Rose was here when moved in, newbie, need help!!!

[bunnyvicious]

We just bought our first house, have always rented before and I never wanted to invest anything besides mowing and watering. Now that we have our own place, I'm ready to make it mine! Unfortunately, my grandmas green thumb wasn't passed down to me.

When we moved in, there were a few plants here already I would like to "bring back".

The first is a purple Rose of Sharon in a planting bed with a rose vine and trumpet vine, it is a little over 4 ft. tall. Either the Sharon has split in half or there are two trees there, but one "half" is dead and as I started to remove the limbs, they pulled right out of the ground. There were insects resembling maggots in the wood. The other "half" I have pruned to the best of my ability and am getting a few blooms now. My questions; 1. What are these insects and how will they affect the living part of the tree. 2. The tree seems very thinned out, how can I make it fuller?


Also, there is a rose THING in the front yard in full sun. It isn't a vine, more like a shrub or small tree. I've pruned this to the best of my ability as well and got , two (woo-hoo) delicate light yellow roses with very small dark red centers. There are new red sprouts on the plant that were not there pre-pruning. There are also several little green pods, similar to tiny green tomatoes on the plant. I'm assuming these are where the rose blooms from, but they are dried and black in the center. My questions: 1.Do I need to prune it back even more and remove all these pods? 2. Why are the new shoots growing in red? 3. HELP!!! What do I do?

Remember, I'm new at this. I just learned the difference between mulch and peat today and have been reading the Better Homes and Gardens book on plants for a week straight! Go easy on my silly questions!

[opabinia51]

JPIXI, are you out there? Can you offer any advice?

For that matter, what does anyone have to offer?

[Cactus Joe]

I am sorry that you haven't got a response yet.

I am not sure if you knew the "rose of Sharon" is not a rose but a variety of hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus syriacus.). It is difficult to visualise what you are describing. But in general, if part of a shrub is diseased, the best thing to do is to prune and remove all the dead and diseased parts and see how the plant will recover. I am not sure what you mean by maggots? Do they have soft bodies or have a hard outside skeleton? What is their general shape, color? How do they move? (Pictures would be helpful.). The most common bugs associated with moist dead wood are pill buds or sow bugs.

As for the second plant (the rose thing), a better identification of the plant is needed before anybody can offer the right advice. If it truely is a rose, the usual thing to do is to remove all the dead, diseased, weak and really old and unproductive wood. Then, depending on whether the rose is a climber, shrub or hybrid tea, it gets pruned back to the appropriate height. If you are not sure of the type of plant you have, pictures are, again, useful tools. Or else, you can take leaves, a branch or a piece of stem (if the plant can spare it), flowers, or any other parts of the plant to a nursery and ask the folks there. Most nurseries have staff who are knowledgeable enough to identify plants grown locally.

[bunnyvicious]

Thank you for your response. I thought hat the rose of sharon looked a bit like a hibiscus bloom. The pests I found in them looked like maggots to me, that was the best I could describe them. They had soft bodies and were very small. I sprinkled some 7 dust after removing the dead limbs, as well as pruning back the others, and am enjoying several blooms now on one side of the tree.

I know for sure that the rose is not a climber. I believe it is a bush. I've also pruned it, removing dead wood and entwining branches. I'm enjoying a lot of new growth. I realize now that the red sprouts are the new growth, the pods I was referring to were spent blooms I believe. I think it is about to flower as well, I see alot of blooms about to open. Apparently I'm doing something right. i didn't know you could post pictures here, I'll try to get one ASAP.

Thanks, BB

[JPIXI]

Hello bunnyvicious,

Sorry for appearing a little late due to some business trips here and there.

Rose of Sharon is not rose in any aspect.

At this time of the year, it gets attacks from fungus as well as pests easily due to the high humidity and weaken health after heavy flowering. The withered flowers attack black ants moving the fungus to the entire tree. Therefore you must provide the tree with strengthening spray and anti ants agents.

Cut off all affected area and burn them or throw them away.

The most direcrt and fastest spray solution is to dissolve Espom salt (8 teaspoon to 1 Litre of water). You can put a handful of mint leaf, and chopped garlic into a litre of water, and boil for 10 minutes. Let the boiling water rest to room temperature before draining off the residues of the mint and garlic away. Add in the 8 tsp of Espom salt and spray generously to the Rose of Sharon. The ES salt adds to strengthen the plant while the mint and garlic will discourage the ants and other pests. You can also add on 4 to 8 tsp of mild liquid soap to the solution.

Please continue to spray with the solution every 3 days to get rid of the problem entirely.

Hope it helps a little.
Pixi