Good Morning ...I have a rose bush on the west side of my home. It was here when I bought my home so I have no idea what kind it is or how to care for it? Some stems are much longer than others and I don't see any buds on the stem. What do I feed it? Should I prune it? How? Mulch it? Something obviously has been chomping on the leaves, what do I do about that? I've never cared for a rose bush so I don't know where to begin and I would really like to care for this plant. I've attached (4) photos. About a month ago it had a couple of blooms one was pink and the other was red. There is a lot of tall grass growing up the middle of the bush. Should I pull it out?
'Dr Huey' rootstock has been allowed to sprout and overwhelm variety grafted onto it. Prune out all long, climber-type sprouts to leave only shorter, thicker shoots. In the second photo the erect stem with the spent flower is an example of one to keep and the more slender, arching one to the right is an example of one of the 'Dr Huey' rootstock sprouts. You can also tell which is which by studying the base of the bush and observing where each sprout originates. Probably there is an elevated portion that is supporting the few stems of whatever the other named variety is, with a forest of rootstock sprouts around it - many or most of these coming from out of the ground or near it. After pruning dig out the grass in a circular area around the plant so it is not in competition with it or affected by allelopathic chemicals it may be generating (grasses have been known to actually generate their own herbicide; trees/shrubs and grasses are enemies who compete for space where the two meet. This small slender bush cannot cast enough shade to defend itself from the lawn). Mulch the cleared area and keep the plant watered during dry spells. It being a large-flowered rose fertilizer may help it be vigorous and productive, ideally soil would be sampled and tested before fertilizing rather than assuming a product encountered at the store had the right combination and amounts of nutrients.
Hi Ron, Thank you again for helping me. Okay I'm getting a bit of this. A couple of questions?? What does Dr. Huey mean? What kind of rose bush is this? You said to leave the stalk with the faded bloom, do I leave the faded bloom too? If not where do make my cut? Are you saying to remove the slender stem beside the tall one with the faded bloom? I know to cut at a 45deg angle but where on the stem do I cut since I don't see any buds. Is this a climbing rose? Okay, I will cut around the base, clean it up, mulch, feed and water. Thanks again for helping me. Now I just need some help with the pruning.
I don't know what Dr Huey means but i'm guessing it refers to the wild rose that modern roses are grafted on to. They will have different leaves to the rose you want,usually with more leaflets. Now when pruning away the flowers you don't just cut the dead flower off. What you do is go down two leaves and cut just above the second leaf. Where the leaf joins the stem is a bud that will break and produce a new flowering stem.
Yea well roses produce leaves in a rotating sequence down the stem,each one is made up of 5 or 7 leaflets. So yea go 2 down and cut just above the second. The sucker that the wild root stock produces usually has leaves with more leaflets making them easier to spot,but i don't see any in your pics.
Larry, thank you...this is really helping me a lot. Today, I have to cut all around the base and add some mulch as Ron suggested. By the way, does bonemeal help? I don't have any rose food yet.
Bone meal is good yes,high in pottassium which is good for flower production. Another good source is ash from a fire. I burn my rubbish,cardboard boxes paper etc and the ash goes on the garden,great stuff. As for a general rose food get some miracle gro. One small scoop per pint of water once a month.
'Dr. Huey' is the cultivar that the other rose is grafted onto. It is not a wild rose, it is a cultivar named 'Dr. Huey'. http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda Chalker-Scott/Horticultural Myths_files/Myths/Bonemeal.pdf
Thanks Greg, I'll add some bonemeal, I also have some Miracle Gro.. I don't have anything where I could get ash though. Ron, Thanks for the link, now I will go and read it. I really learning a lot here.
If you give bonemeal i'd lay off the miracle gro. Too much fertilizer isn't good. In fact roses may be best grown hard if you have a lot of rain as otherwise you get lots of sappy growth and less flowers,also more greenfly. Plants that grow slower with tighter growth are tougher come winter too.
