Hi and welcome to my world of roses. I have grown roses now for over sixty years. Do I know it all? A big definite NO. I do love to share, via gardening forums, as much knowledge as possible. Back in the 60's. I was a traffic cop and the Regents Park, a royal park in london was a particular area for me. Within the park is the world renoun, Queen Mary's Rose Garden. The park superintendant, SM Gault and I soon became friends. He has authored several books. Thanks to him. I soon became a Fellow of the RHS and the National, later the Royal National Rose Society. Now due to the demise of the RNRS. I am amember of. The Rose Society.UK. So what has all of this to do with me and roses? My beloved wife Valerie passed away in 2010. I intended to make our tiny garden, a memorial garden. So many problems, most of which I have mentioned on the forum. NOW. Time to start again. Strange weather conditions and my stock of roses are producing buds all over the place. So I will once again, side-step the basics and start my pruning etc early. So firstly weed removal from the tubs. Give a feed of Toprose.
A memory rose garden sounds so beautiful Mike. I wish you great success with this. Thank you for explaining your history with your love of roses. Very interesting. I enjoyed reading that. I'll look forward to hearing how it progresses.
Mike, I am a fellow rose lover, and your memory garden sounds like a lovely and loving idea. Here in Texas I take cuttings from rose bushes now, February, and put the cuttings in perlite under two liter plastic bottles with the bottom cut off. They are in a shallow tray that is kept watered so the perlite stays moist. The cuttings sit under natural light on the potting shelf in the barn until when a gentle tug meets resistance. Then, they get transferred to potting soil in individual pots and grow. After a few months, the new rose bushes are put into gallon pots, again with potting soil, and allowed to grow until I can transplant them in the fall. We plant in the fall because the baby roses can't stand the heat of summer and have time in the fall/winter to develop a strong root system. Funny story--I had 65 roses in gallon pots, each carefully marked with its name on a popsicle stick stuck into the soil. The sticks were so attractive to our cat that she played with them. I had to wait a year until the roses bloomed to figure out what rose was which!
@MIKE ALLEN Thank you for sharing your rose journey! I hope you will be posting lots of photos, including now as they awaken from dormancy! Our rose garden is also the chicken and duck yard. Not as many varieties - maybe 25 - and most have been through moves in different yards. They are a real joy. The birds cause some untidiness, but I suppose there is benefit from them eating insects, fertilizing the roses, and scratching away some of the weeds. Whatever the reason, they seem to thrive. I would love to read about some of your rose varieties, how they do, why you chose them, and which are your favorites.
Daniel .. could you tel me if you grow hybrid tea roses and or which couple are your favs? It rains so much here black spot is a huge issue with hybrid teas. I only grow shrub and climber roses. Thanks in advance.
Hi Mike I only have 7 roses, planted in large pots as I do not enjoy weeding around stabby branches. I noticed one rose seems thornier that it used to be. Is it possible a virus could make that happen?
A virus would not cause this. Rosa Rugosa was used as a root stock by many growers. If your rose has only one stem heavily thorned, then maybe Rugosa rootstock was used and a single stem would suggest a sucker.
I have begun servicing my roses for this year. Most are new to my collection and being containerized, treating each one individually is a slow job. Nevertheless it encourges me to keep going. Even though my time in the garden is governed by pain, I have to admit. I LOVE IT. If it's OK. I'd like to share some practicle tips for rose growing.
