Getting very disillusioned with David Austin roses. None if them have flowered well or been healthy this year on the other hand Trevor Whites Esme has been a star. Loads of flowers, stands up to rain and healthy. Only not as strongly scented as suggested and 3rd year in it's getting unshapely.
Guilty as charged @Lizzie27! I am too quick to judge sometimes, although I’m beginning to get a feel for what roses will do well here and what won’t now and my instincts are (mostly) borne out. When I see half a dozen equally young roses in the same bed growing vigorously and standing up better to both heat and rain... The blooms of RdeM are upright and very heavily petalled, so they kind of act like sponges to soak up the rain and can’t seem to shrug it off. The plan is, if it is still underwhelming at the end of the season, to replant it in a more sheltered location.
@poppyfield64 When we get heavy, tropical downpours here, creating hot and humid conditions, LEH does go splotchy-coloured and ball for me and in that, but she is fine in kind of normal English-style rain. Omori’s experience may be nearer the mark for you. If you like the colour, go for it, she is generally healthy, compact, floriferous and fragrant!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Bonica, a newbie, is back and blooming generously after a fairly long break:
Well this is a surprise! Kew Gardens has been very lanky and stingy-blooming over the last three seasons, but after all that rain we had in June and generally cooler conditions, it is now looking more like it should with proper clusters:
Julia Child, always present:
Munstead Wood in the pink:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I know it's not what we want to look at on here ...sorry! But how would you look after this (discounted) but sickly Claire Austin? Should I cut it back now? Leave it in its pot? Repot? Feed? Any and all advice welcome!
@rock_hen ...just a quick note.. thanks for the photos, they are a great help.. it's not too bad actually, but I will get back to you a bit later with more detailed advice, but you do have a few cultivation issues going on there that need to be addressed... nothing to worry about, but I'll explain later... just taking the dog out..
My newly potted Desdemona. I plan to get a matching pot and have Young Lycidas on the other side of the steps. Do any of you have YL? Does it have a strong scent and good blooms? How does it stand up to the rain?
ok.. this is what I would do with your Teasing Georgia... the idea is to remove the competition and improve its cultural conditions.. I hope this doesn't sound terse or too blunt and how much you do is up to you of course..
..the grass... too close.. the grass edge needs to be cut away, and kept away from your rose.. it's soaking up all moisture and probably any fertilizer too.. young roses hate being too close to border edges like that especially new potted ones as they are hard to get established.. you'll be amazed the difference it makes.. if you could cut away a chunk of it, roots and all, that is closest to the rose it would help.. at the moment it's nice lush grass but poor rose..
...the training... no point in training those canes around the obelisk like that... cut those loose, and prune them all back by half just above a bud... they will not form your main framework and will not produce many blooms as they are.. you need to encourage the rose to send up basals.. what you have there is also shading out the roots somewhat.. it's not a rose you can wrap around a support like a ball of string, so to speak..
..the clematis... these should not be planted with young roses, until the rose is confident and growing away.. not clear how close the roots are but they will strangle a rose if too close.. also keep the stems and flowers well away from the base of the rose... what we need to do is get light, moisture and available nutrients to the base and roots of your rose... it's being intimidated at the moment..
..pull up the Foxglove... replant somewhere else.. .
...prune out any stubby bits of deadwood.. roses hate having these little stumps hanging around on them.. I can see a few there..
..when that's done, I would then have a bucket of rain water handy [tap water if nothing else], with suitable amount of soluble fertilizer, and soak around the base of rose... then use a spent compost mulch...
...now that's what I would do, it's not as much as it sounds but up to you how you go about it.. when happy TG will outgrow your obelisk, it's actually a very vigorous rose .. I used to have one here.. so an alternative suggestion which you might prefer would be to remove the rose in late October and replant somewhere else in a more open site and leave the obelisk to the clematis.. best of luck, and let us know how you get on..
@Ffoxglove ..your rose either needs repotting into a larger pot or planted in the ground.. it's simply pot bound and run out of nutrients.. nothing to worry about at all but that's what needs to happen.. those 6 litres pots are only good until late June.. from then on it's all downhill unless they are repotted or planted out.. you cold remove top of compost and replace with fresh, it would help but only as a temporary stop gap..
Supposedly ready in four days but I bet in this climate it needs longer than stated on the US sites. And it’s been cold and rainy here, naturally. I’m thinking to leave it and see if it develops more...It’s supposed to have a ‘distinct barnyard smell’ but it doesn’t smell like much, though it is getting frothy.
@Nollie I'm delighted Kew Gardens is doing well for you.. I thought you might have got rid of it by now Nollie.. so that's good to know...
'Esme' looks a nice rose @K67 ..I know what you mean about DA roses... they are not for everyone, - and not always for our weather - even though they are marketed as such..
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Only not as strongly scented as suggested and 3rd year in it's getting unshapely.
@poppyfield64 When we get heavy, tropical downpours here, creating hot and humid conditions, LEH does go splotchy-coloured and ball for me and in that, but she is fine in kind of normal English-style rain. Omori’s experience may be nearer the mark for you. If you like the colour, go for it, she is generally healthy, compact, floriferous and fragrant!
Julia Child, always present:
Should I cut it back now?
Leave it in its pot? Repot? Feed?
Any and all advice welcome!
...just a quick note.. thanks for the photos, they are a great help.. it's not too bad actually, but I will get back to you a bit later with more detailed advice, but you do have a few cultivation issues going on there that need to be addressed... nothing to worry about, but I'll explain later... just taking the dog out..
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..your rose either needs repotting into a larger pot or planted in the ground.. it's simply pot bound and run out of nutrients.. nothing to worry about at all but that's what needs to happen.. those 6 litres pots are only good until late June.. from then on it's all downhill unless they are repotted or planted out.. you cold remove top of compost and replace with fresh, it would help but only as a temporary stop gap..
I'm delighted Kew Gardens is doing well for you.. I thought you might have got rid of it by now Nollie.. so that's good to know...
'Esme' looks a nice rose @K67
..I know what you mean about DA roses... they are not for everyone, - and not always for our weather - even though they are marketed as such..