HelpfulGardener.com

I moved 2 months ago and am selling my former home. The deal is not finished but the prospective buyers have already started doing some repair work. No problem for me....except he cut down my rose bush. It was about 30 years old, one of those with the bunches of little blooms in clusters..

Is there any way I might be able to salvage some of it at least? I have 8 other rose bushes in that yard and I know that he will be after them next. Plus my peony, my mums, amaryllis, naked ladies, forsythia, 2 new lilac bushes I planted this spring. The only thing I don't think he can kill is the Pampas grass....... .I have been trying for 16 years!

dear our house....

yippities!!!!! if the deal isn't done, what is he doing there????? I would advise him that technically the property is still yours. what exactly did he do to your (sounds like a polyantha) rose bush , and just as importantly when did he do it have you made arrangements to take your plants with you

as long as he hasn't ripped it from the ground, there is a better than average chance that you san save it. hopefully you have had a good freeze or two, and the plant is dormant. on your next visit, take a good shovel and, after resisting the urge to crack said villian in the back of the noggin with it, cut about a 2 foot diameter circle around the bush. as gently as you can, pry it from the ground. take the bush immediately to its new home, which should be a sufficiently large hole which has been ammended with some composted manure and a handful of bonemeal... this will help the roots re-establish themselves. do not use any fertiizers at this point, we just want good ammended soil, we are not trying to make the plant grow and put it under more stress. water it in real well, then pile some more compost, leaf mulch etc around the base of the plant.

gradually remove the pile in the spring, we want this baby to break dormancy gradually and keep it somewhat protected from an unexpected freeze in the spring. once it starts to leaf out then treat it with a mild (maybe half strength) water soluable fertilizer, but don't go to heavy on the nitrogen, we want those roots to get going well first.... I would look to a 1:2:1 ratio, like miracle-gro bloom booster.

with regard to you other roses, the more information concerning their age, type, did you winter prune, etc. you can provide as well as that about your climate, the better the people here can help you.

best of luck to you,
chris

Lefty, I knew you'd have the answer!

Newt

Lefty,

The other folks are there with our blessing as far as the painting, some structural work etc. I guess I just never thought to tell him to leave my plants alone. I honestly had NO idea he planned on cutting them down!

This rose is huge. It covered one whole corner of my yard. It may take a backhoe to get it out but I am going to try.

As far as the others, I have a Tropicana that is 15 years old, 2 climbing roses, ( I don't know what kind but they are huge and bloom prolifically.)
They are about 15 years also. The others are relatively small newcomers, planted in the last 2 years.

I had not pruned prior to moving. It has been a really stressful year,
(dad sick and passed away, new grandbaby, son got married and we moved) all in the space of 3 months. So pruning was not on my priority list.

I live in SE Oklahoma. We have had a couple of freezes, but nothing prolonged. A few days strung together when weather was in the teens.

Thanks for the help!

Hi Ourhouse,

So sorry to hear of all that stress. I do hope it works out with your roses and that the new year brings less stress for you.

Newt

ok, now we can help.

when you go to dig out your bush, prune it down to 6-7 main canes. leave them 24-30 inches long, and remove all leaves, laterals, and stems. do the same with your climbers and hybrid tea. you don't want these guys trying to support vegatation now, just get the roots in a position to grow in the spring. when the buds start to form in the spring, prune them down to 12-18 inches.

some good organic sources of potassium are bonemeal, and banana peels, try to get them down where the roots will benefit from them. remember we don't want to really encourage alot of new growth right off the bat.

in addition I would like to point out that your older bush,as well as your climbers may be an one of the old garden roses that only bloom on last years wood. if that is the case, they will not bloom this year, but next year, in a new, freshly ammended location they might very well look their best ever.

any more questions, feel free to ask
chris