Hi Kippy: I love red roses too.. Unfortuantely Dr. Huey doesn't bloom in my zone 5a, too cold. He's just bare sticks here.

I love red houses too... I wish that my house is red. I do have red cardinals in my back yard... love them!

Strawberry, you should experiment with him. He might need more warm time and then bloom.

What he needs is to NOT be pruned like a hybrid tea. Putting the shears away can work wonders on once bloomers.

Agreed, mad. And he takes several years before he will start to bloom. You may not have given him enough time. I have one that is three years old now and still hasn't bloomed but he's still rather small for himself and needs to grow a bit more. I've never pruned him and won't until he blooms. I'm hoping maybe this year!

One problem with him in Southern California is that our long blooming season lets his foliage get old. Unless sprayed regularly, he then pops up with every disease known to living man.

I did know someone who grew him as a climber, up over his garage. But that gentleman sprayed religiously. I don't, so I'll just forgo the Doc.

Jeri

Is it only in CA that Dr. Huey has such success taking over the scion roses? Seems as if it is inevitable, unless the gardener is aware (which we know many are not), and spends constant effort removing the suckers. I don't understand why they use a rootstock that is so very strong that it overwhelms the scion in a year or two. My one and only Knock Out rose has even sent out Dr. Huey suckers at least 4 times in its short life (I guess they are competing to see who is the most "ubiquitous"!).

Another reason NOT to buy budded roses, at least not budded on Dr. Huey here - it is WAY too much work! I always wonder, when I see so many old or neglected gardens sprouting him all over each Spring - what was there before?

Jackie

I have to admit, I love my accidental Dr. Huey too! He's just starting to come into bloom and tends to just run rampant through my front flower bed, but I forgive him because he's just so darn pretty!

Tammy

Jackie

I had Dr Huey come up on the standards that were moved (only a couple of them) on roots that had been beat up in the move and on a rather old and often abused Don Juan. Even then it is just a cane and it did not take over.

Jeri

I have memories of my giant patio climber screen of the Doc that had me not wanting roses...

But I wonder if I rounded up one and kept it in a big pot and tried removing the old leaves when it starts getting bad and see what happens. Not like it is hard to find....lol

Here, the normal creation of Dr. Huey is that the budded rose is planted with the bud union well above ground. Over the winter, cold temperatures kill the scion. The understock then has to decide to sprout itself, or die. Guess which one it chooses?

Roses planted at the appropriate level for the climate rarely sucker. I've said this before, but it bears repeating, I'm connected with a local public garden that has cycled through thousands of HTs in the years I've volunteered there. Exactly two roses have suckered even though they were planted correctly. Several hundred have suckered from being planted too high and having the scion die off. Fortunately, I think we have finally defeated that particular problem, but it was waaay more work than it should have been.

Dr. Huey doesn't belong to me ... he's at the foreclosure house nearby. No one trims him for the past 5 years ... he's a monster 8' x 8' .... a real eyesore for the entire neighborhood.

You'll never know until you try, Kippy.

That said, I think there are better ramblers for your conditions..

Jeri

I too don't understand why they don't stop using it if it is so bad!! I can count on one hand how many suckers I have removed.

You know, IF they de-eye the rootstock carefully, it's not that bad.

I've had Hortico roses on Multiflora that suckered FAR worse. Most of the roses I grew on Huey never suckered at all.

Jeri

He's never suckered on a living rose for me either. Only on roses that have died and I dawdled on taking out the stumps have I had him come up. The one I have now I've let grow from the dead stump of Dublin Bay because we need to do some work in that area so I don't want to replant anything expensive there yet. I figure if the Dr. gets trampled in the rebuild it's no great loss but if I buy a good climber and it gets trampled I'll be mad! He will happily fill the spot until such time as I can plant something else.

Strawberry, that sounds like the perfect victim for some rose testing...and if you get the Dr Happy, you could have a big once blooming low thorn climber.

Seil and mad gallica, my experience mirrors yours. I have never had Dr Huey sucker on a living rose for me, either. Nor have I had multiflora rootstock do the same. I do believe it has to do with using the correct planting depth--and maybe it's a California thing, too--long growing season equals more suckering. Diane

Dr. Huey is gorgeous!! I've taken about a zillion pictures of his blooms in the past. We had 2 that bloomed wonderfully at my moms until she decided to prune him like a hybrid tea into a tidier size. (she didn't understand he blooms on old wood only).
He would get bigger than she liked (rambling man) before he would bloom again and so she gave up and pulled him.
I was so sad! ... but he was the wrong rose for her space.

As for cultivating him.. ? He did fine with complete neglect on the edge of a well travelled alleyway with no supplemental water at all.... Mine were - as Mad Gallica said - the result of wrong planting depth of Don Juan and Joseph Coat in Zone 4. (My first 2 rose purchases years ago). That being the case- we had many roses do fine without being planted deeply if they were in positions that were shielded from wind and sun scald in winter).

This post was edited by lola-lemon on Sun, May 12, 13 at 22:34

It's all about "your results may vary" and in my part of east Tennessee, Dr. Huey loves to give a home to any fungi that happen to be passing through. Then, being a gentleman, Dr. Huey shares those fungi with the rest of my garden.

I do know where Dr. Hueys are up wind and they often are blooms on sticks that have already lost their leaves to fungal problems by the time the Huey blooms open.

Dr. Huey has been the rootstock of choice because it takes buds easily and grows well in the slightly alkaline conditions of the playa lake beds of California.

How ubiquitous is Huey? Go to Quest Ritson's book on Climbing roses and see the two colored climber photographed in Australia there, and (yes) the red is provided by the not so good doctor.

Where Dr. Huey has disease issues (everywhere?), a good way to grow him is to cut the canes to the ground after blooming. The canes that grow out over summer will have less disease and will bloom well the following spring. He will need fertilizer and water through the summer to make the necessary growth. Don't prune in fall or spring.

Not much problem with Dr. Huey around here. Roses grafted on him tend to be short-lived and so need to be replaced all too frequently, unless they are lucky enough (not often) to grow their own roots. Since he isn't happy in this area, I haven't seen him very often. However, when I have seen him, he's been absolutely covered in rust and mildew (all the time!). Whether the lack of survival is due to rose mosaic virus--I've never seen a Dr. Huey around here not afflicted--or not liking local conditions, or a combination of the two I don't know. In any case, knowing what happens, I won't buy a rose if it is grafted on Dr. Huey.

Melissa

It might be a California issue here - the guess about the 12 month growing season might be a good one. I do not think it is planting depth, because we never lose roses from freezing, budded scion or own root.

Jackie

Yes. I think Michael's solution is a good one. Chop the thing to the ground after it blooms.

Because when we grew Gallicas and the like, and we pruned after the bloom, they began to rust and mildew as soon as they got new leaves. Chopping it to the ground might be better.

Remember that, in its day, 'Dr. Huey' was highly regarded. It was a real "break through" rose. It CAN be spectacular. (Go to Las Vegas in early spring, and drive through the '50's-era housing tracts just off the Strip. The Doc will take your breath away.)

I'm sure it is good SOMEWHERE, and rmv has not diminished its vigor measurably. But Southern California is not the place to grow it, unless you plan a rigid spray program.

Jeri