Question
QUESTION: hi lynnette, i'm a bit of a newcomer to roses, but bought a rose tree yesterday. it was already provvided with a bamboo stake so i planted it in my front garden in the soil, which is clay like. today the flowers, which are all fairly large, all seem to be dried around the edges and the roses themselves are all droopy and falling open and discouloured. i've watered around the base and the soil is nice and moist, although i haven't put any fertilizer in yet. is this normal for the roses to look like this after planting? the leaves and stem are all perfect... i'd really appreciate any help you could offer me, many thanks, amanda

ANSWER: Roses really hate to be moved or replanted and get even by sulking, especially if they are transplanted in the summer heat. Grit your teeth and remove the flowers as this will help the roots to supply the leaves only. Don't give the rose any fertilizer as the roots are under stress and can't take it up. Keep up with your watering daily, place a mulch of any kind all around the base as roses love cool, damp roots and the mulch will give them that. If you can't get a mulch they buy a bag of steer manure and place that around the rose tree. Steer manure is all the fertilizer you will need this year. In a couple of week it will stop complaining and start to bloom for you.

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QUESTION: hi again, thanks for the tips, I'll try to find some mulch to lay down. just one other thing, how can you tell where a bud will be appearing from as I'm worried because there are only two visible on the whole tree. could you tell me the place on the branch where i should be looking out? thanks again, amanda

Answer
If you don't have any mulch just use 5 thicknesses of newspaper, lay it all around the base and then throw some soil on it to stop any winds from tearing it up. Buds always come from the tips of the branches. So if you follow a cane right out to the tip you should see very tiny little new  buds and that is where the flowers will come from. Don't forget to water, water, water daily for at least 4 weeks until the rose has settled in.