thevolta
Newly Registered
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:41 am
Location: West TN.

Late Winter Rose Protection Question

I believe I have an Old Garden rose bush. It is around 80 years old. It was my grandmother's. Now I am the caretaker of this rose bush. I was going to cut it flush with the ground this winter, but I think I have waited too long?...I live in Zone 7a in West TN.. It is about 4ft tall at the moment and it just really got cold here a few weeks ago. What should I do??????........

JPIXI
Senior Member
Posts: 213
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 7:54 am
Location: France, Paris

Hello thevolta,

If your rose bush is about 80 years old, it should not be a modern rose, antique roses are usually more rustic.

I hope someone from your region can pop-up with more relative advice, as I do not know how severe and which species of the rose you owe.

If the winter has arrived, and you are facing the full force of cold, please DO NOT prune your rose now. If you prune it now, the cold will demage the stem severely on the new wounds, and eventually kill your rose. Prunning a rose after late fall will risk awaking the rose up from their sleep. Therefore I strongly advise you to wait until the forst is totally over to prune your rose bush.

Meantime, what you can do, is to tight the loose stem up, preventing them from the strong wind that might breaks them and shaking their roots(demaging the root system). DO NOT add any kind of fertilizer.

Amitié,
Pixi

Newt
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1868
Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 10:44 pm
Location: Maryland zone 7

Hi Thevolta,

Welcome to The Helpful Gardener. Great advice from Pixi. Pruning should be done just before bud break or as you notice new leaves begin to sprout. This site has a frost chart for the US. Just click on Tennessee.
https://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/

From this site you might be able to id your rose when it blooms.
https://www.everyrose.com/everyrose/index.lasso

Btw, did your grandmother always prune it flush to the ground?

Newt

thevolta
Newly Registered
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:41 am
Location: West TN.

Thank you so much Pixi and Newt. I will do a little research to find out what kind it is. I will just bundle it up for the time being. The bush was never really cut flush with the ground. However, my mother suggested this because it had a slight blackspot problem last year. The year before it was trimmed to 1.5 feet..... I'm glad I found this forum before I made a big mistake!!!!

Much appreciated,
Jason

Newt
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Posts: 1868
Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 10:44 pm
Location: Maryland zone 7

Jason, you are so very welcome. I found this site with pictures of some of the different classes of roses which might lead you in the right direction. You can click on the types on the left to view pics of just a few of the old ones. They even show you how to propagate them.
https://www.rdrop.com/~paul/hulse.html

Here's a site that will give you info on pruning roses. It's general, so once you know what type you have as to rambler, shrub, climber, etc we can get you more specific pruning info.
https://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/roses/prune.html

Newt

thevolta
Newly Registered
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:41 am
Location: West TN.

Thanks again Newt!....I have another question. The rose bush I have, has monkey grass around the base of it . Is it OK to leave the grass or should I dig up the grass???......

Newt
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1868
Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 10:44 pm
Location: Maryland zone 7

If the rose bush is doing well with the monkey grass around it then I'd leave it if you like it. Some people don't like anything planted around their roses, but I do. As long as the rose is thriving it's really what you like in my opinion. Maybe Pixie has other thoughts on this.

Newt

thevolta
Newly Registered
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:41 am
Location: West TN.

Thanks Newt!!! You've set me in the right direction.

Newt
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1868
Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 10:44 pm
Location: Maryland zone 7

Jason, you are very welcome!

Newt

Pranitha
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 7:11 pm

Hi.. I think I did bad mistake today. So I have 2 rose plants.. both were having these small green ladybugs..
on the bigger one I have I actually pruned it today morning. I am from California, Bay Area. After reading this post I fear will my plant die? As it’s past the frost time. Also I did fertilize them in the 1st week of dec.

And, my second plant, a mini rose, I have sentimental value with this..which I replanted to a new pot when I fertilized and pruned it early December. Today I just sprayed it water as it had only few bugs. And I see some canes are dried up. But I still see few thriving (on which the green bugs came) .

Please help me. I will be heart broken if I lose this... what can I do now to save them. Both are in containers.



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