Roses + Heat = Sad sad Garden

18 years ago

Hi all

How do you manage to maintain your roses in the heat? Mine are suffering badly. How often do you water and what tips do you have to maximise the water efficiency?

Thanks in advance ... I am seriously thinking of giving up on them, as they are sad, dry and brown and new growth shrivels up and buds hardly open ...

Aggie

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User
18 years ago
Hi Aggie...Its sad isn't it even here it has been a long hot summer with 8 weeks of over 30 degree temps and no rain to speak of Gosh even the nightime temp are in the middle twenties so I know how you feel.
Mulch is your answer I have mine thickly mulched with about 30 cms of sugar cane mulch could be more mine are mostly standards so its easy to do and I can see if the mulch gets to close to the plant ...I would hate to be crawling under some of those bushes. When I only had half that much mulch on them I used to water them deeply every second day and they still dried out as they are in raised beds, but putting the thicker layer on had made so much difference. Now I only water once a week.

Next month we go to watering with buckets here if we get no rain...and a WA member wrote that my roses should be able to survive on a 1/2 bucket of water a week so we will see, if I notice they are limp in the early morn or in the cool of the evening I will give them more I do realise I will probably not get any blooms but just keeping them alive is the most important thing at this time, and having a 3/4 acre block I have a lot more than roses to water but they are the most delicate of my plants

I also asked advice from a Queensland Rose grower he told me to fertilize every six weeks with half the amount so I do and to use Nitrophoska Blue Special, was also told to liquid feed after a heavy shower of rain but have only done that twice over the summer as we don't get the rain..I used to feed with a Organic fertilizer but having to add a little Potassium Sulphate to it was a real pain. This remedy was for Queensland conditions so they may be different where you are.

I would wait till someone from WA answers your post as they would be able to advise you better knowing more about weather and fertlizers though in any State mulching is the answer so give it a go and good luck with your roses, and I hope you get this well needed rain as much as we do......Cheers...MM.
koiwabiru
18 years ago
All my roses are in pots [the perils of a rented house] and I water half a watering can for each bush each every second day. I feel so profligate! Especially as I am in gloomy Melbourne and we are getting rain once a week at the moment.

I put in about ten cms of leaf mulch about 2 months ago, and it made the world of difference, everything just seemed happpier and less heat stressed.I am going to have to replace it, as it is starting to decompose but I don't know that I could physically fit 30 cms of mulch under a bush, and how to make it stay in the pot rather than blow away. I will have to give it a shot though.
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Inclined to agree with Ann. Roses, even quite large ones, can be kept successfully in pots for years with only a modicum of extra care - I have several which get the old potting soil scraped off the top couple of inches and replaced with new stuff every year. Every 3-4 years, I turn them out and trim the roots and I use a general slow-release fertiliser such as Osmacote. While multiflora is not reknowned for its long bloom season, it does make a nicely foliated full bush which will not get as rampant in a pot. I fully sympathise with your tender heart (although mine is quite a bit more stony) and if you are cursed/blessed (take your pick) with a sentimental nature, then go ahead and keep the rose. As far as I understand, multiflora has been a host for the particular mite which causes RRD - the disease will affect any rose so having a multiflora on your property will make little difference if mites are upwind of you - any rose will act as a potential host.
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I couldn't get the link to work either. How tall is the rose? Is it compact and bushy, or gangly? You might want to go to Help Me Find, and click on Search, and type in "Dr. Huey", and see if it looks like your rose. I say that because neglected red roses often turn out to be that rose - it was/is used as rootstock, and sometimes the top rose dies and up comes Dr. Huey from the roots. If so, it is a once blooming climber, and I have seen lovely plants of it - it seems to do better on the East Coast than out here. What ever it is, if a neglected rose were mine here's what I would do: Cut off all of the dead canes. Cut it back to shape it if it needs it - don't take off anymore than 1/3rd of the bush. Mulch it - at least 2 inches of mulch all around it, but not touching the canes in the middle. Water it well. Find out what folks do in your area to winter protect their roses - I have no idea about that, as we hardly ever get even frost here. In the Spring, when it starts to put out new growth, feed it - just get any rose food (without anything else in it like poisons - just food), and follow the instructions. Then you should get more flowers in the Spring, and you can see if you want to keep it. Take pictures of the Spring bloom, and post them here, and someone will be able to tell you what/who it is. Jackie
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jancol
18 years ago
I am so sad
I transplanted my little patio rose 'love potion' as I thought it would do as well as the others in the no dig garden, I think she has gone to heaven. Just brown sticks but I had severely cut back and the others are blooming.
Would anyone know when they start selling roses again as I must get another. Any hints on reviving the fallen will be greatly appreciated. Has she just gone dormant I wonder>
Jan
koiwabiru
18 years ago
Hi Jan,

According to HMF- Magic Garden Roses and Treloar Roses both have 'Love Potion'. Trying to figure out whether something has died or not is a terrible thing!

good luck

Kate

Roses + Heat = Sad sad Garden

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koiwabiru

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