I had one like that and it sent up some shoots for a few years, but eventually it died for good. As long as you dug out the main roots, it should go quietly in time.

I have two roses like that, Rugosa Alba and Jenny Duval. The Rugosa I actually want to keep but it sends out suckers many feet away and even grows out of cracks in the stone wall surrounding that bed.

The other is the Gallica Jenny Duval. I once planted it as a cutting from MG. Then I decided to move it out back with other once bloomers. Well either the next year or maybe even the following year it reappeared. I dug it out again and guess what it reappeared again this Spring in two places!

It is really a beautiful rose a mauve thing with changing colors fading to lilac. So I guess I'll keep it theres.

Roundup will do the job safely but it still can take a while to kill all the root suckers. Roundup does not transfer from the soil into a plant's roots or from one plant into a neighboring plant. You'd have to spray the leaves of the hibiscus directly to do any harm and usually you can avoid that by using a cardboard shield. After you spray the rose suckers, leave them alone to allow the herbicide to move down and finish off the roots.

Hi Mike,
This is on the same subject, so I hope butterflymaiden doesn't mind if I butt in with my question. I also want to remove a purple pavement rose (to give to a friend with LOTS of land at the cottage!) and the suckers are everywhere. However, it has popped up practically in the middle of a clematis plant, so would the round-up harm the clematis if the sucker is right against it? Thanks,
Judith

Hi Judith, I spent a lot of time this summer getting rid of a fall anemone that had grown for years in a crowded perennial bed and had rooted all over the place. I'll bet I had to get rid of a hundred different suckers. When the suckers emerged right next to or even in the middle of another plant, rather than trying to spray I applied Roundup with a small paintbrush to the anemone leaves. Worked fine. I should add that I wouldn't recommend using roundup routinely in a rose bed, but I make exceptions for special problems.

If your Hibiscus stems have any green to them the application of Roundup may kill the stems. That's one of the big downsides of Roundup. Most plants are immune to it unless the spray drifts onto leaves, but any plant with even a slightly green stem (such as Albizia [aka "Mimosa">) will lose the stem above where Roundup spray has drifted onto the stem, even if the drift is only 1" above the ground.

Thanks a lot, Mike. I will give it a shot with the paint brush. Now all I have to do is convince my neighbour, who has ended up with a few suckers in his yard, to do it too, or at least, let me at them! Much as I love this rose, it has turned out to be a nightmare in my small, densely planted garden. Luckily, I have a few beautiful potted Austins just waiting to take over that spot!
Judith

If you don't mind the temporary ugliness of it, here is one method I use to apply roundoup to a specific plant in a crowded bed. Take a clear plastic bag - so you can see what you are doing. Put the plastic bag over the intended victim plant. Place the spray head of your roundup spray in the plastic bag, but the spray handle outside. Seal the opening of the plastic bag around the spray head (to prevent spray mist from escaping and landing on other plants) and spray. Keep the seal tight for a minute or two, then carefully remove the spray head from the plastic bag while keeping the seal as tight as you can. Once the spray head is free, use a string to keep the plastic bag closed. When the plant is dead, trim it off and remove the dead plant with the plastic bag still attached - do not remove the plastic bag until you are a clear distance from the other plants. This is important, as, invariably, the inside of the plastic bag and the plant inside it will be wet and moist with condensation. And the condensation will be contaminated with round-up. If you try and remove the plastic bag with the plant in situ in the midst of the other plants, there is a high risk that you will inadvertently get roundup on them as well.

The no spray method: If the runners are long and flexible enough, you can make fresh cuts at the tips and dip the cut ends into a gallon milk jug that is filled with 50% concentrated Round Up & 50% water. Make sure the runners are fully submerged and leave them submerged for a week or longer until you see the dead and drying up top parts. Use 4 bricks around the jug to keep it anchor in place, and try not to water near that bush. Once in the Round Up solution, the runners will continuously pass Round Up throughout the plant and all roots and youÂll have a dead bush soon. DonÂt use 100% concentrated Round Up as it can be difficult to take up the thick liquid and passed through the plant vascular system.

Where you can not spray in close space, this method works great for vines and weedy plants that have extensive root system.

Is there a consensus that Roundup doesn't hurt if a dab gets on brown, barky stems, as opposed to green stems?

Oxalis growing around the crown of roses drives me nuts. There is no way to remove the bulbils.

Michael, I think so. Outer barks are dead cells and so serve mainly as protection. Green stems and leaves have live cells, which can absorb liquid (Round Up) through their membrane and pass it within the plant.

Thanks for all the great ideas. In my case, since the clematis stems are all brown, barky ones right now, there should be no problem.
Judith

Judith, from experience you may have to apply the Round Up more than once.

Carla

Hi Carla,
Yeah, I wasn't expecting miracles the first time, since I've already had a three year battle with a trumpet vine. Nothing could be worse than that thing. I'm pretty sure it's gone now.....
Judith

Thanks everyone for the tips on getting rid of the rose bush. I'll get some round up and some cardboard sometime this week and give it a go.

I wish I could get my hands on the person who planted morning glory in this garden!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't trace it and it gets tangled in roses so no spraying.

Carla

Heh. Michael, if you can remove oxalis from inside your roses with Roundup and not kill the roses, you should be cutting diamonds instead of growing roses.

I don't know who you people are, who can use Roundup and not kill or maim something you're trying to save. Every time I touch the stuff there's a mishap. The only thing I can safely spray is poison oak acres away from everything else. Anything else, and it doesn't matter whether I use a tiny paint brush or a sprayer with a cup over the nozzle to direct the overspray, the brush falls on a plant, the dogs knock over the tank, the solution splashes on my goggles, the cup drips, something bad happens. I get the message. I'm doomed.

I doubt I have the nerve to paint the oxalis among the rose stumps. I'll probably continue my dimwitted practice of pulling off the leaves with bare hands and fertilizing the bulbs with blood.

However, I have been Rounduping the dirt/gravel paths a foot from rose foliage, twice a season for a long time, with no mishaps so far.

Berndoodle, I AM a bit of a klutz, and just thinking about what could go wrong, seems to make it happen! When I try anything that requires precision, I suddenly get the shakes. But, I will try and be extra careful:)
Judith