More "Catching up to reality (slowly!)"

Hi All,
I'm in mid-April now, I have (I think) 59 threads to go. Meanwhile, a couple of things have occurred to me. Firstly, how many of us live in, or within striking distance of Adelaide. I know there are at least two other DG members that live here, and then there are the Staker's at Barmera, there are probably more. The ABC here has two big plant sales every year called the ABC Carpark Capers - one in March and the other in October. There are many stall holders from tiny home growers to bigger near commercial specialist nurseries. The sale is only on from 8am to Noon on the Saturday, so it can be a bit of a bun fight; but, on the other hand the rest of the day is free for other purposes. I started thinking about this because various people have been talking a lot about some of the more unusual bulbs - Haemanthus, Scadoxus, Lycorus, Vallota etc. I saw most of these at the last Carpark Caper in March and I scored some Wurmbea stricta, Dracunculus canariense and a couple of unusual Arums for myself. I was thinking, wouldn't it be great if some of us DGer's could meet up there? I know we would have to get a bit organised to do it, but it would be great to meet up in person. I am thinking we meet up at the gates before opening time - say 7.30am, do the sale itself individually, and then arrange a lunch or something (picnic?) for the afternoon.

The second thing which has been exercising my mind is rose cuttings - not little short ones, but big long ones from the understock, that you can turn into standards and then graft onto once they are established. The old roses at this house are just about at the end of their useful life, but they throw masses of these big green whippy things, and I would like to try my hand at grafting a few for fun - I don't really want to buy roses, given that I am renting here and I lost my Burgundy Iceberg in a pot that I brought with me from my previous house so I will have to buy another SIGH! I tried top and tailing my prunings in late winter last year but none of them took root. Does anyone have any good ideas? Just look at this thing will you - some of these long shoots are now nearly taller than me (just under five feet) and there is another one on the house side that is just as bad, if not worse!

By the way, while I am on the subject of roses - Mum says every plant of 'Cecile Brunner' she has ever had has been really feeble, or has died. All of you growing it seem to find it dead easy - so what's going wrong for her? She has about a dozen other roses, all doing quite well, so it's not like she can't grow them. I suspect bad drainage or something similar, but would appreciate any ideas that might help.

TTFN, KK.

Wow KK yep every piece of cecile brunner I have shoved into the dirt grows from that cutting and grows into a massive plant too ...too much love and attention ? too much water? I can't really think why ...some of my big triffid bushes have been growing in neglect in certain areas and with attention in others and all do well, I do hack them back a couple of times a year ...perhaps this keeps them happy ...soil PH perhaps? too much artificial fertilizer?.
Perhaps a rose expert could answer this query.
Good luck with it.

G'Day
Kaelkitty that rootstock looks as though it would be "Dr Huey" which can be used as both dwarf and standard stock. Now is the right time to take rootstock cuttings although May would have been better. For dwarf roses take cuttings about 30cm long and preferably between 5mm & 12mm in diameter for standards, the height you want them out of the ground plus about 3cm. You will need a sharp knife and remove any thorns either by pushing sideways with thumb or cutting with the knife and remove all but the top two eyes (buds). To do this cut across the stock at an angle just above and just below each eye, the angle needs to make each cut meet through the bark and into the wood so as all the eye is removed. If this is not done properly that's where suckers come from so take a bit of time and make sure that you remove all of the eye. You can dip your cuttings in rooting hormone if you wish, it alway improves the amount of root on the cutting and in the case of the more difficult to strike cuttings will improve the success rate. Depending on your soil type you can either place the cuttings in a suitable rooting media or plant straight out where you want them. With the standards wrap the non buried piece with plastic wrap and stake so they won't fall over. Most roses are budded not grafted so you can save your winter prunings or use new growth next spring as bud wood. Follow the same procedures as for any other budding if you are not conversant with budding have a look at my earlier postings on Grafting & Budding if you have any questions then fire away. With dwarf roses only one bud needs to be used but with standards it is more usual to place a bud on each side of the stock so as the top is more evenly balance.
Brian

Thanks Brian,
I had a feeling you might know how to go about it. I shall attack the long bits on the weekend coming as they would have to be pruned out any way when I get to the main annual prune - it's a bit early for that as I still have a few nice rosebuds to come. It is still pretty warm here between "rain events" (LOL) - especially in the back yard which is basically a walled courtyard with a small square of lawn in the middle I am attempting to murder. I was planning on rooting my stock cuttings in a large pot in the back yard and repotting them up once they are grafted and well established - I am hoping to have a few nice tubs of rose standards that can travel with me if I have to move house again. I like standards because you can underplant them with small annuals to add extra colour and keep the soil cooler. I have a nice choice of scions on hand to play (practice) with - Climbing Blue Moon (the only other rose I brought with me when I came); and the ones that were already here - a nice yellow/apricot, three different reds, three whites, two pinks, and a peachy colour. Out of that lot, I would like to save the yellow and the three reds and one of the pinks - the other is not worthwhile - it's too wishy-washy for me.

I really want to redevelop the whole border you can see from the photo. As you can see the bottlebrush tree now shades most of the roses far too much and, in any case, most of them are getting old and weak. Small children going past pull all of the flowers off at the front part - the little horrors broke off my only two Belladonna spikes last spring, just as the flowers were opening. I will probably leave the Dr Huey and dig out all of the iris (all white I. germanica - boring), daffs, and belladonna's for relocation. I think eventually all the other roses will have to go - I want to put shade lovers like Hellebores in the deep shade down the end and I have a couple of Hardenbergia that I hope will eventually cover the seriously sad front fence, but that will take a while.

As for questions I only have two at the moment -
How far above the soil should I make the first cut to remove the long bits from the bush?
Also, If you disbud the cutting immediately it is taken and then wrap it in plastic, is there a risk of rot where you make the cuts?

Ciao, KK