Help with roses

[Whitbywoof]

I've gor three different roses in pots. They almost died off two years ago through negligence, last year they were just about alive but this year, after some harsh pruning in March, they've positively flourished and outgrown their pots. (And I'm dead chuffed that I managed to rescue them, although the look pretty scruffy compared to a rose expert's plants.)

The question is, should I get larger pots or plant them out into the garden somewhere, and if so, what tips do you have for their safe transplantation (pardon the pun) and how to look after them during the winter.

Picture provided to give an idea of scale.

[smiffy]

If you have a good spot to replant them, you could! You will need to prepare the hole, put in some feed then carefully put the rose into the hole not burying the graft section if there is one. Prune the rose hard so it then produces good roots, feed with a liquid feed and water in.

Or..you could re pot them into a bigger pot, prepare the pot with good feed and then treat the rose the same as for planting out.

Planting them in the garden means they will not bake in the pots, but if you want them on that fence, perhaps just pot them up.

Dont know if that will help, others are more rose minded than I and will probably give better advice!

PS The flowering one looks a lovely rose!

[faeryboots]

Try and remember to dead head them, it'll produce more flowers.

[revmichael]

faeryboots said:

Try and remember to dead head them, it'll produce more flowers.

Yes, unless they are summer flowering only and you want to keep them because the hips get large and red, and provide seeds for the birds during the autumn.

Also, if you plant them in the garden make sure they aren't planted where there have been roses before (because of the soil having rose fever). If there is no other place then dig as big a hole as you can and fill it in with fresh soil/compost before you plant the new rose.

[Fi]

As a general tip, if anyone wants to plant roses in areas where roses have grown previously David Austin's Rootgrow will avoid any problems. I don't know if similar products are avaiable under other names.

Oh, and yes Woofers, I'd be inclined to plant your lovely, healthy roses in the garden. Apart from some of the miniatures( which the middle plant may be (how big were its flowers?), most roses will do a lot better in the garden than in containers, unless the containers are huge. Autumn will be the best time to plant them out, although since thay are in pots at the moment, they could be planted any time of the year. Either way, prune them hard in late autumn and then look forward to the display next year.

[Peek]

Regarding the pruning...I know that you can prune in autumn, but was also told that if you give them a light prune, the remaining stems etc will take the brunt of frost damage, so that you can prune properly in early spring.


Has anybody else heard of this method?

[revmichael]

peek said:

Regarding the pruning...I know that you can prune in autumn, but was also told that if you give them a light prune, the remaining stems etc will take the brunt of frost damage, so that you can prune properly in early spring.


Has anybody else heard of this method?

I was always told that you need to lightly trim them in the autumn (to give shorter branches so the winter winds can't rock the plants too violently). Then give them a good hard prune (except for shrubs - which only need tidying up) in February/ March before they start to sprout again.

I believe in taking bush roses down to a few inches above the ground. They then go good, strong branches for their new growth.

[Fi]

Michael, that may be true for many modern roses, but older bush roses, species roses, rambling roses and David Austin's English roses should not be hard pruned at any time to get the best out of them. I usually ignore them for a couple of years and then take out any old wood which is decaying. The others do get a hard prune in autumn to avoid windrock, but in this and our previous garden, there are very few roses that need it.

[revmichael]

fi said:

Michael, that may be true for many modern roses, but older bush roses, species roses, rambling roses and David Austin's English roses should not be hard pruned at any time to get the best out of them. I usually ignore them for a couple of years and then take out any old wood which is decaying. The others do get a hard prune in autumn to avoid windrock, but in this and our previous garden, there are very few roses that need it.

True Fi.
Yes, I was thinking particularly of modern bush roses. I don't prune my David Austin ones so hard - but they are pretty vigorous here in Berkshire and I (or rather PMR, when she gets her hands on my Felcos) cut them down to less than half their summer height.