hydrangea/rose emergency

alexander.wade · June 2022

Hello,

I have only just started having a garden after renting flats and wanted to make it a lovely relaxing place full of wildlife. I built some decking and planters in one planter I put a hydrangea and it looked lovely for about a week or two however now having returned from holiday it looks awful! I have attached a picture can anyone diagnose the issue(4th picture)

The rose bushes were also recently planted(3/4 weeks) and at first everything was going well the roses came out lovely after a week however just before we went away they appeared to be dying off and the attached pictures is what I returned to! The planter the roses is in is half filled with bark then mostly shop bought top soil with a layer of compost, is that sufficient?

finally the hedge that was put in by the builders also appears to have dies off! Two weeks ago it had lovely pink blossom however it now appears to have died. I have noticed that this is the same across the estate, is this just the type of hedge that was planted? The plans didn’t mention what kind of hedge it is so I cannot give more details than the picture attached(last pic)

any help/ advise would be amazing!

dappledshade · June 2022

Have they had enough water when you were away?

First thing’s first: roses don’t massively like being surrounded by bark chips, particularly around their main stems.
They like soil that is rich and full of well rotted plant matter (manure / compost mixes are great for them) and they like a good pelleted feed or some new manure dug in around the top layer, in spring.
They are drought hardy plants but only when in the ground and established. Pot grown specimens cannot develop a long enough tap root to ever be truly drought tolerant, so you’ll need to keep up with a good weekly soak (make sure you see the water flowing out of the bottom of the pot). Better to soak once or twice weekly (depending on the weather) rather than giving a little sprinkle every day, as this won’t encourage strong roots.
To be honest, I don’t think it looks bad at all, it just looks thirsty and dry. Plus the old blooms have faded and need removing.
Ditto the hydrangea.
Do you know which rose you have?
It doesn’t seem to be in a particularly large pot, so may need repotting in the next year or so.
Hydrangeas can get very large and that planter again looks rather small.
Cant comment on the hedge, as I can’t see the image well on my iPad, but again it seems that the flowers have faded back but the leaves seem ok, although again it could just need a very good soaking.
Unless it pours with rain, for several hours, light rain or drizzle won’t get in under potted plants to give them enough water. You have only just planted this lot before going away, so it sounds very much like they are just extremely thirsty.
good luck!

JennyJ · June 2022

I agree, not enough water, particularly if you've had the hot weather and wind that we've had here, is most likely the problem. The container that's half full with bark probably drains too quickly as well. A good soil-based (John Innes type) compost with added well-rotted manure would be better for the roses.

alexander.wade · June 2022

Hello thank you both for the repairs I’ve attached a picture of the planter with the roses in and shown where the bark level is etc do I need to change this? How would I go about it? The hydrangeas really look most sorry for themselves do I need to remove the dead flowers? How would I do that? Would this also need doing with the roses?

the below picture shows what the planter made up of. Red section is bark, blue is top soil and green compost. The ‘root ball’ of the roses sits just above the bark layer.

Obelixx · June 2022

Bark is a good mulch to retain moisture and reduce weeds but is not a good growing medium as it is so low in nutrients and will drain well too. that means there's nothing for your rose roots to get hold of as they search deep to anchor, feed and moisten the plant above soil.

I would leave it for now but work in some blood, fish and bone to the top layer and mix it up with the soil layer. Keep each plant well watered - 15 litre buckets at a time, once or twice a week depending on heat and rainfall. Snip off all the old blooms going back to a leaf node.

In late autumn, when the plants are going dormant, you can dig them all out carefully and wrap in damp newspaper, hessian and then old compost bags while you sort out your soil. You'll need to excavate as much soil as you can and then the bark layer. Keep the bark for a top mulch and return the soil and more soil and compost to all but the top 3 or 4 inches of your planters.

Re-plant the roses, water in and top dress with bark mulch. You can prune the roses at this point to shorten them but leave a good bit on in case heavy winter frosts freeze the tips. Then in spring you can do the traditional pruning back to low, outward facing buds and give them a good handful each of slow release rose or tomato fertiliser.

I don't know the other two but Sceptr'd Isle is a beautiful, vigorous and well-scented rose when grown well.

As for the hydrangea, snip off those flower heads just above a leaf node and water, water, water. If you've got the same layering in that bed you'll need to fix that too as hydrangeas like to send their roots down deep in their search for water and nutrients.

alexander.wade · June 2022

Thank you all for the advise, I have cut back the roses and hydrangeas and on further inspection there is actually quite a few buds ready to come out on the rose bushes. I will make a note to get the bark out at the end of autumn and hopefully this will resolve any issues in the future!

My other planter is doing much better! Picture attached, the lupinus is a bit questionable granted! One stalk appears to have new buds at the bottom, dead in the middle and flowing at the top!

Alfie_ · June 2022

Never grown hydrangeas in pots but have grown roses in pots. I have some news ones this year like you and some more established. Most of this advice was given to me by my local rose breeder.

> pot must be quite large - at least 35-40cm diameter. I would go for terracotta if you can as they are breathable and won’t put as much stress on the roots on hot days.
> First off make sure you have drainage holes at the base of your pot.
> add a medium to help drainage - I used broken up bits of polystyrene board for this years new roses as I had some to hand. You can also get drainage beads, gravel, broken bits of terracotta etc
> for the soil I get a good soil in a wheel barrow and match it so the same amount of well rotted horse manure and mix well together with a few handfuls of slow release rose fertiliser.
> when you plant it make sure the rose crown is above the soil.
> I add a thin layer of bark on the very top to retain moisture and suppress weeds.

> once the season starts I do a liquid feed once per fortnight - I now use a high potassium feed but used to use liquid rose feed but found that to have too much nitrogen. I get much better blooms of the fertiliser I am using this year which is 12-12-36 ratio.

> in terms of slow release fertiliser I add that twice per season and gently work it into the top layer of soil ensuring it gets well under the thin layer of bark on top.

> regularly watering is essential. Check the moisture levels of the soil by sticking your finger into the soil until you get the hang of knowing when it needs watering bit with potted roses this can be as much as twice per day in the summer.

> make sure you keep on top of dead heading too especially if you have repeat flowering varieties.

This is the regime I use. I purchased three roses about a month ago purely for potting and they are doing very well. I attach a picture of one I got at barely 30cm tall in a 3L pot with no flowers and now it is pushing 1.2m with perfect blooms following the above. This one is in a 38cm diameter terracotta pot. Good luck with your potted roses - I’m so glad I started growing roses in pots and I’m sure you will too.

alexander.wade · June 2022

Thanks for the reply's so far, just a quick update. Pretty certain that the roses are all alive! Two of them have lots of buds and the other rose that flowers. The issue is that when the roses bloom they only seem to stay for a couple of days and they seem weak. The petals all fall off at the smallest touch! Any ideas what could cause that?

hydrangea/rose emergency

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