Question
We have 4 rose bushes in the front of the house(west side-direct afternoon sun). They will open buds and wilt in almost the same day. I thought most care tags on roses say "direct sun" ??? Is this just too much sun and heat? Will any amount of watering help- or is this just too much heat and sun (hot August days 80-95 degrees-Portland,OR)?

Thanks,
Cynthia

Answer
Since roses have become a large commercial product, many myths on how to grow them have been disproven. One of them is that roses need full sun all day. This simply is not true. Actually roses really hate high heat which causes warm roots which they also hate. Roses do best with all morning plus all late afternoon sunshine. It is the high noon and the hot afternoons they dislike. Also if the roses are planted too close to the foundation of the house, the lime from the cement will leach out and turn the soil too high a PH for roses. From your description is does sound like the roses are re-acting to the heat. Perhaps in the fall if possible, you could replant them. If not them use a mulch of anything you can get in your area , to keep the roots cool and damp, something rose bushes really like. your temperatures are really not too hot and your area really doesn't get really high scorching weather so the roses should not complain too much. If they were planted this year, then the roots would not have settled in and that would also cause the problem. So no amount of water is going to help the roses because roses go under stress with the hot weather and semi shut down and don't take up nutrients of much water. A rose gardener just has to accept that some roses don't do well in high heat an will always look sad no matter what you do. When the weather returns to cooler temperatures, then they will start to grow normally and flower.