Why do the roses I don't like thrive?

10 years ago

Would someone please explain to me why the roses I am always on the verge of giving away because I don't really love them (Peter Mayle and Elle, you know who I'm talking about!) thrive and sent off enormous, thick new canes, while the ones I love, e.g., the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch (Speelwark) is only moderately productive and won't make new canes? is it just the cultivar? Any other instances out there?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

lola-lemon
10 years ago
Funny! Folks often joke that they need to get out the shovel and show it to the rose to get it to perform.

Peter Mayle and Elle are your unloved roses??! I'd welcome them with open arms! (to my pot ghetto, since I am all full --of course)

i have 2 roses I was secretly wishing would die and I left them out in pots all winter unprotected. ( One was supposed to be Tamora and I am pretty sure it is an easy elegance rose, Yellow Submarine. ) They have gone on to thrive. Really just be outstanding altogether-- and so I was forced to change my opinion of them. They are outstanding roses, for the kind of rose they are. Which is still not my type and so I am still going to give them away, because I don't like roses without fragrance and my garden is too small to leave them there..

I bet you could trade those roses in a heartbeat for something you liked.
annesfbay
10 years ago
You know, that's a funny thing. Because the roses that thrive are the ones I love best even if they didn't initially have my favorite blooms or shrub shape. Mr. Lincoln, Cl. Queen Elizabeth and Just Joey are among those that won me over due to their excellent health and clean foliage. I fervently hope my new OGR do as well.

Anne
Related Discussions
I don't have roses yet, but I do have......
Q
Comments (16)
Wow, we just got SPANKED with another microburst...I thought we were gonna catch a tornado that time, for sure! I had to shut down the 'puter and run and close all the windows. In that time I lost my post, I'll try again. Linda, I spoke to Century Oaks Peony Farm about Butterflies in Flight, and they maintain mine cannot be, since BIF are brand-new this year and mine have been here at leastfive years. My nieghbor behind us also has a HUGE bush of these, and I maintain they hav been around here for many years. However, yours 'could' be BIF, although I doubt they would be offered through Wal-Mart their first year. Cecily, here are a couple closer shots of the 'white' one. Sorry the pics are so yellow...it is so dark this morning that I had to use the light and I didn;t correct for color accuracy before uploading. Close enough, though. The outer petals (are they really sepals?) are a pale pink while the rest of the flower is white. The stamens have a lot of red, but no red flecks in the petals.
...See More
Why don't my heucheras thrive?
Q
Comments (40)
Thanks for all that info, Kristen. I've amended planting holes here and there, but I've never kept good enough records to know if those plants did any better than the ones I planted straight into my soil with nothing more than a good watering. Heuchera seem picky about planting depth. I try not to plant too deep, but do yours hoist themselves out of the ground over the winter? I've had some do this, and thought I should plant them deeper again. So it seems hard to get right. You're keeping good sunlight records. I know the sunlight is very inconsistent in my yard because being built into a hillside, some plants only get direct sun when it's high in the sky and HOT. The rest of the year it dwindles and may only be bright light in spring and fall. I find hosta, astilbes, and tiarellas are easy to grow without too many special needs. I was hoping heucheras would fit into that mix better. Good luck with your surgery, and if it's too painful to plant your 50+ plants, you seem to be having good enough luck keeping them going in pots, so take it easy if you have to. And when you do get out there, pictures of happy heucheras and hostas are always nice. :)
...See More
Meyer lemon: why don't I like it?
Q
Comments (34)
I'm not a Meyer fan either. I think it has a lot to do with personal preference of the individual. In case you're wondering, Meyer is in a different group from other lemons. Meyer is believed to have originated from hybridization between citron and mandarin, whereas other lemons came about from hybridization between citron and sour orange. Meyer has a bit more mandarin ancestry than other lemons, so it's sweeter and more cold tolerant, though some (like me) feel it has less flavor/fragrance. For other people though, Meyer is their favorite lemon.
...See More
I don't get it...colors I don't like
Q
Comments (6)
It reminded me of Jonathan Adler..a very colorful guy in all senses..rather, him saying in one of his books he doesn't like neutrals-unless they're from nature, like clay, or yarn, or stone, or wood, or.. When in nature-whatever it might be-we're deeply touched by very different settings ..I don't know why but let's pretend that's because there's invisible hand of the Master that put it all together, and we don't know another worlds, not yet, so we are touched by ours. When in home-if one can get one seventieth of that Master's touch..it changes our general connotations. Because there's texture, variation, light, all this, yes-plus something made by hand, taking this natural things, clay and wood, etc, and working on them, and loving them while working. Simple things-yet they all get to sing. I know this because for example I also have variated terracotta tile in the bath-and it's less variated, just three colors..and it's textured custom too..and we were there when the guys from the shop were working on color and texture , working on samples, showing them to us..we waited with them, we were witnesses to that process, and you see the real excitement and passion that goes into creating and playing with things like that. (they liked the pallette themselves and made a sample of it for the store, and called it "April's". lol) And this excitement, passion and patience is what probably makes what was clay and wood shine under that light. It brings together what they are-natural materials-and what people with passion and patience wished them to be, and got them to be. So. That's why I love my grays and my browns.. Even though my house is pretty colorful-no one will call it neutral It's true, they remind me some scenes from my childhood which I percieve as happy. And all sorts of things. The juxtaposition. Of course I prefer certain grays and certain browns, that's normal. For example I love mostly very warm grays. And (surprize) mostly warm browns)) But also because some of them, I witnessed to be made, I knew them to be painstaikingly made, or I knew nobody made it, it was created like that- and I was just lucky to spot it, like a piece of gray marble with golden rusty streaks..and it makes it a bit more magical. Sense of discovery can come in many shapes. It can be quiet and subdued. And nothing we generaly like even maybe. Yet it still will be a sense of discovery. I would love to do truly neutral room one day, just like a challenge even. yet I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to pull it off..
...See More
dmny
10 years ago
I have found over the years that some roses seem to thrive on neglect and that some pampered ones are simply ungrateful.
KarenPA_6b
10 years ago
Oh Boy! Now roses have personalilty issues too. They sound like my kids.
eahamel
10 years ago
Yes, roses have personalities, too! Last fall I shovel pruned a Bucks rose that I didn't like, and also shoveled Golden Celebration because it didn't bloom much and had a lot of BS. Both have returned from roots I didn't get.

Here's a pic of the Bucks, it's about 10" tall and bugs of some sort have nibbled the leaves, but darn, it has a bud! Wish I could remember what this one is.
Brittie - La Porte, TX 9a
10 years ago
^ That's happened to me too! I shoveled Abraham Darby early last year because he was constantly defoliated from blackspot. He's back now and five feet tall. No blackspot though! lol
roseseek
10 years ago
Because, like cats and dogs, they KNOW you don't like them so they push themselves on you. Hate cats? Every one you encounter will LOVE you. Same with dogs and kids. They KNOW and, perversely, they punish you by being your best friends. Been there.

Actually, though, we never want what is good for us, nor what does well where we are. There is always something about what we can't have that makes it irresistible. You will be much happier if you can change your expectations or learn to appreciate what appreciates being with you. Kim
seil zone 6b MI
10 years ago
Oh I fervently believe in the shovel threat myself! Many a rose has decided to perform better after seeing it, lol. Of course it could just be that they had finally matured too?! Sometimes we judge a roses performance way before that rose has grown up to it's full potential. We think after a year or two it should be mature but really some of them take 3 to 5 years to get there. And, yes, they all have their own personalities!
harmonyp
10 years ago
My roses laugh at me when I threaten them with the shovel. I can hear them muttering under their foliage - "chicken"! When I start digging they wonder - "hmmm, wonder where she's going to put me next. Hope I get more sun!"

Omg - did I just do that - quote my roses?

Why do the roses I don't like thrive?

Comments (9)

lola-lemon

annesfbay

Related Discussions

dmny

KarenPA_6b

eahamel

Brittie - La Porte, TX 9a

roseseek

seil zone 6b MI

harmonyp

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US