Question
My newly planted Gertrude Jeklle rose is growing with seven leaflet, has this gone wild or is this natural?

Answer
Some rose myths seem to die hard and this is one of them. Many rose books tell you that if a rose has seven leaflets, then it must be a species and that is not true. David Austin crosses his roses with the very old ones and that is why you have a rose with seven leaflets. Gertrude has a habit of throwing up very tall canes and then only flowering on the top of them. If you want more blooms further down, then just cut it back about 12 inches when she gets to 3 feet. This will make the bush thicker and you will get more flowers.