Beautiful Bush No Blossoms

[Andriea]

I have a rose bush that is over three years old. The bush is beautiful, full, thick, and green, but it has never once blossomed. I am not 100% sure if it has grown from a seed or not. I had a row of many rose bushes against the house that I dug up and transplanted. I was letting the roses expire and produce seeds and I was also cross pollinating them. Quite sometime after transplanting all the roses, I noticed a small rose bush spring up out of the ground where the other roses used to be. I am not sure if a seed dropped or if it grew off of something that may have been left behind under the ground durring transplanting. I have it in a large pot that drains well in Miracle Grow soil. I fertilize according to package instructions. I have another rose bush that I care for the same way, it is fertilized in the same manner and is in the exact same soil and is always full of flowers. The bush is in full sunlight and is never shaded. The bush is actually one of the most beautiful rose bushes that I have ever seen except it has never produced a single rose, just a bush with thorns. Can anybody help me? How mature does roses have to be before they blossom. Is this bush ever going to blossom? All the bushes that were there prior to it springing up bloomed all year long. Any help would be so apperciated. My husband, myself, and four little children look at it everyday, waiting and wondering.

[The Helpful Gardener]

The rose should be flowering; it's not an age thing at all.

That leaves light, pruning, and fertilization. If it's getting enough light (not shaded behind other plants, in the lee of the house, etc.) and your're not continually pruning it (and any buds it's forming) it's nutrition. The fertilizing rates on packaging should almost never be trusted. Half rates are fine for most types and too much nitrogen can shut down flowering because it's kicking SO much foliage (we like organics as they NEVER do this). THAT's my bet as to what's happening. STOP fertilizingand dig two oppsite sides of the rootball (north and south OR east and west) That should stress the plant enough to get at least a few blooms...

HG

[Andriea]

Thank you so much for your help. I am not sure what you mean by digging up two sides of the root ball. Do you mean that I should just dig holes in the soil next to the root ball? Thanks again!

[The Helpful Gardener]

HG