I got a digital camera for my birthday! The first thing I did was took a picture of the containers my dear, dear H built for me last summer. A plywood box, homemade of course, and home made trellis held together with twine on the intersections. I had the idea of a box with a trellis attached - I probably saw something similar on a fancy garden stuff site. I bought the roses on eBay, there are two plants per container. I forget the specific measurements, but the lady who sold them to me told me how many gallons each rose required, so I converted gallons into cubic inches (!), multiplied by two because there are two to a box. Then we fretted. Would they make it through the winter? Could we even grow roses in a container? Could we grow roses at all? Should we plant them in Rose Potting Mix or feed them with Rose Food or were they too stressed from their long journey and having to wait on the ground to eat yet? (They went through their whole cycle of bloom in little bags leaning against the wall while I was converting gallons into inches!) I believe the one one the left is 'La Biche'. There are so many branches growing straight up! I was kind of hoping they would all grow up along the trellis from the original stalk but La Biche seems to be growing out, like a regular perennial instead of like a rose? Should we be coaxing these stems back toward the trellis or what will they do?
xxx, Carrie
Container Roses (i got a camera!)
Whoops! Here's the picture:
You GO girl! They look wonderful. I'm NO rose expert. In fact, we have some my DH brought home from some guy selling them on the side of the road, and I'm telling yah, they're on their last leg. I don't mess with roses because of the care AND expense. Don't have that much time OR money to invest in that lovely shrub.
But, you're trellises look fabulous!
Tell me why our leaves are turning yellow? Too much water, I suspect. But, I've always heard roses take lots of water. Confused.
I have no idea. We designed and built these heavy beautiful boxes, stuck quality climbing roses in 1/2 potting soil and 1/2 rose mix, and ignored them all winter, except occasionally looping a frond around the trellis. I posted here because I am so proud of the containers I designed and DDH built. I would ask in the rose forum. Sorry I can't be more helpful!
xxx, C
Hello Carrie! Great pictures, nice looking roses and fantastic looking planters and trellis arrangement. D/H did a great job.I'm envious of anyone who can sussefully grow roses. Best of luck getting an answer on the yellowing problem.
Bernie
I have no idea whether I can grow roses, yet. All I know is that I can get them through a mild winter. I agree with you on your two main points: DH did do a great job and I, too, am envious of anyone who can grow roses!
xxxxxx, Carrie
Great job Carrie! They look great! The only roses I can grow are the mini ones from the grocery store and an old fashioned climbing one from my neighbor. I've noticed that roses growing in containers out of the garden seem to be alot more pest free then ones in the garden. So, I hope they grow well! Is the yellow leaves in the one photo just the way the sunlight hits?
Steve
Yes Steve, that's sunlight. I'm learning the pictures come out better if I take them a few hours before it gets really bright or later on in the day. The Rosa Biche (is that how it's done?) turns out to be the second one from the left, blooming today, small white sweet-pea-like flowers, great smell.
Yup, thats how it's done.
I think you've convinced me to move one of my roses into a container. It seems to be having problems in the garden. I wonder how big the pot would have to be? It's a smaller type called a 'patio rose' or something like that. I'll have to look around tomorrow and see what I have.
How do you pronounce the name of your Rose?
Steve
Steve, We lived in Ottawa for a while a few years back and the roses I grew there were virtually pest free. I wish I could remember the names of them. I believe they were developed at the arboretum in Ottawa and I think they were named after Canadian Explorers. They were very easy to grow.
You mean the Explorer roses right? I've heard of them before and seen them for mail order. I usually steer away from roses since they're fussy, but I'll have to try one of those types.
Thanks,
Steve
That sounds right but they were definitely not fussy. I just planted them in the ground and watched them grow and boy did they grow. I never had to use any pesticdes and only fertilized when I fed the rest of my plants. You should give them a try. They were beautiful. I think one of the ones I had was called Cabot?
Ok, I will put them on my list of most wanted plants. I've wanted to try a rose for a while and now I can! YAY! I found a pink on in PlantFiles called 'John Cabot'. Is that it?
Thanks a bunch!
Steve
I googled explorer roses and found this site http://www.hortico.com/roses/series.asp?cid=3
As you can see almost all are listed as disease resistent. The pink I had was William Baffin. I wish I could grow them here.
Thanks for the link..........I WANT THEM ALL NOW! But mostly Henry Kelsey, J.P Connel, John Cabot, Martin Frobisher and the 2 Williams.
Steve, it's Beeesh, not the other one, and it means doe in French. The ladies who sold us these roses listed the ones we bought as disease resistant and fragrant, They specified how much space each rose required - it worked out to a cube 15" on a side per rose, so my DH built these super strong, superheavy containers (weeks or months after we bought the roses) and this is how they turned out. Here's a link to the eBay site - these two ladies are terrific!
http://stores.ebay.com/Two-Sisters-Roses_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfclZ3QQfsubZ0QQftidZ2QQtZkm
Ok, so it means 'The Doe' in english? Thats better then if it was the other one :)
With the inches you said your climbers need, I think the container I have should be just the right size for my patio rose. I'm potting it up today. The container is a square...probably 16" across the top and probably 18" or so tall. Does that sound right to you?
Did you wrap your roses in burlap or anything for the winter?
Steve
No, but we fretted a lot. They are against the garage on the South side of the house. We mulched them a 2"-3" layer and put some scraps from the Christmas Tree on it but they didn't stay. Are you more North of me or just East, like Nova Scotia? (failed Geography.)
xxxxxx, Carrie
Hmm....I'm not very good at Geography either, but I think I'm more north. Our nearest state is NY which is about an hour away.
I never though of mulching the pot for the winter, thats a good idea. I'll mulch it, wrap it and slide it under the patio table for cover. I'm willing to take a chance with it and experiment cause it doesn't look so hot in the garden. Our neighbor had one in a container a couple years back and it grew like mad and had zero problems.
Steve
Whoah, stop right there. I think sunshine is important to these roses, especially in the winter. This is just my own personal idea, no expert validation. I know people put annuals in the basement etc., but that's different. I DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD PUT IT UNDER THE PATIO TABLE.
xxxxx, Carrie
Ok, I won't put it under the table. I was talking to my dad last night and he says he has some sort of weaved, breathable plastic that I could wrap it with and it would still let air and light in? What do you think about that?
:) Steve
Oh Steve, I have no opinion... Do winds whistle in your winters? Do you have days on end of sub-zero temperatures? (The last time it ws below zero, or 32C, for more than three days, they had a "cold day" at the public schools! I guess this was to save fuel; maybe to prevent frostbite?! Still, I digress, were I in your position, I would go to the rose forum (I won't insult your intelligence by including a link here). So sorry not to be more helpful!
xxxxx, Carrie
That's ok, good idea to go to the rose forum. Didn't even think of that!
We get plenty of cold weather here in the winter sometimes as low as -30C with with wind chill. *shiver*..........I don't know why I'm thinking about that now....*shiver*
Steve
To attempt to simulate the experience of a tall, cold glass of lemonade or iced tea on a hot, muggy day? You do get hot, muggy days up in the frozen North, do you not?
xxxxxx, Carrie
Oh, Yeah! We've been having those the past few days. It's a bit cooler today but earlier in the week it was up in the 90's and muggy. Ick.
I thought if it's already in the 90's and it was only May.............What will we get in July?
Do you believe in Global Warming yet?
Yes :D Sometimes I sort of like it cause we get more warm weather.
Me too but not if it's causing Tsunamis and glaciers melting and maybe the weather in the real summer will be too hot!
x,C
Thats true. It has way more cons then pros!
Steve Steve! My roses have rose slugs, and it's spreading, and the peoople in the rose forum told me what it was within hours of me posting the picture but nobody will tell me what to do! Waaaaah! They just kept taking pictures of their beautiful roses and mine are getting decimated! Snuffle snuffle snuffle.
xx(sniff)xxx, Carrie
To make you feel better, my climbing rose has, caterpillars and white flies. I do have a natural spray I'm using to try and get rid of them.
I've never had rose slugs before. Are they like normal slugs? If so, I know slugs get killed by table salt and plants like epsom salt.....I know they're different but they're both still salt. So what if you tried spraying your roses with an epsom salt/water mixture?
Steve
Oh Steve, I wrote you a long and detailed reply, but I must have pushed the wrong button because it went pouf!
xxxxx, Carrie
thats ok. Do you think it's a good idea?
Steve
No, I don't because they AREN'T real slugs (I know WAY too much about them now), they are a larval stage of sawflies. Thanks for the thought, though, Steve! xxxxx, Carrie
I have some roses - all called 'groundcover' roses - that I stuck in various places a few years ago. They were freebies from the grocery, of all places. I never had any luck with any other kind of roses, but these things - of several colors and sizes - have all gone berserk. They are nearly a nuisance, they are so healthy. All are in lots of sun and not-so-great soil; some hardly ever get watered by me, whatever the weather. Nor do I treat them for pests or diseases.
They are quite pretty, so I recommend them to anyone who wants to see some rose flowers without all the hassle. My largest shrub is, at this point, about 3 and a 1/2 to 4 feet high and close to six feet wide. I keep cutting it back because it is crowding out everything around it.
I know what you mean, I've learned so much about pests and diseases since I joined DG. Sometimes wiht a the diseases and stuff in the garden, I think the best way to go is ignorance. Like the old saying: Ignorance is bliss! :D
Steve
I know what you guys mean. On the Rose Forum, they're like 'my biweekly treatment of sulfur - for fungus - then I spoon 2 tbl. of compost tea per plant on the roots, not the leaves, then there's an insecticide called "Fancy Expensive Rose Mix", it's $50 for enough to treat all my hybrid teas once, but I only do it four times a year and I only do it on the hybrid teas, not the other 20 roses in the garden, and then once a week everybody gets a raw egg, and I also put a Centrum Silver in the soil around the roots and here's a picture of an arbor I built out of my neighbor's forsythia prunings - can you believe he was going to just throw these away?' Oh well, if you read it in the right tone of brain it's funny.
I'm a Darwinian gardner, survival of the fittest. If my benign neglect doesn't suit a particular plant, well, fork it, I mean fork it out of the dirt and shovel it out of the garden. LOL.
These Rose problems of mine are quite unusual. First of all that I had problems, and second that I really wanted to do right by these roses. Unusual for me to feel that strongly about any plant that I would rush out and buy the right chemical!!!!
xxxxx, Carrie
That's hilarious! LOL
I also rip my plants out if they just don't fit. I dug out a 4 or 5 year old oriental poppy this aft because it just didn't work where it was. It smothered my other plants when it came up, then it would die down leaving a big gaping hole. So I finally turfed it, I might try in in a large container though and see how it fairs.
Steve
Ooops.....I kind of wandered off topic a bit!
This message was edited Jun 20, 2006 10:52 PM
Hey guys, spray them with soapy water! I had some I got for half price years ago at some store or another, they were also half dead, so I wasn't expecting anything, they started growing and very quickly developed cases of every pest known to man! I mixed up some dish-soap and water, sprayed the heck out of them and the critters took a hike!! Even got rid of the mildew!! The bushes grew nice and strong until my dog decided they tasted good, thorns an all!! :)
Steve, can you send ME your oriental poppy? Some years we buy a plant and it dies. Some years we sow seeds and they never come up. This year we bought a bunch bare root and treated them like royalty but I don't think they're going to bloom this year. Also bought plants (seedlings) which drowned or wilted, I forget which. Maybe both. Both DH and I adore both oriental poppies and california poppies, but no luck with either one. SO FAR... (holding out hope!)
XXXXX, CARRie (whoops!)