Sorry to hear... WOW! Strange things happening in your garden dublinbay.

I don't even know what to say but hang in there and I hope you get things figured out...

Jim--it has been a tough year! but I'm glad to report that the other problems in the garden seem to have settled down. The sun has been regularly shining the past few weeks and the garden has decidedly perked up in many respects--other than my fading Eden.

I do hope this is the last "problem rose" I have to put up with for this year!

Kate

That rose is so amazingly beautiful. I never could get mine to grow. I sure wouldn't want to be without it if you'd had success. Just gorgeous.
I hope someone here can help narrow down what is happening to her. I'm sorry it is happening.
Susan

Could you have a grub problem? I've lost bushes and small tress in the past and found very large grubs around their roots when I've removed them.

Sorry...sometimes rose gardening is really hard. We try to understand these issues and some are real mysteries. Your spring Eden is just beautiful...I`d try again, but that`s just me. I will follow this to see if anyone can help you. Once again...sorry. lesley

What a frustrating and sad thing to lose this exquisite rose after such a spring show. I'm sure you have already thought of this, but could it possibly be gophers eating Eden's roots? I wasn't sure from your description how rapid Eden's decline was, but I immediately thought of gophers. Good luck in solving this mystery. I hope you have another Eden in your future. Diane

voles?

Could it be slow root-rot? I've had that happen (I assume it's that) from roses that get acclimated to our dry summers and then get hit by a lot of rain or moisture for a while.

My roses also like to 'drown' in the spring if the soil is nice for the summer, so I have to water more often in summer than I'd like. But I have to do it, because I'll lose roses each spring if the soil holds moisture that much here.

I'm sure with my spring problem that that's it, because I've saved them if I catch them soon enough and pot them up in sandy loam (and more sun, usually). It depends on where they are in the yard (how sunny, windy and/or dry it is) and the rose, so I get the soil mix wrong sometimes on new ones.

Are yours in sunnier or windier areas faring the best? I'm just trying to think of anything I've seen, and I've killed a lot of roses so it might help ;) :D

Thank you, everybody for your suggestions. I don't think those are the problem, however. Big mystery! But Meredith, that is a very interesting idea--never heard of that before, but it has a ring of truth to it. Slow root-rot. I've wondered at times if it weren't something like that, given the grey, moist weather we've been having, and the "slow" part certainly fits it.

Help me out here. I'm not sure what you meant by the roses drowning in the spring so you water more? I'm sure I have that statement all snarled up cuz it doesn't make sense, does it! Try it one more time for me--maybe I'll get it this time.

But I have to say, digging up a BIG rose like Eden in order to plant it in a container with sandy loam is a Big order!

Eden (and another rose I was having a problem with several weeks earlier) are both in what I would call the sunnier and more exposed areas in the garden--although no part of my garden is out in the wide open spaces, as it were. Modest backyard hedged in by my garage and my neighbors' garages, as well as some big windbreaking oaks in my neighbors' yards.

I'm really interested in your idea, Meredith. Try it one more time for me. Thanks.

Kate

My best friend's Eden was dying away too (too many tree roots and shady) He bent it over and pegged the top down and shoveled soil on it. Now there is a new Eden growing better than the old one ever did. The old one is fading away. Maybe there is time to try a rescue of that sort.

Such a beautiful rose. Mine never looks that good or true to form. Beginning to think mine was mislabeled. U going to try again?

:) Mine used to drown in the spring because I had used amendments that hold onto water because our summers are so dry. Does that makes sense, lol? So I used to get the soil right for the summer, knowing it's so hot here. But then I had roses withering away in the spring and I figured out that it was because they need the soil to drain better that time of year.

So the way I have to do it now is to have soil that requires more watering in the summer so that my roses don't drown in the spring. I wish they were more tolerant to our wet, cool springs, but they just hate it. They slowly turn yellow and wither away unless I use amendments that don't hold moisture.

My natural soil is clay-based, so it can stay too wet depending on what else I put in the hole.

Oh, one idea is to pull away the mulch when it's rainy, btw! I don't mulch till the summer because I need things drier in the spring. Then the summer comes and I'm out watering all the time ;) But it's easier to water than to try to take it away!

Oh, I get it now. Yes, that somewhat describes the weather we had this year--prolonged spring, grey and moist. The main difference is that mine are slowly dying off here in midsummer. The garden is dry, so I set up the sprinkler--all the plants are happy except the rose which starts (like you said) turning yellow and withering away.

I guess tomorrow I will get the hose and handwater all the plants except the rose.

Thanks for the explanation, Meredith. Somehow I think we are on the right track here for these mysterious fading- away rose-deaths in my gardens.

Kate

Kate,

I don't know if the experiences of a novice will shed any light on your problems with Eden, esp. since we are in such different areas. Eden was the first rose I planted five years ago and I stuck her in dry compacted soil under an eave of our house. She did great. I loved her so much that the next spring I took two cuttings which rooted within a couple weeks and I planted them. Where? In another dry area under an eave. I just stuck them there probably because I didn't expect that they would really grow. But they did. They put out tons of new growth and by fall were two to three feet tall. Unfortunately I had planted them in a five foot long bed that already had my two Pilgrims in it. Fortunately I realized that that wasn't going to work. One I re-planted in a hedge of gardenias -- under an eave. The other out in the middle of a sunny garden with nice rich cultivated -- and moist -- soil. The one I planted under the eave, where it never gets watered and competes with other shrubs, now has at least ten mammoth canes and I need to prune it soon as much of the rose is taller than my house. The one planted out in the sunny rich area... it looks pretty pathetic. It has two canes, one is long and one is short. You can see how unthoughtful and ignorant I was when I planted my Edens -- I would never do things that way now. I just wondered if maybe it said something about the conditions that this rose favors?? Who know? I surely don't!!

I love love love this rose but if I had a small space I think I would chose a climber that was either fragrant or a more reliable re-bloomer, something I hadn't tried yet. Maybe!

Your photo of Eden is gorgeous. I always love looking at your gardens.

Let us know what you do.

That's very interesting, Sidos. I wonder what others who have grown Eden would say--any similar kinds of situations or experiences?

Haven't decided yet what to do. Because Eden is so special, I'd like to re-plant her, but then I remember her less than wonderful traits (slow re-bloom and not very profuse, for instance), and then I start thinking of some lovely Austin climbers I wouldn't mind trying out . . .

Just don't know yet. For now, I'm just grateful for all the helpful input I'm getting here, as we try to figure out what happened.

Kate

Now that I think about it, my Eden can get pretty dry and stay happy. I've never had mine planted in a heavy/wet spot, but I can vouch that she may need less water than other roses.

If you have room, I hope you replace her (or yours may bounce back) :) Yours is so gorgeous!

I've tried various pruning techniques to try to get better bloom on my Eden. Mine had too many older canes, apparently. I pruned some so that she made new laterals, and those had good rebloom this summer! She may be one that likes what I call 'rejuvenation pruning'. My New Dawns like that, too.