Can Spirit of Freedom be grown as a bush?
dianela7analabama
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
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dianela7analabama
3 years agoRelated Discussions
DA's Spirit of Freedom
Comments (4)Something is def. not right here ... I just went outside and took a look at my 6 feet tall rose bush - that I grow next to my front door - and it has really grown on me during the last 5 years. It really should bloom already the first year if you got it as a bareroot grafted plant? Mine are grafted - and took off well the first year - even though I had to support the huge floppy flowers - rebloom was sparse - but as you can see on the pictures I have posted on HMF (Niels) the first flowers in the first flush are huge! Like small bowls - with up to 200 petals. I secured the long 5-6 feet basal shots to a wall support since I intended to grow it as a low climber. And it has performed better each year since I planted it - producing more and flowers and repeat has become better. The flowers have a sweet good rose fragrance that wafts even though not very strong -but often put a smile on my face when I come home. It has earned the prime spot in my garden - very few Austins perform as well as this rose for me - in my climate - has been so hardy, been so resistant to disease - I grow it no spray - and only seen it get a little mildew - no black spot or rust. Last summer we had 3 times as much rain as a normal summer - the 2. largest summer rainfall recorded in 120 years. And no - since this may be the rose that has the highest petal count of all roses - I do not expect it to like wet weather - but the blooms did not ball or turn into spongy messes like so many other very, very double roses did. They nodded so gracefully and the rain trickled down the outer petals protecting the inner petals and the blooms developed well. Sadly it will be the last year in my garden - along with all the other roses aginst my walls - since we need to have the brick walls repaired next year :-(( I can only imagine what a monster this rose can become in Dallas. Well fed and watered it can probably become a 8-10 feet monster shrub over 3-5 years - and the first flush will be magnificient with many hundreds of roses - and even though the roses in later flushes are smaller - you should get 2 more nice flushes in a season - even though it may go heat dormant in August. It really has been a pleasant surprise for me this rose - but that goes to show how different the same roses perform in different places of the world. But yours should still have bloomed ...something is not right ... How many basal canes has the rose? How big and tall? Are the canes blind shooting - not producing any buds? And it would really help to see a picture of the plant - with the leaves up close for identication. I would never put up with or accept a rose not to bloom in 2 seasons ... granted some Austin Roses repeats better than others ...but no blooms?...See MoreSummer Song and Spirit of Freedom
Comments (9)I love my SOF. She always has some blooms and they smell heavenly. She is extremely hardy. As you can see in the photo, she is quite large. This photo was taken a couple years ago. If I let her, she would eat my house! This year I am going to try and keep her pruned into a large shrub. I plan on hard pruning her after her spring flush and then prune her again in mid-summer. She will need it. She would look perfect properly trained on a large trellis or on an arbor. If I took the time to work her canes laterally, she would really look spectacular....See MoreSpirit of Freedom
Comments (6)According to Helpmefind.com, Sririt of Freedom has occasional repeat later in the season. When I see this about a rose I just take for granted repeat bloom is hard to come by. In my U.S. zone 5 where we have a cold winter, the roses go naturally dormant. Spring, after pruning back winter dieback, begins a new growth cycle. Our first bloom usually is the biggest of the season. In Thailand, I presume your climate is such you have no natural dormant period and the roses grow year round. If that's the case once it blooms, with occasional repeat later in the season and with such a long season you'll wait forever for repeat blooms. You may need to do like they do in Florida and California where there is usually no dormant period and cut them back to force new growth. It blooms on new wood so doing that may fool it into thinking it's come out of dormancy. You'll have to contact someone in those areas to see when they cut back....See MoreDoes this Arbor suit Spirit of Freedom?
Comments (16)One thing my friend learned is that a lot of climbing roses took more time than she wanted to wait to even begin to cover the arches she had made. I don't know how large your arch will be, but it will take more than one rose to cover the arch you've shown above. After looking at it, I would recommend something with more space filled in--you've mentioned this above. I don't really train a rose--I just help it along, and occasionally tie a cane that doesn't want to cooperate (or prune them back). I'm a terrible person to ask about training roses, and I never do a lot of pruning climbers, either. I also have a twisty reel to supply long green twisties for any tying I might do. This is the flat kind available on Amazon. I don't know what rose you want to try on the arch, but New Dawn grows really rapidly if you think you could handle it. It can be a thorny monster. I grew a few, and they were too large for my garden. You might consider combining some big clematis to grow with your rose(es). Colette was a very fast growing rose, but I started with a 5 gallon plant and she didn't need to climb a tunnel and cover it. I hate to keep using my friend's photos but she has so many examples. Below is a huge Zepherine Drouhin growing against my friend's gazebo. I don't know how long this took to achieve (I'll ask her), but ZD is thornless. Also shown is a huge Eden on an arbor. I think Eden was a fairly slow grower (I'll ask her about that, too). I hope you get some good advice from others. Good luck, and thanks about Colette. The poor thing pretty much trained herself. Diane...See Moredianela7analabama
3 years agonoseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque)
3 years agodianela7analabama thanked noseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque)dianela7analabama
3 years agoSheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
3 years agoflowersaremusic z5 Eastern WA
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