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Inherited Rose - Are These Suckers?
TheChunk
Posts: 25
Hello all, newbie forum member and gardener here!
I have a rose in my garden which was here when we bought the house and had been left untended for probably at least 3 years until this Spring. It was about 8 feet tall, very straggly at the top and woody at the base. I cut it back a little earlier in the year and now have new growth as shown in the picture.
The growth on the left I think is normal however the shoots on the middle and right branches look to me like suckers, even though some are well above ground level. Any idea what's going on?
Thanks,
Alan
0
Posts
why do you think they're suckers? It looks like strong growth from way above the rootstock to me
In the sticks near Peterborough
Maybe I'm just paranoid!
The growth in question is a lot more vigorous, more thorny and has no buds compared to the other side.
Vigorous is good, the other side is a bit puny. Anything that comes off from above the graft (if there is one) is not a sucker, That looks like a stem coming from a stem about 6 inches up.
Your prune was worthwhile
In the sticks near Peterborough
Thanks for your help!
OK so having established I don't have suckers, at the current rate the new stem on the right is going to be twice as tall as the rest of the plant. Could I prune it to try and keep a better shape or is it best to just let it do it's own thing?
There's a saying in gardening that 'growth follows the knife' which means that if you cut something back you will stimulate growth, so don't prune the strong shoot back.
That looks like a climbing rose to me, so put some vine eyes and horizontal wires into that wall and train all the main shoots as near to horizontal as possible ... that will stimulate the formation of shorter side shoots which will bear the flowers.
You'll soon have a wall covered with roses
Last edited: 15 May 2017 19:01:14
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.