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Sickly David Austin rose Poets Wife

nickoslesterosnickoslesteros Posts: 178
in Problem solving
Hello all!

Planted out this from a potted rose from DA early summer. Was looking lovely and green up until about a week ago. It's gone rather dry and flaky. I'm wondering if the warm spell has caught me out as I was away for a few days (although the ground didn't seem too dry). 

Attached a few photos of its current sorry state. Do you think it's just suffering from underwatering? Salvageable?

Many thanks in advance !

Posts

  • nickoslesterosnickoslesteros Posts: 178

  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    It does look a bit dried out and crispy, plus been a buffet for munchers (looks like some sawfly and leaf hopper damage). Yes it’s salvageable! Deadhead the spent flowers, pick off all the crispy and sickly looking leaves and clear up the same around the base. Then give it a couple of large cans of water, poured slowly all around the roots. Finish off with a mulch of fresh compost (MPC is fine) to retain water. I wouldn’t give it any more fertiliser, just let it recover. It will look a bit bare for a while, but with plentiful water it will grow new leaves and hopefully some late season blooms too. 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • nickoslesterosnickoslesteros Posts: 178
    Superb. Thank you. It was all trapped in a load of massively overgrown cosmos which I cut away too (forgot to mention), so I guess that can't have helped...
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    That probably won’t have helped, I agree! Roses are pretty resilient though and do bounce back. Some of mine were very badly crisped in recent European heatwaves despite frequent watering. More by the searingly hot wind than the high temperatures. 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • nickoslesterosnickoslesteros Posts: 178
    @Nollie

    She's looking a lot healthier after some intervention!

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