Thriving on Neglect

Wednesday, Nov. 03, 2004 – 7:11 p.m.

2004-11-03 7:11

Well, I haven’t posted for a while… because I really haven’t done much with my roses for a while. This past weekend I went out and took a look at them. To be honest, they look better than they did in the middle of the summer. Oh sure, they have black spot but almost every bush (except the spring only bloomers) has multiple blossoms in some state (bud, open, or dead-and-gone). Peace has nice big blossoms and Mr Lincoln has several nice canes that are now over my head. Queen Elizabeth has more blooms than any other time this season and the tea roses (Madame Berkley and Francis Dubriel) have more blossoms at once than they ever had. Ok, not every bush in bloom… Artistry, Dolly Parton, and Suffolk have not blooms at present. Unfortunately it looks like the Autumn Damask has NOT thrived by my neglect. It has no leaves at present and I suspect that it may not recover. [sigh]

I suppose that cooler weather is a factor in the success over the last couple of weeks but it is also possible that I have been over-watering. The hoses have been configured on auto schedule to water via soaker hose on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays for about 45 minutes a session. Hmmm… I will have to think about that. Given how nice they look now, maybe I should have enter some in the State Fair week before last.

Since it is now November (even if it was 80 degrees yesterday and it is 75 today), I have stopped deadheading so that the bushes will stop thinking they need to produce blooms and start to shutdown for the winter. I should go spray with fungicide though. Maybe I can get out there early in the morning one of these days.

Planning for next year

Now that the weather is cooling off, it is getting to be time to start planning what I want to change for next year. Last year’s plans got put on hold because of the hand injury. One thing that should happen is that come January or Feburary, the 13 bushes that I have been holding for Muir should go to their permenent home at her house. That will free up much of the newest bed and allow me to rearrange things. Many of the roses I got at Roses Unlimited and Sherando Roses last spring will need to be put in permanent locations. Most of them I just put in the ground in their existing pots so I will need to dig them up, remove the plastic pot, and put them where I want them. Pretty soone now the rose catalogs will start showing up as well.

Enough for now…