I kill roses! Someone stop me please...

[stepstephens2]

Vacant lots can grow better roses than I can. My intuition is off when it comes to these things, and I keep killing them. I just bought 2 more from a nursery and transplanted them into my yard. Their blooms have mostly died down now. Do I cut them off or just let them hang there like sad flower corpses? They were fairly robust when I bought them, in 5 gallon pots with a few rosebuds already on them. The leaves look fine. I put them in the ground about 2 weeks ago. Gave them fertilizer and water. What should I do? Can I cut the dead blooms off? Do I just leave it alone? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[patandchickens]

I do not think deadheading or not-deadheading is likely to make a big difference to the plant's health. Obviously if you deadhead you won't get rose hips but a whole lot of rose varieties won't produce hips *anyhow*. Personally I'd deadhead if the blooms were large (e.g. tea roses) and ignore if they were small (e.g. the wilder-looking cultivars of the rugosa group).

If you are tired of killing them, one thing that might help would be to stop buying them when they are in full bloom... The best time to transplant them is when they are dormant. And best to buy them from a GOOD nursery, not from walmart or any other careless-of-plants place.

Some roses are also just significantly harder to keep alive than others. You might try some of the rugosa types, most of them are fairly "can't kill with a stick" as long as you give them vaguely-reasonable circumstances.

(e.t.a. - you mentioned fertilizing them. I suppose others may have other opinions, I'm really not sure now that you mention it, but personally I don't think it's a good practice to fertilize newly planted things, unless maybe a bit of something that is mainly potassium and phosphorus but not much nitrogen. I am not a big fertilizer-er ANYhow (I tend to rely on compost) but I would suggest that you at least wait until they are making *significant* new growth, that is when you might think about very-cautiously-and-lightly fertilizing cuttings or new transplants, anyhow

Without knowing what they're dying of it is hard to make any other suggestions, but as with most plants, the keys to keeping them alive and growing well tend to boil down to a) find out what soil/sun environment they want, and give it to them; b) make the soil REALLY GOOD (according to whatever they want) over a fairly large area that you'll be planting them into; c) give them really proper watering according to whatever they want; and d) if you try to grow them in marginal conditions, expect marginal (or at least very unreliable) results.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[vfem]

I have to go with Pat.... dormant roses do best. When they are putting all their energy into producing flowers, they are not giving the energy needed to the roots to get established. Dormant varieties are available as early as February in most places.

As for fertilizing, other then me mixing in some bone meal in the spring I don't do much with mine. I don't keep very delicate varieties though. I purchased with 'HARDY' in mind. When you're new at something its easier to start with a simple less fuss variety of a plant and get your feet under ya. That way when you're feeling good, and you've had some success.... you'll be ready for the next step, something that requires more knowledge and care.

Don't worry.... just plan ahead and try something easy.

 

[stepstephens2]

Thanks... I called my mother and she said about the same. I think I tend to smother some plants with too much care. She was always really good with the stuff you leave alone... jades, roses, lilacs, etc... But I will go ahead and cut the spent blooms. Incidentally, which specific types of roses would I grow if I did want usable rose hips?

 

[vfem]

Here's a good link with some advice!

http://oldfashionedliving.com/rosehips.html