suckers

[kaaryn]

As I'm clearing the debris, raspberry canes, knotweed, grass, etc (yikes) from around my discovered roses, I'm also finding several suckers that have grown off the original plant. They're about a foot or so tall, nice and red and look quite healthy. Can I move these to start new plants, if they have developed roots?

[Jess]

Hi kaaryn

You certainly can. If they are still attached to the plant try and pull them away from the parent rather than cut as cutting will just encourage them to sucker again which can weaken you shrub. The only thing with suckers is they won't necessarily be the same as the parent as the suckers will be the root stock not the grafted rose if your roses are grafted. You can tell if they are grafted as the base of the rose will be quite swollen in appearance. If the suckers are spreading away from the parent these are more likely to be the old fashioned shrub roses or moss roses which sucker quite freely. If they are just chop between the parent and the sucker and pull up with a piece of root and replant where you want it.

[kaaryn]

They're not grafted, just old shrub roses that have been there probably almost as long as the house. But they're pretty, so I like them.

I decided to go ahead and try moving one of them - actually it's two plants on one sucker, but there was only one set of real roots between them so I left them connected. I also found a new spreading piece coming off another bush nearby so I pulled that as well and stuck it in the ground. We'll see what happens... yesterday and today we've had that nor'easter come through with lots of wind and a ton of rain, so I'm just hoping everything hasn't washed away!