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catnohat

Advice to save the roses?

catnohat
10 years ago

I dug these baby roses from my friends property. I put in three next to my neighbors yard that I am tired of looking at. She called them "wild roses". They have small pink flowers.
They have been in the ground and mostly shaded for about a week. They are looking pretty sad and I was wondering what to do to save them. I was thinking about cutting them back to about 8 to 10 inches or so. Any advice?

Thanks,
~Cat

Comments (6)

  • popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
    10 years ago

    From what I understand, this time of year is not good for hard pruning. I think I would just leave them be. Give them some mellow fertilizer, plenty of water and some mulch. I would guess by next year, they will be beautiful. If they have small, single-row petals they might be Knockout roses. I have one that is pink with fairly small, single-row of petals flowers. It's called "Carefree Wonder" and it does very well.

    This picture is from a few years ago. The rose is not quite as happy now that it's being shaded by my enormous Lilac. But this may give you an idea of what they can do.

  • catnohat
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The mother plant does look like yours. Thanks for the advice. Should I keep shading them?

  • kvenkat
    10 years ago

    My understanding is that roses need at least 6 hours of sun per day. All the shade they are getting now might be the reason they are not happy. Can you move them to a sunnier spot?

  • catnohat
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    They looked sad after I dug them. I was giving them part shade because where I put them is a lot of sun. So they are getting some sun, I just didn't want them to bake right after transplant, but they haven't recovered from the initial wilting.

  • Skybird - z5, Denver, Colorado
    10 years ago

    Hi Cat,

    With this heat I don't know if you're going to be able to save them or not. If it were me I'd try cutting them down like you mentioned in your first post. And I'm big-time into cutting things back when I transplant so I'd probably cut them down to about 6"! With roses I think it's very doubtful that the existing leaves will "come back" so as they start to dry I'd just remove them. If they're gonna make it you should see new growth starting to develop fairly quickly. Since you have more than one, hopefully at least one will make it and that will give you a start for plenty more in the future.

    With the heat you're going to be way inclined to keep watering them all the time, but don't! As long as the soil is still wet a couple inches down near the plants, WAIT! When the soil down where the roots are is starting to dry water well, and then wait again.

    And definitely do keep them shaded as much as you possibly can--but however you shade them be sure you still have at least some air circulation around them. As it's cooling in the evening it could help to go over them (very quickly) with the hose to moisten the canes, but not so much that you're keeping the soil saturated. If you have some way to just "mist" them, like a pressure sprayer with just plain water, I think it would be a good idea to mist them a couple time a day (and in the evening, instead of using the hose), again, to help keep the canes from desiccating while the roots are recovering.

    We'll all keep our fingers crossed for you--and your roses!

    Skybird

  • lizbest1
    10 years ago

    Hey Cat, if they're the real wild roses you might want to segregate them well--they multiply rampantly and you'll have them coming up everywhere. They were growing on our land when we started building our house and I moved some into a garden bed once the house was finished, now they've crowded out probably 1/4 of a very large bed. The roots shoot out to amazing lengths so expect to see it in your lawn if anywhere nearby.....