blind shoots normal this time of year....roses growing in short daylight hours...as season goes on...more sun per day = less blinds..as to why some are budding and she's not....dunno....top them and sit tight

Thanks Brenton, never thought of that. I was thinking also maybe drops in temperature when we get those cold snaps. Being coastal we get some horrendous gusts that affect the top growth...some scorching can be seen after the storms...seems to affect the seems to stunt ans slow down growth almost to a halt. Iceberg hadn't recovered to well after our last one. When the days warm up you can see them waking up! As far as the puzzle as to why one should suffer more than the rest. Her position is such that she is first to see shade but only in a few minutes before the others do. So the sun factor you mention comes into it. Maybe our Queen is also not so happy about the cold winds?!?

cheers'
varmi

Brenton, just topped Queen E blindshoots. Forty of them chopped and left 5 measely flowering bud branches.

Unbelievable!

Nobody has confessed to have the answer for blind shoots, in my experience. I wonder about early pruning, and deep pruning to immature buds. In the first instance, a rose like Peter Frankenfeld I always have a problem with. He shows us very few mature buds to cut to. Queen Elizabeth is a very forgiving rose. Are you sure you're not cutting too hard to try and reduce its height? And in the process, pruning to immature buds? An immature bud has nothing to do but go blind as there is insufficient warmth in the soil and fewer daylight hours coming out of Winter. As I get older, and slower, and lazier, it's great to start pruning in August, to find the roses are telling me where to cut them. ALWAYS prune to a bud that's going to fire.

Pruned mid July to end July to about 80cm height. She's an old rose and gets very big. Has had no special treatment from any other year. I've never worried about cutting to a mature bud before, will keep it in ming in future however.

I pruned the old Eiffel Tower harshly this year as I only had two main branches that were very thick. Just wanted to bush up the rose and get a few branches closer to the base to come thru. It only managed 3 and all have flowering buds and look like watershoots. I'll have to reprune one of the old branches back a bit more as the new shoot came from further down.

Thanks for that Lozza. I was only thinking a few days back that the manure I'd put on was added thicker than usual and could be keeping the soil cooler as well. Oh well, every bit helps to prevent this from happening again. The weather has been awful here, winds are worse than usual so the temp explanation really does make sense.

Can't wait for spring. Suttor's Gold is ready to burst with colour. Wooohooo!

varmi

Interesting Lozza .That explanation would tie together a lot of the observations one could make on blind shoots.I've found that dry spots in beds also "seem" to result in blind shoots forming.Whenever I see a shoot going blind it just seems to be telling me that it's run out of fuel before reaching the end of it's journey.Maybe immature buds just don't have enough fuel in the tank to make the trip.
Having said that,once they've stopped for a quick driver reviver most of these shoots still seem to make it through anyhow.So there's not much lost....
P.s My Queen.E has done the same trick(as yours) this year as has done the Mr.Lincoln next door.Both where pruned back to immature buds but both were also planted in a new bed this year, which, at the time of digging appeared to be underlain by some sort of natural rubble, alluvial in nature. Maybe some sort of ancient, now dry stream bed.Seems to take a million gals. of water to make it wet, thus the roses have had their share of dry moments.Anyway I suppose this doesn't prove anything for certain but it's food for thought.
Happy rosing varmi.
Thrip