Question
QUESTION: hello lynette

my newly planted roses bloom well but droop, i think the
hot and dry spring/ summer we have had in the east of england
and some gusty winds they grew too quickly for new roses and
can't support their own height. what can i do?

thankyou for your reply, lynette

philip

ANSWER: Where ever you garden, and whatever kindness you give the roses, newly planted roses will always go under some stress. Mature roses hate high heat or wind and they will re-act to it by shutting down the roots until the weather goes back to normal. So you can see that your roses disliked the weather in the new situation they were planted in. Newly planted roses really don't benefit from any fertilizer because the roots don't take it up until they are settled into their new home. If the fertilizer is chemical and contains high nitrogen, then the roses grow faster and make soft growth. If this growth is hit by certain weather conditions, then it hasn't the strength to hold up a flower head when things go bad. If you garden in an area that isn't ideal then you have to take the attitude that your roses must be toughened up. Holding off on any fertilizer the first year is the way to do it. The roots will go deeper and the growth will be denser and harder. I would wait until hopefully, the unpleasant weather is over and then cut the roses back a little. Don't give them any fertilizer in the hopes it will smarten them up as it will only make matters worse. Blooming well is not a sign of a strong roses. Canes are far more important, as they do the job of making the flowers and the leaves which will feed the flowers.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thankyou lynette for your expertise.

i have cut the roses back somewhat, and eased off the fertiliser on these newer unhappy roses.
time will come when i will prune after first flowering anyway, can you tell me about this and some tips/ guidelines?
they are young english roses from david austin, iceberg/ floribundas (how far down their complicated branch structure?) and savoy hybrid teas from local garden centre.

also lynette, a second year english rose from david austin grows too tall for my small to medium sized garden, yet the growing height is meant to be 4 foot, the newly plants may reach the same next year, can you advise on growing height and suitability to gardens,as i may change the roses at some point.

thankyou again for your sound expertise, good wishes, philip jones

Answer
The newer thinking in regards to pruning, is not to do it after flowering on roses that are not yet three years old. The reason for this is because a rose needs all the leaves it has as this supplies the strength to make a bigger and better rose bush. Again newer thinking, feels that a rose should be left alone until it is three years old. This way a gardener does not interfere with the normal rate and shape of growth. All roses are genetically programmed to grow a certain way, such as tall or wide using basal or lateral canes to make it grow larger.
With the Austin roses, if they are feed a lot of food, plus grow in a clay type soil, you will get monster roses. The Austins are born to wealth and like rich living. If you have some clay in your soil, then only give your Austins half a cup of fertilizer, preferably organic, as this will slow them down as organic takes longer for a rose to assimilate it. Also prune very hard as David Austin advises to prune is roses back hard. To keep any rose down past it's normal size, do some pruning during the summer on the taller canes. In my sandy soil, none of the Austins grows tall for me.
One of the problems you are going to have with wanting the smaller Austin roses, is that many of the older ones are the smallest but Austin cancels them which means he tells the nurseries not to sell them anymore. However I have included some of the newer ones which should stay under 3 feet but will probably not, as that is the nature of the Austin roses. Most of them you should expect to grow past 4 feet. His newer ones definitely will grow tall and large.
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