Is anyone here growing Queen Elizabeth? It's in its second year here at my place and is just sitting there glaring at me! It seems to have wintered well, and it has fairly good spring growth, but only put out one bloom. Now, three weeks after the bloom, it is just sitting there no new growth. I had thought that maybe it was our unseasonably hot weather but my other roses are doing just great. Any ideas?
Maybe I should summer prune it? It didn't experience any die-back so I didn't prune it hard at the end of the winter season.

Any shared experience would be greatly appreciated!

(Edited because I was wrong!)

First photo is its first flush, you can see how little I pruned it.
Second photo is just the last one of the set.

Any time I have a sulky rose (which is most) I feed 'em. Either Age Old Kelp (which I'm almost out) or MiracleGro. Feeding seems to do wonders.

Thank you Toni. I gave it a weak mist of Miracle Grow Bloom Booster 3 weeks ago. Just now I gave it another weak misting. I also applied some more compost about a week ago, (I don't use anything in the soil itself that's not organic!) hopefully we'll see something happening soon. It can't possibly be short on water, we've had a lot of that this season so far. New Dawn is right in the same area and it's growing like mad.
How is your Molineux coming along? Mine has had one small bloom that wasn't worth photographing. (It was just planted this spring)

I have a couple of Queen Elizabeths. They suffer badly from black spot and have lost most of their leaves but still somehow manage to bloom well. I am a minimalist when it comes to rose care, so all they get is water, compost and mulch. I guess you could say QE survives in spite of me. (No help, I know.)

Is it, by any chance, a climbing Queen Elizabeth? They're notoriously stingy with blooms.

My climbing Queen Elizabeth is stingy with both leaves and blooms, but the leaves are worse.

I'm nearly 100 percent certain it isn't a climber, even if it was it should be showing a resurgence of new growth since all my other roses are. Last year it had about a dozen blooms and then a few at a time sporadically after the first flush. It is just sitting there. Plenty of leaves, no blackspot, about 3 or 4 good angled canes....I can't figure it out except maybe it wasn't pruned enough this spring? I might try taking each cane down a few inches to see if a jump start will help. Or should I remove an entire cane? Which might work the best to push it into new growth?

I would never remove an entire cane if it's not dead. I don't think you should prune it either because this isn't the best time of year to encourage new growth. Isn't it getting hot where you live? Possibly too hot for tender new growth? Just wait. It's probably just taking its time.

Okay then, I'll hang tight. Yes, it's been unseasonably hot here. I just wasn't sure that was it because all of my other roses are showing new growth. Sunsprite has been blooming non-stop and has many buds waiting in the wings! I love that rose.

Zuzu, you never remove a cane if it isn't dead? Even with Austins? Maybe I am misunderstanding.

I recently cut back and removed a lot of growth from Wildeve. I cut the canes that were crossing thru the bush, ones blocking the irises from coming up in the spring, and one that was rubbing another cane. I had been afraid to prune as a new rose grower, but this rose is so vigorous and winter hardy that I knew it would survive any mistakes. It is own root and sends up lots of canes. I have to keep it a bit smaller than it would like to be because it is near a walkway and other plants. I never dreamed that roses could grow so vigorously here.

Before this year, I only cut back any dead growth in the early spring, cut back a few canes to shape and deadheaded.

No, Andi. I never remove an entire healthy cane, but you have to remember that at least 800 of my roses are hybrid teas. They need all the canes they can get. I remove branches that cross each other or rub against others, but not whole canes. I also stopped pruning the canes and branches in the middle of my rose bushes after I read some very logical pruning advice by Gregg Lowery, the owner of Vintage Gardens. As he pointed out, pruning encourages growth, so why on earth would anyone want to encourage growth in the middle of a rose bush? In general, I prune much less than I used to, and I think my roses are happier now.

As for anything blocking the irises, I'd be much more likely to move the irises.

Queen Elizabeth has always been a sulky, not very repeat blooming rose for me. I finally removed it from my garden two years ago, and have not looked back.

Alan

I didn't know that heat could destroy tender new growth. I have now found this out the hard way as I've lost.. 6? roses (all brand new, all bareroot, all barely had new little bitty leaves on it) when the temps soared to nearly 100 degrees this past weekend. I lost at least 2 red-gold (cheap bodybag roses), Angel Face, a no-tag, Expressions, and possibly City of London I'm going to be very upset if CoL is a gonner.. it was a weak rose w/2 very thin canes (about 1/4" thick) from Pickering (last of the season). If it is, I'll just have to replace it next year.

Alan,
Thanks for sharing your experience with this particular rose. It's so helpful to hear that just maybe this is the normal way of growing for this particular cultivar. It will help to gel my thoughts on whether or not to keep it. We'll see what the next few weeks bring in the way of further growth.

Toni,
We cross posted. So sorry to hear about your loss! Are they really goners? I didn't know about the heat and new growth issue either. I still have bands sitting around waiting to be planted.

Chelle - I don't classify them as DOA until all their canes are black & brittle. The two RedGolds are 100% DOA. The others.. well, there's just a little bit of green here & there on each one. CoL has one half-green cane, Expressions has a bit of green near the bud union, the NOID is mostly all black (more of a purplish brown), and Angel Face has 2 green canes. So there's hope, but just not much of it.

*sigh*

Chelle,

There are folks who rave about this rose, and it's repeat bloom. None that I know of in Arizona. Most my friends in CA love it, say it's a great rebloomer. So I dont' know if it's the stock my plant came from, or difference in weather, soil. climate or what. I really loved the few rose blooms I got, just wish I would have got more of them. Replaced it with a Europeana, a red rose, that just does not ever stop blooming till I prune it back in the winter.

alan

Toni - Hang in there. Like you mentioned they are replaceable, it just bites that you might have to. Forgive my ignorance, but what is a CoL?

Alan - Climate really may play a part. Last summer was idyllic around here, the kind of summers I remembered as a kid. Comfortable temps and moderate everything. This summer was more the norm, 2 weeks after the last frost we were in the steady mid 80s, humid and very wet. Three weeks after the last frost we hit 90 degrees, The *Queen* just may not be up to dealing with such radical differences. If not I've found a few others that would be more than willing to take her place! *grin*

Chelle - CoL = City of London... One of the roses I'm very worried about.

I'm going to have to look for it. My curiosity is boundless....especially when it comes to roses:-)

This one I really like. It was a freebie from Northland Rosarium. I ordered some bands from them for delivery this spring and Felix LeClerc had to be back-ordered so they gave me this one as a bonus.

Cinco De Mayo.