Hey y'all! I have a 2 part question for y'all. Well it's more than 2 questions but it is 2 different types of roses. Ok so here it goes...

Rose Bush 1:
2 years ago on Valentine's Day my husband bought me a mini pink rose bush that I absolutley love and cherish. It looked a little rough in the bright pink bucket he brought it home in so I transplanted it to our front yard in an old tractor tire. Now that whole summer it did great, even surprised me by staying green all winter. ( I live in South Carolina so maybe it shouldn't be that surprising..) Also did great last summer as well and stayed green through out winter again. Now fast forward to this past March, it had been in the 70's for about 2 weeks and I noticed that it needed to be trimmed up some. So I did a little bit of trimming of the dark brown parts of it and watered it, it was good to go...or so I thought. A few days later the temperature dropped below freezing and it shocked my little bush. I kept an eye on it after that and once the morel mushrooms had quit sprouting and the temperatures stayed in the 80's with alot of rain (I mean A LOT of rain, our creek flooded) I checked it and it had some buds even a few blossoms, but I noticed it needed trimmed again so I did. And now it looks like it is dying and I'm so upset I don't know how to save it. Any suggestions and advice would be great.

Ok so here's part 2:
My mother in law planted a beautiful rose bush at the end of our home many many years ago, when she was still alive. It means a lot to my husband and his family so I try to take care of it. Again 2 years ago I went and cleaned up the bed it was in and it florished and actually it's still doing great. I just don't know what kind of rose bush it is. So if y'all could help identify that one for me it would be awesome.

I'm attaching a few photos. The small bush in the tire is the mini roses and the tall one is the one I can't identify. Thank y'all in advance for the help. It's greatly apperciated.

The tall rose could be Dr Huey. I wish I could help with the sad one; I have some doing the same thing.

Yes, the large on is Dr. Huey.

My main concern about the mini rose is that it's in a tire planted with earth soil from the yard instead of potting soil, and not planted in the ground. The earth soil has become compacted and has likely shrunk or pulled away the the sides of the tire, letting most of the rain and water poured on top of it to run off along the sides, rather than penetrating the soil. This is why plants grown in pots (the tire is essentially a large pot without a bottom) should always be planted with potting soil, which is completely different from yard soil. Potting soil is loose and aerated with lots of air pockets to allow water and roots to spread. However, permanently planting a rose in potting soil where temperatures drop below freezing is not a good idea, as the rose roots and not as well insulated as they would be in the ground.

So, what to do? If it were my rose, I would transplant it into the earth. It's doing so poorly that I don't think you have much to lose. Alternately, if you want to wait till the fall to transplant it, I would take a dowel rod or thin pipe and poke holes through the soil to make sure the water penetrates down to the roots of the rose. Also, you'll need to fertilize it, and cut out the brown dead canes.

Good luck!

Thank you Porkpal. I was unsure of what they were. Have you had any success in revivng your sad ones?

Mike said:Yes, the large on is Dr. Huey.

My main concern about the mini rose is that it's in a tire planted with earth soil from the yard instead of potting soil, and not planted in the ground. The earth soil has become compacted and has likely shrunk or pulled away the the sides of the tire, letting most of the rain and water poured on top of it to run off along the sides, rather than penetrating the soil. This is why plants grown in pots (the tire is essentially a large pot without a bottom) should always be planted with potting soil, which is completely different from yard soil. Potting soil is loose and aerated with lots of air pockets to allow water and roots to spread. However, permanently planting a rose in potting soil where temperatures drop below freezing is not a good idea, as the rose roots and not as well insulated as they would be in the ground.

So, what to do? If it were my rose, I would transplant it into the earth. It's doing so poorly that I don't think you have much to lose. Alternately, if you want to wait till the fall to transplant it, I would take a dowel rod or thin pipe and poke holes through the soil to make sure the water penetrates down to the roots of the rose. Also, you'll need to fertilize it, and cut out the brown dead canes.

Good luck!

Thank you for your advice. When I planted the minis I put the roots in the ground and added potting soil to it. During the winter months we heat our home with a wood stove. My husband takes the ashes from the stove and spreads them on my roses, our grape vines, and at the base of our apple tree. Is it possible that there was too much ash added to the tire? Also is it possible to over cut the plant? And I also added more soil to it after I took the picture this morning..

Most roses prefer slightly acid soil, ashes are alkaline, so that may be your main problem. I think my ailing roses are lacking water as Mike suggested, so that is likely an additional issue.

Wood ash provides potassium, which roses need to grow roots and to bloom. Only a soil test would tell you if you have too much. But let me ask for a clarification about how deeply the rose is planted. When you said that you planted the roots in the ground, does that mean below the tire? If that's the case, then the soil within the tire has raised the soil around the rose about six inches, so the plant will have a very difficult time sending up new canes, let alone receive enough moisture. If this is the case, you could simply remove the tire and the soil mounded around the rose, and leave it in place with no need to transplant it.

Mike said:Wood ash provides potassium, which roses need to grow roots and to bloom. Only a soil test would tell you if you have too much. But let me ask for a clarification about how deeply the rose is planted. When you said that you planted the roots in the ground, does that mean below the tire? If that's the case, then the soil within the tire has raised the soil around the rose about six inches, so the plant will have a very difficult time sending up new canes, let alone receive enough moisture. If this is the case, you could simply remove the tire and the soil mounded around the rose, and leave it in place with no need to transplant it.

Oh wait no I'm sorry wrong plant. I planted my blackberry at the same time as the minis at I got them mixed up. My blackberry is below it's tire and with my minis I laid a layer of weed preventer down added about 10 or 12 inches of soil dug a wider hole than the bucket it was in and covered the roots with a couple more inches of soil, watered, and let it do it's thing.
We went on a vacation a while back and we had my sister in law and brother in law here taking care of our garden and chickens but when we come back the whole tire had been moved several feet from it's original position. No one could say what happened either. Is it possible the roots got messed up?

I really like where it sits now could I possibly just add soil and turn into what dirt is all ready there?


And back to the Dr. Huey real quick..Is it possible to either move part of the plant or maybe start a new one by a sapling or whatever it's called?

Jjaysgirl wrote: "I kept an eye on it after that and once the morel mushrooms had quit sprouting and the temperatures stayed in the 80's with alot of rain (I mean A LOT of rain, our creek flooded) I checked it and it had some buds even a few blossoms, but I noticed it needed trimmed again so I did. And now it looks like it is dying and I'm so upset I don't know how to save it. Any suggestions and advice would be great."

I had a little mini rose that I just loved planted in a pot and did really well for several years. It had dark red perfect exhibition type blooms that stayed on the plant foreverly perfect (it seemed to me). A couple of springs back it was doing great and then it rained and rained and then it died. Living in the Pacific Northwest we are used to rain, but I think it can be too much at times. I'm wondering if your rose has root rot instead of the opposite problem that Mike talks about. If the good growth keeps turning black, that might be what happened. I hope I'm wrong.

At any rate, it might be worth working the soil to get more aeration and adding some new potting soil mix to it. Potted plants need to be rejuvenated with new soil as the old soil can get depleted of the nutrients they need over time.

Most people aren't interested in propagating Dr. Huey as it's a rootstock that is once-blooming and very prone to Blackspot. If this IS Dr. Huey, it means the original rose has died. There is one picture that looks different. Does this rose rebloom?

Brittany,
By the way, Dr Huey is usually used as a root stock for grafted roses. I imagine that the original rose planted looked nothing like this one. Sometimes the grafted rose will die leaving the Dr Huey to take over. If it were mine, I'd replace it with a rose that you think your Mother-in-Law might have liked such as choosing her favorite color rose or her favorite fragrance rose or a rose with her name in the rose name. It's just an idea to ponder.

It's okay to like Dr Huey. Some of us are quite fond of him even if he is generally viewed as a lowly rootstock.

It reblooms every year..before my minis do. I posted a picture of the base of the plant in the first post. My father in law also told me he always cut it back every year and it would always come back strong and vibrant. When I googled different types of roses the flowers that closely matched the ones on mine were dogwood and a beach rose. My husband said she planted it when he was just a little boy and it's been coming back every year. I would hate to remove it and plant something different simply because it could possibly start a very real war within the family.

Sounds like a keeper to me.

Does it only bloom once a year? Igrow just cuz it's pretty and then I cut it down. It's in an out-of-the-way place

Dr Huey just blooms once, so the best time to cut it back is right after it has finished.

Brittany,
Could you post a close up photo of a bud, a flower open and the leaves? How large are the flowers? Do they have hips in the fall? Are they fragrant? I looked at the dog rose and the coast rose and they have specific looking leaves and flowers. I'm curious about yours.
http://www.treesplease.co.uk/p...
https://www.springhillnursery....
http://www.edc.uri.edu/restora...
The sweet hips rose is a rugosa rose also known as a beach rose and Japanese rose.
Sharon

I'll have to go take some pictures for you. just give me a bit.


And Porkpal it blooms all spring and summer. I have yet to cut it back myself because I don't know when is a good time to do so or how much to cut back. I don't want to kill it. I've pruned it of course.

SharonNWRoses I took some pictures of the leaves and buds like you asked. They do have a pretty smell to them and I don't know what you mean by hips. As far as size I'd say they are about medium sized. The color of them are red to a pink. I know the one photo shows a pink one looking rough but its about at the end of it's cycle.

After looking at tons of photos, I think your rose might be a hardy type Canadian rose or something similar. I found this, however I'm still not convinced.
http://www.highcountryroses.co...
There are others on this website that might fit. Let me know if I'm way off base or close.