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sunnysideuphill

Gallica Allegra

14 years ago

I bought this because of the name - same as #1 daughter. 4" band, cute blossom, in 08, into the ground in 09, great start this spring. No blossoms (something got to the buds) but great healthy foliage. And then she started to flop. And flop some more. I tucked in a three legged green vinyl-covered wire thing, which she filled in by the end of June. And continued to grow. And flop some more, longest canes are now arching out of the tripod and reaching for the ground.

So yesterday I was trying to decide whether or not to give up on her, thinking, "she's getting so 'leggy'" - when I remembered that Leggy was my daughter's nickname in high school (distance runner)...So now you KNOW I have to keep her....

Maybe some hard pruning next spring, let those floppy canes build some bulk?

Comments (5)

  • 14 years ago

    Pruning will help. Gallicas usually benefit from spring pruning. Just don't tale more than 1/2 of the cane length. Somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 is fine.
    Olga

  • 14 years ago

    Olga, does that reduce the amount of flowering, or not really?

    I haven't really explored the gallica roses much, but I also have wondered about whether their flowers (when they're double) are so heavy they always make the stems flop over. I don't see the point in growing a rose whose flowers are mostly flopped over down on the ground in the mud and grass.

  • 14 years ago

    The Gallicas as a group tend to be rather lax-caned and floppy, especially when young. This means that in the first two to three seasons, the plants will likely grow a number of tall canes that bend till they flop on the ground. Cultivars with China blood in their pedigree can be especially inclined to do this. 'Hippolyte' is one such variety. 'Allegra' does quite a bit of this when young, at least until it has built up some size. Once it reaches year three, it has a lot of canes that tend to support their neighboring canes as the rose builds a thicket. This is their nature.

    For those who find this growth pattern unattractive in the garden setting, try what John Scarman prescribes: prune the new season's growth once in mid-Summer to about half its height, and then again in late Winter, cut back the growth to round out the shrub outline and reduce the length of the canes to a height that will be more self-supporting. Every season you can allow the outline of the shrub to expand by a foot or so, and in that way you can manage the plant's architecture so that it is self supporting at all stages, rather than having to wait for it to arrive at that point in three or more years.

    You won't significantly compromise the quantity of blooms you get in the Spring, and in fact, you will often get larger blooms of higher quality this way.

  • 14 years ago

    Cultivars with China blood in their pedigree can be especially inclined to do this.

    Ah! I have grown exactly one Gallica - Cardinal de Richelieu. Thank you for explaining why it was so floppy! :)

    Thank you also, trospero, for explaining how to manage a Gallica so that you can enjoy the flowers, rather than be frustrated by them as they vanish into the grass and dirt!

  • 14 years ago

    York rose, in my experience old european once bloomers all benefit from winter/early spring (depending on your zone) pruning. For me, prunned plants give more blooms than unpruned. Unpruned oncebloomers with long canes tend to have leaves and blooms at the end of canes leaving unnatractive lower part of the canes. With pruning they produce more laterals and you will have blooms and leaves along the whole length. Much more attractive bush shape in my opinion and more blooms. I also follow John Scarman's advice (my favorite book on rose pruning) and do additional pruning in mid summer. But the winter/spring pruning is more important for me, because this is the time when I can see canes. in summer it is much more difficult because of leaves.
    Olga

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