Roses

By Nancy Brachey
McClatchy Newspapers

Q: I have a rose bush that I planted several months ago. I bought it as just the root ball with minimum amount of soil around it and the stems at the top of the root ball had been cut off. After planting the rose everything was green for awhile. One of the trimmed stems started a shoot and it has leaves on it, but suddenly all the stems started turning black. I’m afraid the whole thing will die, but none of my roses has acted like this before. What would turn stems that had been green for months suddenly black? Can I save this rose?

A: It remains to be seen whether this rose will survive. It is likely to have a problem called canker. A range of disease organisms cause this problem, which shows up as you describe in blackened stems. You must cut these stems back to healthy green tissue now and give the plant time to grow out. Your rose will require TLC with good watering and rose fertilizer while attempting this comeback.

Reblooming rose bedHere's a garden with Flower Carpet Scarlet roses that border a flower bed in the left foreground with pink Knockouts in the background for color. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) To see a story about reblooming roses, go over under Featured Stories in the right-hand column.

By DEAN FOSDICK
For The Associated Press
Peter Kukielski is a rose fancier with a special fondness for late bloomers — the re-flowering kind that save their best and brightest displays for the invigorating weather of autumn.
As curator of the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden and Rose Collections at The New York Botanical Garden, Kukielski has helped replace a few hundred less impressive performers with 2,000 new rose plants, many capable of producing constant color from early June until the first killing frosts of fall.
“We tried to bring in more ever-blooming varieties so the garden has interest all season long,” Kukielski said. “In my opinion, late September into October is a very close second to June as far as beauty. The days are nicer, the nights are cooler and the sunlight is better, coating everything with a golden glow.”

Mardi Gras roseFall can be a great time for roses. Here's Mardi Gras floribunda. To read about some of the best, new reblooming roses, check the featured story over on the right called "Fall roses." -- Craig

By DEAN FOSDICK
For The Associated Press
If you’ve ever strayed into a spat between flower growers, chances are it was about roses.
“Queens of the garden,” puffs a supporter.
“Demanding divas,” huffs a detractor.
There are few wider attitudinal divides in gardening.
I didn’t have a single rose on my property as recently as three years ago, and that was emphatically by choice. I considered them too much work.
Now I have dozens of the ever-blooming varieties thriving in sun and partial shade, performing brilliantly on a hillside for erosion control, bidding a cheerful welcome along a quiet country lane and enhancing the looks of a split rail fence.

I have planted 5 double knockout bushes in an eleven foot flower box. They are evenly spaced and the first blooms were great. The three in the middle are doing great, the one on the right which gets the most sun is doing fair but the one on the left barely flowered the secound time and since hasn't flowered and barely grew. They all got rose food in june and get plenty of water. I noticed a hole dug by a squirrel or chipmonk and filled it in. could this be a possible cause for the plants poor development?
Thanks for any help you can give
Wayne

What can I do to get rid of black spot disease in my little bed of shrub roses? I sprayed it early in June with a product that Suburban Gardens suggested but it still got progressively worse. We moved to Olathe from Iowa last July & the rose bed was already in place, some large, most small. They bloomed profusely last summer and (so far) this summer. A few have lost most all their leaves at this point.

My concern is not so much for this year as not having to deal with black spot next year. Should I just pitch the bushes that are worst?

Thanks....

I have a knockout rose planted in a large clay container on my deck. As it is very heavy, can I winter it there, or do I have to bring it inside? I thought I might put a plastic bag over the whole thing. Thank you.

I recently planted two double knock out rose bushes. They are doing great so far. My question is, should I prune off the flowers as they die or wait until next spring and do it all at once?

A question from an Alabama reader:

can someone advise me about caring for my rosa radrazz kockout roses? I need advice as to trimming watering or other care that they may need. mine are not blooming as well this year, as they did last year when they were first planted. also, something is eating on the leaves, looks like a web pattern. do I spray ? if so what? some of the leaves are yellow and falling off. They were wonderful last year, but something if wrong. i would appreciate your advise. i live in birmingham, alabama. thank you

From Gavin:

I'm e-mailing you from Johannesburg, South Africa.

I am not a expert, nor am I horticulturist, but my question, is there such a rose, as a black rose???

If yes, by what name does it go by, and can you please send me some information, I really love roses.

I am aware of attempts to grow a black rose, but to the best of my understanding, nobody has yet!

Do I deadhead my knock-out roses? If so, just snip them at the base of the dead bloom?

I have several climbing roses that are repeat bloomers but I've never understood how to prune them properly for more flowering after the first set of roses have bloomed. Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks, M

I trasplanted two rose bushes two years ago. They grow tall but refuse to bloom flowers. Is there a way to force flower bloom.?

Does anyone have problems with squirrels digging up in the flower p[ots, planters and gardens? And how do you manage it? I'm on the "couch" now for $125 per hour 'cause it's driving me mad. HELP please.

Last year I planted a climbing rose ('America'), chosen primarily for it's size, black spot resistance and fragrance. This year I would like to harvest some of the roses to use the petals for potpourri. As the flowers open, what is the optimum time to cut them and remove the petals for their best fragrance? Is there something more than air drying I can do to preserve their maximum fragrance?

Day before yesterday I had blooms on my Knockout Roses.....and yesterday all blooms were off and the petals were on the ground. Do you think there was too much rain? Will they re-bloom?

I am a new rose grower.

Thank you,

Mildred

HOW TO FERTILIZE CLIMBING ROSES

A reader asks: Is now the time to transplant knockout roses?

I didn't get a chance to trim back my knockout roses yet. Is it too late? I see they're budding on the old wood already. Thanks!