That pretty much covers it. Weak scent combined with poor rebloom. More diseased than the majority of the other roses. When I have a really nice rose waiting in the pot ghetto for a spot in the garden. I am actually replacing a few roses that have nothing wrong other than a lack of scent compared to some potential potted roses.

Lance

I too am way too sentimental. I personify them, I'm like "The rose didn't ask to be brought home by me, it didn't do anything wrong." I know...I need help.

Of course, I would SP if it's dead or horribly diseased.

Eric

LOL--Eric, if you need help, so do I. That's not normal thinking for a rose freak?

I need some toughening up. I mean, I'm trying to create a garden here, it's trial and error, a work in continuous progress, it's for the greater good, blah, blah, blah.

They're like pets to me--how's that for sick. ;)

Poor performance for a few seasons in a row or a history of disease will do it for me.
Some are not as fragrant as I'd like but they can stay if they bloom and look good.

I show roses. If a rose doesn't put out quality blooms, or can't win a blue ribbon at the fair, it gets shoveled. I give a rose three years to produce.

Dead. That's about it. But then, I have some dead ones still taking up room in pots...

I do have a big hulking Moonstone that must come out this year, I am sick of it. Great plant, horrible (not show quality) blooms.

I think Chuck Billie says it for me.
I WILL give a rose at least 3 years -- perhaps more.
Some roses gain disease-resistance, for instance, with maturity.

But eventually, if it has constant disease issues, or doesn't bloom much, or the color distresses me, I'll dump it.
There are more roses in the world than I have years remaining to enjoy them.

Jeri

Roses that just don't do it for me - not as fragrant as I thought, not as pretty as I thought - those don't get SP'd, they get potted and given away. I figure that there's really nothing wrong with them, so why throw them away when someone else might love them (esp. free!) and I've never had an orphan nobody wanted, LOL.

Roses that have a real problem - severe winter die back that has compromised the regrowth of the rose and even given extra TLC they are slow to come around (which IME usually means they're in a decline and there never really will be a recovery for them) - roses that have severe disease problems that can't be overcome by my (however erratic) spray schedule and that show decline due to said disease - roses that given 3 or more years of good care, good real estate and possibly even a change of location beyond that which still aren't able to put out any respectable amount of growth or bloom (i.e., the "bad" specimen) - these are the roses that I consider candidates for shovel pruning - and they go into the compost or on the burn pile.

i don't ever sp. i've got plenty of space here. i've still got dead hydrangeas from last year that are just straw colored sticks. I figure they might just be dormant for awhile. I found a little bitty rose growing in the grass and fertilized and watered it, mowed it twice last year by accident, now it is looking as good as some of the bands i planted last spring. I just hope it isn't a wild mf.lol

Since this is only my third year, I really haven't SP'ed any of them. What I have done though with those that didn't do it for me is give them to my friends (with tons of instructions).

---
Wendy

Every rose in my garden gets equal treatment-- water, feed, mulch, banana peels, beetles picked off, aphids hosed off, spider mites water-blasted. I have a waiting list-- there are lots of roses out there that would LOVE a space in my garden. I don't keep my mistakes. Since I'm so careful about my suppliers I don't have a problem with bad plants--just bad decisions. I'm happy to give a rose 3 years in my garden but after that they need to earn their place. My garden is very, very small--which can be a GOOD thing.

Dan - since I live so close to you, you can pass your SP'd roses down to me. I'll gladly take 'em. I don't show, so they can come live with me in Tremont.
-t

Dang you guys are brutal!! I guess when I have been growing roses as long as some of you I might consider shovel pruning but if it has even one little green cane its a keeper. I say that now. I will let ya know in a few years if thats still working for me. Ha!!

I only SP if it's dead, and even then, it has to be "dead" for 2 seasons! I've had roses that "died" one summer come back the next, so I'm not too quick with the shovel! I have a "good" rose garden, and a garden for the poor performers..because I just can't bear to kill a rose that's trying to live! Even my "poor" rose garden is pretty enough, and I don't regret keeping them..once an addict...LOL...Donna

• Boring

• Too Tall

• small blooms

• Blackspot

• Mildew

• non-vigorous

• octopus

• wrong color

• high maintenance

• winter kill

• slow rebloom

Dead for at least for a year. But I have plenty of space. An older couple owned this house for 25 years and she was quite a gardener. It was bought by a young couple and they replaced all the gardens with sod. They had the property for three years. My first summer I found three peonies and two roses coming up through the grass. So I have to be very sure dead is dead. Also, I believe every rose has a right to be loved, regardless of maintenance, size, fragrance, beauty....

Life's too short to grow bad roses.

Jeri

None of mine gets shovel pruned unless its completly dead.Ones that only has one tiny cane thats alive gets dug up and put in a pot to see if it will put out a nother cane and grow..I thought one was dead a couple weeks ago and I dug it up,then after that,I seen on the back side of the cane it was green and not black like theo ther half was,so I potted it up,and now it has 3 good canes that putting out leaves..

Jean

When they cease to make me smile. Just too many roses waiting for a home to let an under achiever linger. I have a spade especially designed for shovel pruning.

I used to be one of those wussey weinies who never pulled the trigger. This year I became Jack The Ripper! Rip 'em out of the ground, slash, chop and into the trash can they go.

My objective: lessen my workload, create space to move and work.

Besides the five that hit the can, I transplanted 8 more. 15 if you count the Rotesmeer suckers.

All of my potted roses are in the ground. Its up to mother nature to take care of them now.

A rose has to die to get dug up here. We still have Climbing Queen Elizabeth (planted in 1996) out there. She had a few blooms in 2000 after a very mild winter. I don't protect some, like Dream (Nightmare) Yellow in hopes of being able to dig them up. They won't cooperate. Since 1998... we have lost one rose and it was one I had hoped would make it.

Harry, Read your reply to Deb. You are definitely in the deep stuff now.... "I'll show him wussy...." LMAO

First I give all my roses a three year grace period, because most are own root and it takes them that long to mature. However, after three years it is Katie Bar the Door. I LOVE to shovel prune! The two biggest offenders are lack of fragrance (the kiss of rosy death) and lack of vigor, but frankly I'll kill any rose that fails to please me. Sometimes I don't like the color, or the growth habit is a bit "off" or the black spot resistance is extremely poor. These are all good reasons for an execution.

Harry, I was hesitant also in the beginning but after the first it became easier. I've now SP'd so many it's almost as easy as pulling weeds.
Hamp

Thanks guys--I feel totally empowered to be a rose killer now!

No matter how murderous I get, I know I'll never be as cold hearted as Molineaux--brings great comfort as I raise that shovel. tee hee... ;)

I would SP when the rose is named 'Blaze' or happens to be one of my husbands two Perfect Moment roses due to lack of performance. Unfortunately he refuses to give up on any of them so we continue on!

Kate

Roses are there to give you pleasure; why else would you have them? If they fail to do that, for whatever reason, after you've given them a fair chance to perform, why punish yourself by keeping them around? To me they're part of the landscape and if they don't beautify the landscape in my eyes then I know I won't be happy until they've been removed. Fortunately that hasn't happened very often, but the few times it has I've never regretted my decision to remove those roses. Life is too short, I think.

Ingrid

Ingrid has absolutely hit the nail on the proverbial head. No pleasure for the pain, delete the pain and see if that gives you pleasure. Sometimes the most pleasure I get from a rose is "deleting" it.

Life is too short to worry about every rose being the perfect bloom machine. Sorry folks. I usually just laugh at people posting 'life is too short' as justification to dig up a rose. We plant a rose and accept what it gives us. I don't expect all to be perfect. I certainly am not going to worry that it isn't going to be a bloom factory the first few years. I admit the worst of our roses would be considered bloom machines by some. The only pain they cause is when I get get snagged by thorns.
We like the differences in roses. I especially like the ones I figure will never do much and then they explode into fabulous roses.
By all means, get rid of a rose if you don't like it. It is your garden. My view is that life is too short to worry about how a rose does. Should it be life is long enough to not worry about how a rose does? I find all our roses interesting... even the ones I am not fond of. Jack Frost would have been gone long ago if Deb didn't like him. I enjoy watching how he does each year. OK, I'll shut up. I just flat don't understand the life is too short thing.

I have no reservations about SPing a rose that doesn't please me aesthetically or is high maintenance. I have space issues so I have to be a little choosier than some when it comes to giving a particular rose precious space in my garden. :-\

I know Dave, but in my case I exhibit and Moonstone has been a constant disappointment for me. It takes up so much space and not come through ever, it just has to go. I could put in PJPII or a nice shrub of a couple of minis and have more success. Usually I'm a BIG OLD SP wussie weenie (see Pristene, Cliche and Andrea Stelzer), but I might have to get really hardnosed this year.

tenor peggy, that's my challenge, too. I have little more than a postage stamp lot, so have to be choosy about prime rose real estate. I think that has a lot to do with decisions to SP. Some have ample room to work with and can wait out a rose that's a little slow to start. I know it takes 3 years for a rose to come into it's own, but if not a producer after that, it's SP time.

So many roses, so little time--and space. Life IS too short in that regard, IMO. :)

By the way DiggerDave, your gardens are just incredibly lovely. Can't wait to see it when everything flushes. You and Deb definitely have the rose touch!

Murderers.... I guess I've never SP'd any unless they were dead. Being in a colder zone, I am just soo happy that they survived the winter, that they are allowed to live... and the fact that we have so few to chose from that are hardy enough for us.

When they mature into what appears to be a stiff, awkward looking, ungardenworthy plant. Example: Outta the Blue (even though it smelled fantastic). Plants in the garden should look natural and have a form that is flowing and easy on the eye, regardless of their bloom. But basically, what Hamp said ... "when they cease to make me smile"

Randy

bloomorelse, I like your forum name. And you are right, we are murderers, lol. Too funny.

Randy

Diane, I'm not saying anyone should not dig up a rose they don't care for. Deb likes to keep a rose once it is planted. A lot of that has to do with what Joan mentioned. We are pleased if a rose survives winter. The ones Deb wants to keep and I'm not fond of.... I find life isn't too short to keep and enjoy them. Keep in mind that I am a dinosaur and should have been extinct a long time ago. It is even worse at work. Some would like to help send me into extinction :)

dmg, thank you :) It will be a while before we have blooms. It may be the best year ever.

LOL Joan, put me on the jury. I'll vote to convict :) We like your user name too.