This is Charlotte who has been goaded into doing something only through continual threats of being tossed along with much shovel waving. She prefers to throw basals more than anything.

And this is the latest from Heritage, already grown to monstrous size compared to when I got her. She is probably my most carefree and dependable Austin.

My Charlotte is nearly a total loss this year :( I should have bit the bullet and really cut her down, but I just kept thinking "the BS can't get worse, the BS can't get worse than this...okay, definitely not worse than this...um, worse? No, please, not worse than this!!" To the point it was just bare stems and 2 (albeit perfect and lovely) blooms dangling forlornly at the end. Cut it back to about 6", and it's leafed and shot out about 4" in as many days.
Now to just trim those dang privet trees that are overshadowing it.
It's funny of all the Austins I've had problems with octo-canes, Charlotte's been one of the few that didn't. Granted, she's prob been just a wee bit stressed for that kind of vigorous activity.
...about nipping the newly formed buds on those little bands...I "accidentally" forgot to do that on Mme. Caroline Testout that I ordered in June. Three flowers later it decided to put it's energy into roots and two long canes. I think it was worth it ;) (btw, it smelled AH-mazing! Totally worth it)

Josh,

Your Heritage looks very healthy. Was it a band, when did you receive it and may I ask, what are you feeding it?

Lynn

Lynn,

Heritage was a 2 gallon rose from Chamblee's. As for feeding it, I only amended the soil with Bone Meal, Blood Meal, and cow manure. A weekly watering and half day sun later and she is quickly filling her spot in the bed. I have not thrown a bit of fertilizer in the direction of this bed at all this year.

The only time I have fertilized was at planting for Mary Rose and Sharifa Asma. Mary Rose sulked for months, then put out two blooms....then dropped her leaves and is now awkwardly bare except for the new growth she has put out. All of her old leaves have been done away with. Sharifa Asma did the same - sulked, dropped leaves, then put on new growth finally and bloomed. With the results I have seen so far this year in comparing the two processes, I may reconsider any sort of chemical fertilizer in the future and merely use organic means to fertilize. The organically fertilized roses as a whole seem to be much happier and better settled than those I did fertilize.

Josh

Josh, In our Texas heat, you only water 1x a week?
I have been watering my garden 3x-4x a week. None of my roses have dropped leaves.

I hope I'm not overwatering!

This post was edited by mauvegirl8 on Tue, Aug 27, 13 at 12:47

I don't know that you can overwater in this heat. I skipped watering one day since it was promised that it would rain (forlorn hope!), and the roses looked stressed just by skipping one day. I'm amazed that you can get away with watering so much less in your gardens.

Josh, your Heritage looks amazing! And yes, you simply must let that one bud develop to make sure it's not some orange hybrid tea you were sent by mistake!

Ingrid

Ingrid,

I pulled a sneaky on Mother Nature and realized that my clay soil was actually a blessing in disguise. While I did amend it to ensure it would not become a water logged sludge pit, I did not completely convert the soil to what would be considered ideal consistency for roses. By doing leaving the natural clay, I made sure that the soil retained an appropriate amount of moisture for the roses to grow without needing to water often. I mulched heavily to keep out the water zapping rays of the sun and crossed my fingers.

So far I am pleased with how it has worked. We will chalk it up to beginner's luck. And I will be sure to post a picture of the bloom as soon as it opens!

Josh

Josh is that a crepe myrtle tree behind Charlotte? They have a dense root system that will compete with roses. I have a rose climbing in mine but I have to give it so much extra food and water to make up for what the tree takes and the plant was slower to get started because of the tree roots. Charlotte is pretty easy so if yours is slow, maybe its the tree roots.

Josh.......

I planted/transplanted 16 roses this spring. I had allowed them to grow a root mass up to a gallon can. Usually, I want a larger root mass because of my very hot summer temps and I think the extra roots help pull moisture through the plant.

Out of the sixteen only two have jumped out of the ground, but the others still look healthy. I am thinking they are busy growing more roots .... lol. I think all of them will make it just fine.

The longer I live up here in the mountains, the less inclined I am to use organics as they tend to invite undesirable wildlife to the garden, but I am experimenting.

You roses look very good, so you must be doing many things right for your climate.

Smiles,
Lyn

Josh,

Ah,

I have read that the Austin's really appreciate manure. You have obviously examined your soil and adjusted everything accordingly for this rose. I cannot wait to put some of my bands in the ground. I hope that they will be ready in October; which will be 3 months of growth from bands, hopefully to 1 gallon, or the one gallons will outgrow their pots. I really do not want to try to overwinter 20 bands and one gallon roses:(

Lynn

Kitty,

I was concerned about the tree roots as well at first. But when I dug Dr. Huey out of that same spot to make room for Charlotte, I found that no tree roots existed within the periphery of Huey's spot. It was all dirt, worms, and Huey madness. I am hoping this means Charlotte will be okay. I am beginning to believe it is simply a lack of watering. I have another Charlotte on the back porch in a pot which looked great coming out of the nursery but has since gone south sitting on my back porch. I water the pots once a day, and despite even my little band of SdFG doing great with the regime, Charlotte is throwing a downright fit.

But ah well, she will have to learn to adapt or find another home.

Lyn,

I as well will be nervously overwintering bands. My area rarely gets cold during the winter, but there is always that odd week of snow we get during February that threatens the roses. Hopefully the plants will be old enough to fend for themselves.

Josh

The mystery is solved, Josh, as to why your roses are doing so well. I didn't know you gardened in amended clay soil but that, compared to my decomposed granite, is most probably the answer to your great success. Count yourself lucky because you can conserve water and your roses will be very content in your soil. I had asked in another thread whether you get rain but, even if you don't, the clay soil explains a lot.

Ingrid

Ingrid,

My apologies for missing your question! Rain comes scarcely during the summer. We have actually had an unusual amount of rain this year. As the seasons roll over, however, we get rain almost weekly for about a month. Then things clear up again. It's during these times of season changes that we get the tornadoes! :-) Those are in a whole other "rose concerns" category! Lol.

Josh