@Nollie You have a very lovely garden, I love the slope, the low wall and all the potential that's there.
Our average first frost here is at the end of December, I think the lowest we had so far was 2 or 3°C. Some roses are almost dormant, some still have leaves and flowers but mostly damaged by winds.
I have a question regarding species roses and species hybrids. Which ones have a nice autumn colour? I feel like nobody cares about autumn foliage in roses. And I am maybe crazy but I've got to the point where I care less about big showy blooms and more about other things (foliage, sepals, interesting features, autumn colour, hips etc.).
I think that Trevor White is the only one who has a filter for autumn foliage but not every rose in their list has a photo of its autumn look. On HMF, autumn photos are also rare. Species roses are often big, good for gardens like Nollie's but not my average British stamp-sized rectangle. So what's there in smaller sizes? Smaller rugosas, smaller spinossimas, nitida, what more (if anything)?
@edhelka ...the two obvious ones that immediately spring to mind are R. virginiana and R. glauca… ..R. virginiana is one of the best for autumn foliage of any plant actually, not only roses... but as usual there is one drawback.. it's one of those excessive suckering roses that if allowed to its own devices will form a thicket... it will also layer itself if it gets the chance.. otherwise it's not a large shrub..
..R. glauca is more suited to average gardens... you could probably fit one of these in.. it's known for it's bluey foliage which turns reddish brown in autumn along with splendid hips... small pink flowers in summer....
@Nollie .. great selection of roses... can't wait to see them all perform for you...
Thank you. I love r. glauca and was thinking about getting it several weeks ago... and nowhere it was mentioned it has colourful autumn foliage. Why can't they mention it, at least, if not show it? On HMF is maybe one picture of it in autumn, I had to google examples to finally see some really nice photos.
Yes, I think I could fit it in or something similar.
This is something I've been thinking about for some time now but not really researching deeply. Should I expect some autumn colours from most or all pure-blood (no china blood) deciduous roses from originally cold European areas? European species? Gallicas and similar roses?
...no not really... these are more for the hips.... foliage tends to turn yellow and drop... Rugosas turn bright yellow......for foliage colour on mannerly plants, besides R. glauca I would be looking at something like Fothergilla Major, if your soil is acid...
...I can't think of any others offhand... did your HMF search not bring any results? my membership has lapsed so I'm not able to search for anything much...
I like to get ahead with my autumn/winter pruning, so I've already started that.. much too early but I do a few each week... this is one obelisk I've just reset for next year... there are 2 roses on it, and I won't do any more to this but check it over next March.. ...these roses are too stiff for twining or fancy twirling...
'Vanessa Bell' today... still looking good... 'Lady of Shalott' is also well foliated right now with blooms...
I looked through it now, 5 pages of results, but it seems a bit random. Some rugosas are mentioned (not many, but I quite like some pictures of Fru Dagmar Hastrup), even some gallicas (r. mundi is on the list but officinalis is not... most probably neither of them is good and some roses get that "attractive fall color foliage" and some don't). Spinosissimas. Roses not available here (out of not available roses, I quite like 'Metis', a nitida and rugosa cross... but I am not going to jump through any hoops to get it).
Anyway, it's just a bonus, not a requirement. I like plants that look good all year round but it's not always possible and I have other plants for autumn interest.
There's been a handful of frosts here, each cold enough to require a windscreen scraping.
I have several roses flowering or trying to flower, not nicely like Vanessa above but soggy and not opening. I think that might be my fault for feeding them late in summer. My roses don't start flowering, even the established ones until end of May/start of June.
Managed to get 4 out of my 5 roses planted today in big pots but couldn't find my packet of Mycorrhizal fungi so did without. Hopefully the mix of manure, J.I.3 and our own compost will be sufficient. I will need to get some MF tomorrow as I decided to plant the new yellow rose into the ground where the old one had been. Popped some small bulbs into the pots as well to give some earlier spring interest. Some of the roses were better than others with more canes but most had had their roots chopped quite short so it will be interesting to see how they perform next year, compared to my more expensive roses. I've still got some roses in flower and lots still have their leaves - we've only had one or two frosts so far. I pruned some of the taller ones and one climber a week or so ago.
Managed to get 4 out of my 5 roses planted today in big pots but couldn't find my packet of Mycorrhizal fungi so did without. Hopefully the mix of manure, J.I.3 and our own compost will be sufficient.
Sounds good! I just used garden soil mixed with whatever leftover bags I had in the shed and some multipurpose for my large pot.
It’s expensive to fill - takes at least two full bags of John Innes no3. So I decided to do it the cheaper way this year!
...can I just say for anyone reading that multi purpose compost is the world's worst for roses.... they simply won't thrive in it in the longer term.. it's ok to mix in with garden soil to lighten it, but not to use on its own... too many people get poor results from their roses in pots and you can see in their pictures they've used multi purpose...
...soil mixed with composted manure and home made compost is perfect... I admit to using a small amount of MP just to lighten the mix, whether it's soil from the garden or JI no. 2 or 3.. JI is awful heavy and thick and does need some amendments... pea gravel or chipped bark is good too...
@Lizzie27 .. no need to waste mycorrhizal on your potted roses.. save it for the garden... it's not necessary in pots at all... if soil based compost is used..
Posts
Species roses are often big, good for gardens like Nollie's but not my average British stamp-sized rectangle. So what's there in smaller sizes? Smaller rugosas, smaller spinossimas, nitida, what more (if anything)?
..R. virginiana is one of the best for autumn foliage of any plant actually, not only roses... but as usual there is one drawback.. it's one of those excessive suckering roses that if allowed to its own devices will form a thicket... it will also layer itself if it gets the chance.. otherwise it's not a large shrub..
..R. glauca is more suited to average gardens... you could probably fit one of these in.. it's known for it's bluey foliage which turns reddish brown in autumn along with splendid hips... small pink flowers in summer....
@Nollie .. great selection of roses... can't wait to see them all perform for you...
Should I expect some autumn colours from most or all pure-blood (no china blood) deciduous roses from originally cold European areas? European species? Gallicas and similar roses?
Rugosas turn bright yellow......for foliage colour on mannerly plants, besides R. glauca I would be looking at something like Fothergilla Major, if your soil is acid...
...I can't think of any others offhand... did your HMF search not bring any results? my membership has lapsed so I'm not able to search for anything much...
...these roses are too stiff for twining or fancy twirling...
'Vanessa Bell' today... still looking good... 'Lady of Shalott' is also well foliated right now with blooms...
I have several roses flowering or trying to flower, not nicely like Vanessa above but soggy and not opening. I think that might be my fault for feeding them late in summer. My roses don't start flowering, even the established ones until end of May/start of June.
I've still got some roses in flower and lots still have their leaves - we've only had one or two frosts so far. I pruned some of the taller ones and one climber a week or so ago.
It’s expensive to fill - takes at least two full bags of John Innes no3. So I decided to do it the cheaper way this year!
...soil mixed with composted manure and home made compost is perfect... I admit to using a small amount of MP just to lighten the mix, whether it's soil from the garden or JI no. 2 or 3.. JI is awful heavy and thick and does need some amendments... pea gravel or chipped bark is good too...
@Lizzie27 .. no need to waste mycorrhizal on your potted roses.. save it for the garden... it's not necessary in pots at all... if soil based compost is used..