OT Roses

Nah, it is not magic fingers, or a green thumb or anything like that. It is figuring out what plants like you and which plants hate you.

Old garden roses like me, the modern hybrids are a bit more ambiguous about me. And while I have successfully done middling to impressive plant things, such as germinating and growing meconopsis (blue poppy) from seed and growing european mandragora from seed in my basement, some really simple plants just hate me. I cannot grow pansies, petunias, or echinacea for anything. Either they do not germinate at all, or they just keel over and die. Even bought from a nursery they swoon and fail in pretty short order. I call it my pansy curse, and it is irritating. These are flowers where if most people spill a bit of seed it's "oops! guess I have a new flower patch!". I had some echinacea that was doing well among my starts, then Jiji got into the room with them. I caught him as he was pacing around the indoor greenhouse that I heat for starting peppers, casing the joint no doubt. I grabbed the spray bottle, he took evasive action and went through the other starts. He knocked the echinacea and the holy basil onto the floor. I saved the holy basil, but the echinacea sort of splattered in a swathe across the floor, and though I did my best none of it survived. Clearly I am not meant to have any. The echinacea was thriving, therefore deity dictated a cat. And I dictated a wet bottom for that cat.

NightMist

I'm here. Exactly what do yo mean by 'peg a rose'? Put a 'stick' to keep it uupright to hold it there? that's all I can come up with. And yes you can do that without any problem. I have 6 out back that aare in containers as we're renting now so they ahve to be 'movable'. I am NOT leaving them behind as i've done before. Get rid of the suckers as they are taking the nourishment from the main rose and leaving them will convert the rose to the base stock that all roses are now grafted to. I don't have a cat but I've heard that bunched up aluminum foil around the base of the plant is enuf to keep the cats out--they don't like the feel or noise of walking on it. NO guarantees tho.......I haven't tried it. Keep the growth to a minumum the first year so the roots have time to get established, get rid of the buds as soon as you see them. Second year you can allow a few buds to blossom and then the third year--stand back. Remember a saying that went something like this: First year: roots Second: growth Third:STAND BACK and enjoy the blooms. Roses take a LOT of fertilizer...I use to 'fertilize' once a week at 1/4 the recommended amount. Used a specialized Rose one. They also love coffee grounds (not decaf tho). I got bags of it from Starbucks....ask and they set them aside for you. We always called a day ahead. Sounds like you do know what you're doing.

Now tell me how to get the Hibiscus to come back? It had a few nights of hard frost here and it was well covered. Did cut it back 2 weeks ago as it didn't show any life. Our temps are in the high 70° and low 80° this week.

Butterfly

Sweetling I still have snow on the ground here! What do I know from hibiscus? (G) If I ever plant any it will be an annual. On my garden forums people all across the south and southwest are swearing because of the plants they have lost due to unexpected frost. They say if we do not have a kicking year here in the north that grocery prices will go up. I am starting to believe that somebody will say that every year.

You probably know pegging by a different word. Where you take the green canes and bend them down and fasten them so. These days a good many people use landscape staples, my gramma used "dolly" clothespins that my grandpa had widened between the prongs over the winter. I have used landscape staples, but prefer to drive pegs into the ground and tie. It keeps the rose shaped as you wish, and breaks the nodes so you get more blossoms. I do it with my Autumn Damask (Quatre Saisons), and this year I intend to get some thicker leather gloves, and maybe some body armor. Wow that thing has thorns! Worth it for the fragrance though, you can smell that rose for 2 blocks when it is in full bloom.

Timely words on the suckers, my roses are all own root so I would never have thought of it.

I think I may just lay tinfoil over the whole floor in the room my garden starts and other plants are in (big window with southern exposure). I have a lemon and a lime tree coming in next week, and if a cat chews on them then I may have some new furry slippers!

NightMist