Do ordinary garden roses have a life span?
21 years ago
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21 years agoRelated Discussions
Life span of roses
Comments (12)Karl -- "proper pruning" is different from what I was thinking of. When I said "pruned very hard every spring" I meant within inches of the ground. I haven't grown hybrid teas myself, but did help out in gardens where they were grown. Some people pick the plant solely for the flowers, ignoring the stated size of the plant. It gets really tall? Well, just keep whacking it back to below 12" in the spring. You want it to grow and bloom more? Feed it with Miracle Gro every time you water. Want to cut flowers for your vase? Take as much stem as necessary to make your bouquet. These were the plants that eventually wore themselves out. That type of growing is different from what you describe, and is likely the reason you have such healthy long-lived plants. I remember one of my neighbors in Buffalo who said "I have to switch out my hybrid teas every few years" and that seemed odd to me at the time. Later, when I saw how he tried to turn big hybrid teas into basically "small shrubby perennials" to fit into his small border, I understood why. And this is what I meant by the difference between "average life span" and "potential life span." The former takes into consideration plants which die before their time -- either because of abuse, or because the gardeners got bored with them. Moral of the story -- hybrid teas can live a long time if you pick a good one for your area and take good care of it. :-) ~Christopher...See MoreProductive life span of HTs
Comments (15)Here's a long answer, but it addresses the question about the productive life span of HTs. One of my most exuberant roses is my bush-form (i.e., not the climbing sport) 'Snowbird', one of my earliest rose acquisitions, which I must have obtained and planted no later than about 1968 (and, I think, a little bit earlier). A few years after that, I realized it was planted in a bad place, and so exercised my usual wisdom by then moving it to an even worse place, "worse" because a neighboring tree-like holly grew even more tree-like as the years went on. The way 'Snowbird' was shaded by the holly was such that it grew up and up to catch what sunlight it could; and so it is that I now have a bush-form 'Snowbird' which is probably taller than most 'Climbing Snowbird' plants. It's thus nearly a half-century old, and, as it grows merrily along the eaves of my garage, it is still giving me bushels of creamy fragrant blossoms every year. Though I'm a strong partisan of own-root plants, I'm obliged to specify that this old and productive rose plant is a graft, and that it is indeed still growing on the original stock (rather than having rooted out from the scion), because in those days I planted the bud-union well above the ground level. I see no decline in the plant, and fully expect it to go on and on until in some eon it is bull's-eyed by a flaming meteor. And I have to add that its old rival, the holly, began to decline some time back, and was finally removed just about exactly a year ago. I think of it standing by, looking on the holly being removed, and, just like Ramon Novarro after the chariot race in the old silent Ben-Hur, crying a triumphant "Victory!" (the scene was handled differently in the 1950s version of the story). Such is the drama which unfolds in one's own garden!...See MoreLife span Azaleas
Comments (9)We have 2 Azeleas in our yard. Both were planted by the original property owner's sister. The Pinkster was planted back in 1986 & it is somewhat struggling since hurricane Helene hit Spruce Pine North Carolina but it is making a comeback. The main Azelea is over 12' tall & 44' circumstance. It has been trimmed g kept in a gumdrop shape since it was planted back in the 1950's by her older sister (Jewel). She is now 86yo & told me of a time she went to South Carolina or Georgia & saw an Azelea that would now be well over 100 years old & over 15' high & 100' long due to their natural propagation method similar to air layering but allows the branches to grow into contact with the ground & begins rooting again allowing it to spread. The deer have had little to eat since the Hurricane & I've had to trim much of the base about 3-4' high & found numerous new growths from the exact method Mrs. Jewel described & it is thriving ❤️!! The 2 pictures above are our pictures we have from April 2024 & today.. My family will be getting Azeleas from it as gifts.....See MoreLife span of a David Austen rose bush?
Comments (24)As Jim says, look to economic explanations. The mass market producers in the US until quite recently were interested only in producing and promoting modern bush roses and climbers. Very small companies, motivated by love as much as anything, took up the role of propagating old roses, shrubs, and little known varieties. It takes less room and less skilled labor to produce roses from cuttings. If it's an old wives' tale that grafted roses are short-lived, it's also false that roses generally do better grafted. Modern bush roses, perhaps so, and some other varieties, but many roses grow strongly on their own roots....See More- 21 years ago
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