Considering Starting over w/Roses

14 years ago

I have been growing beautiful roses for about 15 years. None are special varieties; all have come from Home Depot. This year was a terrible year for my roses. I don't know if it was all the rain we had in the spring or the horrible chili thripes which caused shriveled leaves and tiny buds. Generally I just fertilize w/timed release Miracle Grow Rose and spray for black spot and water weekly at the root. This year nothing that used to work did. I have pruned several times during the summer in addition to applying several insecticides from soap to malathian. I'm hoping they will come back but at this time it appears doubtful. Does anyone have any recommendations on where I can purchase quality roses economically? What type of roses will do well in NE Fl? Thanks

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Comments (9)

jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
14 years ago
this may be a long shot, but, florida is known to have root knot nematodes (root feeders) problems in the soil.
which could of attacked the roots and weakened your roses.
just keep this in the back of your mind.
anythings possible.

http://www.rose-gardening-made-easy.com/growing-roses-in-florida.html
fallfograin
14 years ago
I am not a rose expert. But the one rose I have had great success with is Rosa Chinensis Mutabilis. It has bloomed year round, is very disease resistant, and doesn't need much pruning at all. I have gotten a couple from www.nichegardens.com. One nice thing about it is the rose color changes as it gets older, so you can have a variety of colors going on at the same time from peach to pink. I love it. And I love that I don't really have to do anything to it. Very low maintenance, free flowering, and beautiful!
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Thanks zack, good idea, I wanted to get to that Rhode Island rose garden last summer but didnÃ¢ÂÂt make it. I have done that buying a rose at the end of the season that looked good. ThatÃ¢ÂÂs how I got my Ã¢ÂÂGolden CelebrationÃ¢ÂÂ. yorkrose, isnÃ¢ÂÂt that interesting about the New Dawn. I can live with that, if it looks good the rest of the season. I wonder what it is spotting with, do you happen to know? mad gallica, I wish I lived closer and IÃ¢ÂÂd happily be dragged! :-) You must have a GOR-geous rose garden! You are right about seeing them in person. I donÃ¢ÂÂt get a chance to do that often at all. When I was growing up, we summered along the Massachusetts coast and I remember a house we visited often that had roses in the garden and I can still remember the pleasure I had from the fragrance and how beautiful they were. ItÃ¢ÂÂs amazing how long an experience can stay with you and roses are one of those things that can do that. Well, if IÃ¢ÂÂm ever planning a trip to New York, donÃ¢ÂÂt be surprised to get an email requesting a tour. :-) I just looked up the Karl Forster on HelpMeFind. What a pretty white rose! I am surprised to see it was bred by Kordes in 1930. I always like to see the description Ã¢ÂÂvery vigorousÃ¢ÂÂ too. Thanks for that suggestion. IÃ¢ÂÂll have to take a photo of the foliage on the New Dawn and post it, tomorrow.
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Mori - one issue to consider with the roses that didn't come back (Moondance and Oregold) is the timing of when they were planted. I don't have very much luck with any planting in the fall, even big pots - I stop planting in June. In our zones, roses need to put down a good root system before the winter to survive, particularly if the canes aren't hardy and it needs to regrow from the ground. Beyond that, Oregold is a particularly weak grower, and I've never gotten it to overwinter regardless. I've had a Moondance for about 6 years but it finally faded and died this last winter and wasn't particularly robust. Blue Girl grows well for me and is worth another try if it doesn't show some life. I usually wait to at least mid-June before I decide if a rose isn't going to come back from the dead. Some roses (like Double Delight) can take that long to put up canes. Cynthia
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Thanks for the kind comments. I haven't the slightest idea how to pronounce most rose names & am always embarrassing myself or *relearning* how to say them correctly *sigh*. Forvo is a neat site for pronunciation help http://www.forvo.com/languages/fr/ Melissa: yes! I like plants that show you how the evolution started from one group to another. MAM, more than other teas I've grown, forms those HT scrolled blooms. I like them--and I like the raggedy blooms of cream blushed pink that are thought of as "traditional" tea flowers, also. Marchioness de Londonderry is one of the HPs that in my climate, you can see how they may have influenced the scrolled blooms popular in the later 20th century HTs (dang, I can't find a photo, but it throws scrolled light pink flowers you'd swear were any HT's, not the blousey big blooms I think of when I think "HP") Boncrow, even before I read your comment, I was thinking to myself that everyone I've known who particularly loved Maggie's performance was in east TX, Louisiana, etc. Maybe it's one of those roses that just love heat plus humidity. In Welch's book, Antique Roses for the South, he mentions it was one of the first antique roses he collected & he got it near Mangham, LA, then grew it in College Station TX (also hot & humid) & eventually forwarded it to ARE & others. It should have done well in my first location--probably I mistreated it. That yard was way too shady & I grew a lot of things in pots where I could haul them into sun. For you Old Blush admirers, try Ralph Moore's Pink Poodle! It's from a cross of a climbing mini x Old Blush & really shows its daddy's features--so cute. Not widely available, but I've got it & it roots easily. It wasn't marketed as a mini ogr or mini China because the rose growing public hadn't caught on the the charms of ogrs yet.
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This thing about "when in rose season does a given variety start to bloom" is a big deal for me. As I've mentioned before, I don't much care for roses that open very late,because of the bad summer weather. Another reason is that, with so many roses, I don't really dead-head,so after the main flush is over, the whole garden tends to have a pretty tatty,messy appearence, so the late blooms can make me feel guilty that I don't give them a nice setting. But then there's this other thing about orchestrating garden areas to obtain certain colour harmonies. Right now, I have this kind of luscious little bouquet of Burgundy Iceberg, Mme. Ligier, and Azubis : burgundy, violet-pink, and lavender-I just LOVE it. So I'd love it if I could get this one particular plant of Rosengarten Z, in this one particular spot, to bloom earlier, because it is that special,rare dark purple,maintaining the colour in heat pretty well. Also, being a climber,it's vigorous enough to be pretty easy in my tough conditions-I just recently have started with floribundas, for example,and am finding that many of them are harder to get going,and don't really accept being watered only in their first year. It's funny, because if you look on the Lens Roses site http://www.lens-roses.be/en_US/shop/page/13?ecom_main_cat=4&ecom_cat=25&ppg=12 ,you'll see that they offer both Rosengarten Z and Roville,but they say that RZ blooms from June-October,whereas Roville blooms July-Oct.Instead, in my garden, Roville starts early, in main rose season..(.and,I might add is still going strong and looking great now in mid-July!!! What a rose! This is the first year it's done this; previously I never thought that much of it) Instead, Super Dorothy starts late as they say it does on the site, as does Super Excelsa, though this latter is a little earlier than SD.
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clanross
14 years ago
I bought some roses from a lady in Florida at Emerald Goddess Gardens. I bought an Old Blush and a found rose called "Prom Queen" Both have done beautifully and I can highly recommend this seller--plants arrived healthy, good sized and tough. I think she is selling Prom Queen on Amazon.com now, but I bought mine through ebay. Also Countryside Roses is a great place and has MANY varieties. I have several very good plants from there. I'm confident that both of these ladies can set you on a good path. :)
pfzimmerman
14 years ago
Cool Roses is based in Florida and offers roses on fortuniana rootstock.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cool Roses
diane_nj 6b/7a
14 years ago
Could you also tell us more about your watering? Once a week isn't enough, especially if your soil is sandy.
dirtdame
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, everyone, for all the help and suggestions. This summer I did not water more than once a week (a good soaking) because of all the forceful rain we had from spring through summer. I guess all that rain could also pose a problem. My soil is not particularly sandy, as when I planted I used Miracle grow garden soil. Guess I'll have to sit out the winter and if things don't look happy by late Feb/early Mar I'll order some new roses! Thanks again.
lavender_lass
14 years ago
Dirtdame- My Dad lives near Tampa. He said there were some bad frosts last spring and he lost a lot of his tropical plants. Is it possible the frosts weakened your roses?

You may want to try Heirloom roses in Oregon. They sell smaller own root plants, but they carry a large variety and this year they had 50% off sales evey week on different types of roses.
rayrose
14 years ago
You might also try K&M roses in MS. They bud everything
on fortuniana and will send you instructions on how to
care for your roses from A to Z.
shirl_2003
14 years ago
Chilli Thrips have damaged all my roses too. I have not used anything to try and kill them but hope they come back next spring. I'm in central Florida west of Tampa.

Most of my roses are all own root and of the OGR variety and normally look good. Darn chilli thrips

Considering Starting over w/Roses

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jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6

fallfograin

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