I had to cut down my 9 foot rose Francis Meilland. I was hoping I could save a cutting but it just kept rotting down to the base. I will have to look for another one. I also lost MIss All American Beauty/Maria Callas, that has been in a pot. I still have some other roses and I have to admit I have not been keeping up with their care. Most of them are over 10 years old and for me that is a longer life than I usually get especially from hybrid tea roses.
On the bright side. I still have quite a few roses left. I just need to give them some TLC and some of them need a lot of TLC to get them back in shape.
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applestar
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I applaud that you’re still trying! I’ve given up — too much “horticulture” involved with all the spraying and pruning… :oops;
But my Abraham Darby is still hanging on and, although far less full than it could be, continues to occasionally bloom through the growing season. (I do spray it with whatever fungal preventative I’m carrying to use on the tomatoes and cucurbits (milk and yogurt solution, diluted compost/bokashi tea, potassium bicarbonate, epsom salts, and soap solution, etc.) since it is in a convenient spot when walking from one side of the house to the other)
There’s also one of the rootstocks — probably to a Lincoln — that is thriving inside an overgrown blackberry “thicket” and in fact is blooming right now. Looks quite pretty in bud … a dark maroon … maybe a floribunda.
I might be tempted again if I can find another hardy and disease resistant cultivar that also has strong/lovely fragrance.
But my Abraham Darby is still hanging on and, although far less full than it could be, continues to occasionally bloom through the growing season. (I do spray it with whatever fungal preventative I’m carrying to use on the tomatoes and cucurbits (milk and yogurt solution, diluted compost/bokashi tea, potassium bicarbonate, epsom salts, and soap solution, etc.) since it is in a convenient spot when walking from one side of the house to the other)
There’s also one of the rootstocks — probably to a Lincoln — that is thriving inside an overgrown blackberry “thicket” and in fact is blooming right now. Looks quite pretty in bud … a dark maroon … maybe a floribunda.
I might be tempted again if I can find another hardy and disease resistant cultivar that also has strong/lovely fragrance.
Actually, except for pruning and feeding every six weeks (which I have not done), I don't really have to spray the roses. I do have to use pruning paint or I will lose canes to dieback. I got that tip from calling the rose hotline. The biggest problems are rose beetles which would eat all the leaves, but they are deterred by strong light and the tea roses are planted in the front yard near the street light.
They did have a problem with snow scale that is resistant to imidacloprid, so I ended up having to use a brush and soapy water to manually remove them.
I planted the pollen and nectar garden around the roses with alyssum, lavender, metapodium, glads. Angelonia, and seasonal annuals marigolds, cosmos, and zinnias. I have nasturtiums on the other side of the grass and I have more alyssum and seasonal annuals like sunflowers and flowering shrubs pseudomussaenda flava aka mussaenda glabra (the name is hard to pin down as it has been called both) which is in constant bloom and is visited by bees. I also have ice plant and cuphea.
The alyssum is the main plant for hover flies and predatory wasps as well as bees. The hoverflies and wasps have mummified a lot of the scale to the point where I hardly have to do any physical brushing anymore.
I do have to put out ant bait regularly and the gardenia and hibiscus still have to be treated with imidacloprid. I only use systemic rose care 3 in 1 to control black spot and I don't have to do that all year. I do have use it after the roses are pruned because it lasts for 6 weeks. The systemic fungicide in systemic rose care does a better job of controlling black spot tnan topical fungicides and I select roses with glossy leaves because they are more fungal resistant. I don't keep roses that are not resistant.
In the back yard I have very tough roses, Moorcap aka red buttons is a rambler, and good for making lei. it roots where it lands. I have a landscape rose called baby blanket. Those roses are planted in my vegetable garden so they don't get sprayed much at all, and only get occasional fertilizer and pruning. The rose beetles will damage them but they are tough as nails. I even have a rootstock rose. It rarely blooms and it actually has managed to spread itself in a few places. It does not grow fast enough to cause trouble and it is a good barrier plant because it is so thorny. I just cut it back when it gets in the way. I pretty much takes care of itself. However, I do fertilize the yard occasionally so my soil is really rich, its not starving.
They did have a problem with snow scale that is resistant to imidacloprid, so I ended up having to use a brush and soapy water to manually remove them.
I planted the pollen and nectar garden around the roses with alyssum, lavender, metapodium, glads. Angelonia, and seasonal annuals marigolds, cosmos, and zinnias. I have nasturtiums on the other side of the grass and I have more alyssum and seasonal annuals like sunflowers and flowering shrubs pseudomussaenda flava aka mussaenda glabra (the name is hard to pin down as it has been called both) which is in constant bloom and is visited by bees. I also have ice plant and cuphea.
The alyssum is the main plant for hover flies and predatory wasps as well as bees. The hoverflies and wasps have mummified a lot of the scale to the point where I hardly have to do any physical brushing anymore.
I do have to put out ant bait regularly and the gardenia and hibiscus still have to be treated with imidacloprid. I only use systemic rose care 3 in 1 to control black spot and I don't have to do that all year. I do have use it after the roses are pruned because it lasts for 6 weeks. The systemic fungicide in systemic rose care does a better job of controlling black spot tnan topical fungicides and I select roses with glossy leaves because they are more fungal resistant. I don't keep roses that are not resistant.
In the back yard I have very tough roses, Moorcap aka red buttons is a rambler, and good for making lei. it roots where it lands. I have a landscape rose called baby blanket. Those roses are planted in my vegetable garden so they don't get sprayed much at all, and only get occasional fertilizer and pruning. The rose beetles will damage them but they are tough as nails. I even have a rootstock rose. It rarely blooms and it actually has managed to spread itself in a few places. It does not grow fast enough to cause trouble and it is a good barrier plant because it is so thorny. I just cut it back when it gets in the way. I pretty much takes care of itself. However, I do fertilize the yard occasionally so my soil is really rich, its not starving.