can often write off any canes that start budding in the middle of winter, only to be killed when the weather returns to normal. Similarly, the warmer Z6 climate will prevent the accumulation of snow cover, the best way to protect roses from cold.
ogrose_tx
14 years ago
I saw some new growth down around the base of the plant, looks like it's growing to me!

I'm no expert, for sure, but you might try scraping a little on the cane with your fingernail and if it's green, then it's alive.
henryinct
14 years ago
I live in CT Z6 and Don Juan didn't survive for me in the past. The canes can be red but they shouldn't be mottled purple. Also look for cane damage down low and expanding purplish areas that can be an early indication of canker. This was a very hard winter here I think as bad as there ever was so I am expecting the worst.
langelica
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you for all the helpful replies! ..Great group! :)

This spring has been the first time I have pruned them. I thought it might be best to wait so they could concentrate on building strong roots. The inside of the canes have a soft wood color. Not dark, but not light.

One climber looks to be budding with verticals already which is a first! I've hardly had verticals the previous years.

I will try scraping a bit of the cane to check for green. Thank you!

I'll also google info on canker. I'll take all the info I can get.
I really hope they can flourish here. I've been trying to be patient with them, it will be disappointed having invested solely on Don Juan's. Otherwise, I think I will give Quadra a try.

--Susan, how tall does your Don Juan grow in zone 5? And how much do you cut back?

-Angelica
susan4952
14 years ago
He gets to about 6 feet; has some winter kill but always rebounds well. I cut mine down to about 18-24 inches and lash the canes together to avoid rocking in the winter wind. This year I didn't winter protect at all and he looks great. In a somewhat protected location. I grow him on a trellis...a beautiful rose.

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