Anyone ever had their roses smothered by other plants to the point that the rose just can't survive? I've noticed that my Mardi Gras has been eaten by the beebalm and hasn't bloomed but once this year, my Sunstruck & an Ebb Tide have been engulfed by vinca and are struggling mightily. This will be the first time that Sunstruck has bloomed this year.. and the poor thing is only about 6" tall! Last year it was a nice healthy size.. my Yankee Doodle which is about a foot away is about 4' tall. But I think it's the vinca.. it's robbing it of all the nutrients?

Oh, yes. This is common in my garden. A few years ago I started removing shrubs and large perennials from my flower beds because my smaller roses were suffering from the competition, but the garden started looking boring with nothing but roses, so now I'm putting back the shrubs and perennials and removing the small roses. Some go into containers and others were so stunted by the experience that they have to be discarded.

Toni ...

A couple of thoughts ...

Some roses can survive competition from other plants while others simply can't. Also, some of their competitors have root systems that will strangle the root system of any plant because it does not want to share water or nutrients. For example, those pretty little violets are fierce competitors. Their roots surround every feeder root the rose puts out and seems to keep the rose from developing an adequate root mass to support top growth and bloom. I think vinca is another one.

If I am going to plant anything under the crown of a rose, I'd rather use shallow rooted plants like thyme because they leave the root system of the rose alone. Or I am thinking I might only plant things with a tap root. I have one rose where California poppies have invaded that seems to be OK with the competiton. Poppies have a tap root and their root system doesn't spread. My theory is that they may compete, but the rose has a lot of feeder roots and doesn't seem to be as stressed by the competition of plants with tap roots. I haven't studied this, but am observing what's happening around this rose.

As far as plants smothering the roses above ground, they are blocking the light that would normally hit the bud eye and stimulate the blooming process. That's a no win for a rose. It's kind of like planting the rose in deep shade. You won't get its best performance.

Smiles,
Lyn

This is a first for me. The vinca's going out of control and the beebalm is eating that entire area. I think it's because we've had so much rain this year that everything's exploding and the roses, which were there first, are not as fast of growers? The vinca here is evergreen and I swear the only time it's not in bloom is when it's under a foot of snow.. that's why I'm reluctant to dig it up. But it looks like I'm going to have to move those two roses, that's for sure. Tequila Sun.. rise? set? whatever is strong enough to fight off the vinca but Sunstruck.. honestly, I thought I'd lost that rose because I couldn't even find any canes & today I find a little bud about to open! The vinca is actually mounding in this particular area.. it's over 8" tall in some sections. Everywhere else my vinca barely crawls along the ground and just right in this one 6' section it's a Triffid!

Let's see how much snow I get Thursday night.... I'm not ready for winter .. nooooooooo!!!!!

Does anyone know if the rose Miracle on the Hudson is available anywhere online?
What about Pookah?
Lyn, I'm glad you mentioned the violets have greedy roots. I have deliberately planted some under my roses; I'll go dig them out!
Toni, I can't get my bee balm to grow more than a foot high! It's a skinny wimpy thing. I always thought they liked humidity and lots of soil moisture. At least mine didn't get that ugly mold they succumbed to at my last house. I don't think the newer varieties are as vigorous as the old standbys.
Last year I worked for days getting all the variegated vinca out of the beds next to the house. I actually had some that grew through a crack in the basement foundation. We sealed the crack and tried to dig out all the vinca roots, but some came back this year. I blame it for killing off my hostas.

Our Menards store marked all the 3-5 gallon lilacs and hydrangeas down to $5. I bought as many as my little car would carry! I got Yankee Doodle, Betsy Ross, Charles Joli lilacs, and Vanilla Strawberry, Honeycomb, Alice hydrangeas, a Sorbaria, Rainbow weigela, a new Ninebark, and Peppermint Smoothie Althea.
The largest high school in the state is under construction just across the field from me. I'm not looking forward to the increased traffic, noise, or trouble. Short of moving, the only solution I can come up with is to plant many many trees and shrubs to give us a barrier of some sort. Our property is fenced, but it's a 2-rail horse fence, not a privacy fence.
I thought about planting hundreds of climbing roses, but I don't want to have to mow and trim around them, and that would cost way too much.

Cindi ...

I grew test roses of both Miracle on the Hudson and Pookah.

I believe Robert Ripatoe has made arrangements for Roses Unlimited may carry MOTH. They also carry a couple of other roses he has bred.

I don't know of anyone carrying Pookah at this time as Jim Delahanty died before the rose was available for commercial introduction. It's possible I can get a cutting for you from Kim, but with the drought, all of his roses are quite stressed right now and probably would not be good material for cuttings.

Smiles,
Lyn

Thanks, Lyn. Those both won top awards at the Biltmore Trials. They were lovely, distinctive and healthy when I saw them. How do they grow for you?

Miracle on the Hudson I think is available through RU. And my beebalm is a MONSTER. Maybe you have a dwarf variety? My huge growth is Raspberry Wine.

Cindi ....

My climate is very, very different than what is found in location of the Baltimore Rose Trials. Neither rose did well for me, but I don't think they were suited to my climate or to my garden. The plants were healthy and handled my winters, but the blooms fried.

That does not mean the roses are not heat tolerant. Robert Ripetoe lives and breeds his roses in Palm Springs. I am growing two other test roses for him that handle the heat in my garden much better than MOTH.

JD lived in Sherman Oaks and his roses, too, were subject to triple digit temps. Pookah was a great rose in his garden.

My report back to both breeders was that I thought the roses needed afternoon shade where there were long periods of triple digit temps for the blooms to last on the bush for more than a moment.

I am not saying they are not good roses. It's just that my garden was too hard on them as the blooms did not have sufficient petal substance to handle the direct sun at high temps at a higher elevation for the whole day.

Smiles,
Lyn

In one of my rose beds I am using Roxanne. I have not found it to be invasive - it's trailing, light and airy - good circulation.
I am in the process of training roses around 5 obelisks. I planted the roses outside the obelisk on a slight angle (directing it towards the obelisk). I am using twisty ties, string and cut up pantyhose to secure the branches. Actually the pantyhose works pretty good because it has some "give". I am staking a few canes in attempt to move them in the right direction. Can anyone offer helpful tips? The roses are named Lady Ashe, Stormy Weather, Red Corsair, Reine Des Violettes and Gold Bunny.

Roxanne is a nice mannerly plant. I can't use it around my roses because I can only grow it in the shade here.

I have three of the roses that you're traiing as pillar roses. Lady Ashe (more commonly known as Dixieland Linda) and Stormy Weather are particularly good candidates for this. Reine des Violettes is too bushy for pillaring in my garden. I use velcro garden tape to tie up roses and vines. It never cuts into the plants, and it's green, so it virtually "disappears" in the plant foliage.

Velcro garden tape - OK - sounds great - thank you for the tip.
About the Roxanne.... It does very well in partial shade/shade. I found that if you water more frequently and mulch around the Roxanne in full sun it does very well also.

Are we talking about Roxanne geraniums? I just got some of those this year.. I really like them. They were half dead at Lowes (1/2 price), but they bounced back right after I put 'em in the ground & watered them generously. Glad to know that they're a partial shade 'cuz that's where I put them (like I have much of a choice in my front yard.. most of it is partial shade!).

Yes, Roxanne geraniums. There aren't too many blue flowers out there. That's one of the reasons I started to plant irises. I have quite a few historics, classic and modern irises in my garden. If you are looking for anything in particular ask me - I might have it.

Zuzu, I just read your article entitled, "Training Climbing Roses" - really excellent and informative.

Thanks, Margie.

MargieNY said:Zuzu, I just read your article entitled, "Training Climbing Roses" - really excellent and informative.

Please share the link!

http://garden.org/ideas/view/z...

http://garden.org/ideas/view/z...

Here's another well writen article. After reading this all I can say is, "What a relief"

A quick round of photos I took when I got home from work today.

@Zuzu, yeahhhhh! Brass Band is blooming! thank you, thank you!


Graham Thomas


Heaven on Earth