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roses
rosemummy
Posts: 2,010
did anyone see the episode of british gardenn revival where Rachel dt went to Mottisfont and the head gardener showed how to bend over a shootof a rose and peg it in rather than prune? I've pruned most of my roses but am going to try it with a couple I haven't
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I believe this is what they do with the roses at Sissinghurst with climbing and shrub roses. They look very intricate but the resulting flower displays are superb. As I understand it by bending the stems over it tricks the rose into producing more growth and the results are spectacular displays of flowers. id like to try it myself but m not sure wether you need a special type of rose
I've done it before, but by tying small weights to the ends of the stems ( like xmas tree decs style) Obviously you need to judge the weight for the stem. Too heavy and it will snap, but if you get just enough to make the top bend away from vertical I found it works to encourage side shoots.
Its the same principle as espalier (or other trained forms of) fruit trees. Bending or layering the shoots encourages side shoots and bud break for extra flowers & fruit (depending on plant)
apical dominance is what we're dealing with.
Thanks for posting this Rosemummy!
I planted a rose (DA - Wollerton Old Hall) about 4 years ago and love the flower and scent. It is currently described as a climber - but I originally bought it thinking it would be a bushy shrub rose (Maybe it was originally marketed incorrectly or maybe I just didn't read the description properly
- who knows?).
Last year it was all a bit out of control and messy looking - lots of soft stem growth - so my plan for this year was to cut it back start training it up a structure.
But I think this pegging method of growing will produce the shrub rose effect I was originally looking for and keep the rose under control
If it doesn't I can always go back to using it as a climber next year.
Great idea.
It's the way Xa Tollemache grows the roses at Helmingham Hall
http://www.helmingham.com/rose-supports/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
the chap from Mottisfont said works best on bourbon and hybrid perpetuals, I don't have any of these,my Ispahan (from Aldi, £.99, unbelievable bargain, full of flowers last year, 5 ft tall and very bushy) is a damask, I though I'd try that andmy Compte de Chambord which is a portland and next year ( I already pruned it this year) Alan Titchmarsh, (which has been a very disappointing shape so far wit one very strong leading shhot and all the flowers facing the soil) I'll try next year, I'll let you know how it goes!
ooh talking of roses, slight departure but I took a few rose cutting last year, some are now a year old, I've potted on which had been sharing a pot with a clematis ( just bunged it in when I pruned), it had a few roots and now it looks happy in it's new pot, how long should I be leaving them before I disturb them? I can't really fit any more roses in ( er... apart from the Rosa Mundi I bought yesterday from brilliant local rose nursery...
)
On the topic of weights, Years ago on the Victorian Garden programme after showing the traditional methods Peter Thoday showed these weighted pegs (like Giant Clothes pegs with a weight in them) for bending down shoots. I have never seen these anywhere but they would be a quick & easy way of bending down any suitable shoots. If anyone knows where you can get some I would be interested as we want to train some young Acers into more interesting shapes & I don't fancy wiring them up like Bonsai.
This is very easy to do with 'Ispahan' rose mentioned earlier, amongst many others with long flexibly wavy shoots..
Hammer into the ground at an appropriate point, a 6 inch [150mm] green corrosion resistant exterior nail. I get mine from Screwfix or similar...
Tie some green string to the top of the nail and bend down the lowest cane so that it is just a little above horizontal [not below]... and tie it to the nail.. tie the next tier to this cane and so on, making sure the canes do not dip below horizontal. Do this each side of the rose so you end up with a kind of fan shape. All the string will be hidden by foliage as the season progresses and the lowest string can be hidden with an annual..
You'll be amazed at the difference this makes...
Last edited: 26 February 2017 10:51:26