hi, i planted 2 hybrid teas last august,they went dormant, and i have yet to see any new growth on them, my neighbors teas are sprouting now, and mine arent.. should i be worried, or just be patient?
I hate to have to second Ron’s vote but I do agree – they sound dead as a mackerel to me. If you replace the roses, and I hope you do, read up on the ones you are interested in and get one that is disease resistant. If our summer this year is anything like last year’s, we will be dealing with black spot before long. Anything that weakens the plant makes them susceptible to winter kill. I lost several roses last winter because my family and friends were helping me put them to bed and didn’t mulch some of them well enough, and many had sustained a lot of black spot damage. Last summer, we had a veritable plague of it throughout this area. In the fall, if you mulch them really well, they should wake up happy and healthy in the spring. You folks had a snowy winter (and you sent that awful weather east to us!) That didn’t help matters. The way I put my roses to bed is with heavy mulching held in place with a cylinder made of chicken wire. I stuff it with salt marsh hay all the way up the canes – about 18 inches. You make a tube with the chicken wire that surrounds the rose bush, then put mulch around the bottom and right up the sides. Then you lightly crimp the top together. It's not exactly how they tell you to do it in the books, but until this past winter, I had not lost a rose. Good luck with some new roses – I hope you find something you love that lives and blooms for you.
