I don't think it is really "normal" for any rose to be without any new growth, but it does happen occaisionally. I think it would be wise to give it a chance to grow next spring before doing anything drastic.

Just as an incentive: my RdR has been blooming almost non stop since spring. This is a little unusual and I attribute this to the inch of rain we have had every week since early spring. This is really unusual for us and the plants are loving it.

Eric, I have two that are about 10 years old and I'm not impressed...they get that damask-crud despite spraying, and the big problem for me is that they are the #1 JB magnet. Those bugs love their foliage and it and their blooms get eaten off before they can even flush. I think it's too much stress for them and they have been going downhill for the past 3 years. There really hasn't been the great spring blooms that they used to have.

As far as your RdR just sitting there, it's probably just growing roots....the one that is on the chopping block is prolific and is sending out suckers everywhere, so I think they're fairly hardy. Mine survived the -22F January temps without flinching.
-terry

So I am going to SP one of them this fall and replace it with something like...definitely not a rose...and hopefully something that the darn JBs won't eat, if there's such a thing.

Terry, What with the JBs and Damask crud, your RdRs probably HAVE been stressed, but those may not be the primary reasons why your 10-yr-old plants have been going downhill. It's RdR's nature to become very bloom-stingy unless periodically rejuvenated with a hard pruning. This is a tip I learned from one of Stirling Macoboy's books, & it really does make a dramatic difference. If you should decide to try this, the ideal time to cut your bushes w-a-y back would be at your regular pruning time early next season.

Eric, In my experience, RdR is not a rose that languishes for a season or two before settling in and beginning to put out new growth. It would be helpful to know the size of your RdR when you planted it. Was it a band? A larger own-root plant? Grafted? It sounds to me as tho the problem is simply poor root development. It's always likely that whatever's going on above ground with a plant is also going on below the surface. I've been able to salvage lackluster newcomers by removing them from the garden and growing them on in pots until they begin to thrive. Good luck -- & if this one doesn't survive, don't give up on RdR, it's a wonderful little rose.

Late spring frosts and rabbits really harm vigor. Chicken wire can discourage rabbits, at least.

How about a little light pruning. Everytime I have a rose not putting out new growth I trim around on it a little and it always seems to start putting out new growth and within a couple weeks or so new buds. Still a rose newbie myself but thats just what works for me. Good luck, Judy

Jax, I really pruned the dickens out of one of the RdRs last spring to the point where it had a lot of good airflow and resembled a newly-pruned HT. Then in late-summer I whacked it again halfway down to the ground because of all the JB damage. The fact remains that for some reason, the JBs are really drawn to the scent of the foliage...it's like there's an 'all-you-can-eat' sign out front.

Well, God only knows what's going on with terryjeans 'Rose de Rescht' plants . . .

For those many who love this rose and who have experienced a reduced vigor in mature plants, this is surely worth noting: Both the Quest-Ritson duo (in the American Rose Society's Encyclopedia of Roses) and Stirling Macoboy (in the Ultimate Rose Book) strongly advise regular hard pruning to revitalize 'Rose de Rescht'. It's advice that I choose to follow simply because it's been highly effective in my garden.

Hi Eric

This posting turned out to be way too long, but still here I go.

In a part of my garden I have a rose bed in a enormous concrete tub the size of several ordinary bathtubs, it also functions as a fence against the stairs at the end of the terrace. It was originally filled with pure peat and the previous owner used only plain artificial fertilizer. I have all ways had problems with this bed and for years I have amended it with composted cow-manure, sea shells, new soil and a bit of sand but no lasting improvement. Roses growing in it suffer from all kinds of nutrition deficiencies. It is rather unlikely that I ever will completely replace all the soil. However I shall in the future mix in lots of coarse sand and dry clay (powder form) especially rich in minerals. I have never had these problems with roses in real soil in the ground, at least not to this extent. This year I used the kind of fertilizer that dissolves completely in water (like sugar) with all the micro nutrients, and lots of it. (NPK 6-3-31 and every now and then some dissolved kalsium nitrate) My Rose de Resht has never been better (including all the other roses and plats). Now in August the leafs are still spotless and full of flower-buds. The year I planted these they took a very long time to grow and bloom (but they did even then in the poor soil).

I have a strong suspicion that the crud Rose de Resht gets is partly caused by lack of nutrients. I have noticed improvements with liquid fertilizer before, but I have never used it consistently all season. The weather this year have not been particularly dry or wet, lately it has rained a lot.

I am trying to grow my garden organically and have not used this type of fertilizer before or any where else. I am convinced that even when we generously add nutrients to the soil, the roses might not benefit from them. That goes for both the organic and the ordinary chemical NPK granules with micro nutrients. The 100 water soluble variety really does the best job when soil is not optimal. Some types of soil easily gets too compact and wet. When soil resistance becomes too high roots will not penetrate the soil that easily. I think scientists have concluded that most plants will not penetrate soil above 300 psi, and it gets gradually worse the closer resistance gets to this number. Only top layer of the soil stays below 300 psi, and it's not uncommon that soil has 300 psi even fairly close to the surface.

Very few writers talk about plants needs for kalsium, but it is well known that some plants need it for development of fruit (like tomato), and lots of plants store kalsium, but it's not looked upon as a nutrient, some authors even state that plants don't need kalsium. As long as ph is around a certain number that's all needed for absorption of the other nutrients. It' things like this I wonder about too.

Growing organically it looks like we have to adjust the composition of the soil very carefully and get the blend of sand, silt, clay, coarse and fine organic matter just right. At least of you want optimal results.Not to mention the micro-organisms. Perhaps it's not fair to compare organic methods with container roses grown with fertilizer intended for automatic watering in green houses, but I still want results close to that. Deficiencies in nutrients have an effect on the plant long before it shows up in the leafs, but it's often very noticeable on growth, flowering and disease resistance.

Another thing; pure fish emulsion is really not that good for newly planted roses, as it is usually very low in kalium and don't contain that much phosphorous either. If you mix liquefied seaweed perhaps with a bit of the fish emulsion and some bone-meal in the planting hole, that would get much better NPK ration, and with the known and unknown effects of all kinds of micro-nutrients. An easy option would be to get a liquid fertilizer with twice as much kalium as nitrogen and some phosphorous. Solid fertilizers of any kind can be used after the plant has flowered for the first time. For own-roots I go for liquid fertilizers the first year.

Mine sure did sleep the first year. It has made up for it ever since.

Mine slept like a stoned teen-ager. The second year it was groggy. Third year it had a hot date because suddenly it was aware, awake and alive. First year sleeps, second year creeps, third year leaps.

It was very interesting to learn of the pruning suggestions for RdR! I had completely forgotten that this spring I had given it a very hard pruning.

This spring, the bush was about 3' tall with a lot of short canes coming up vertically through the middle of the plant. Further, it was extremely twiggy with a lot of little branches very tightly intertwined. I knew it was time for a major pruning and did just that, reducing the vertical canes to 3 or 4 and getting rid of the twiggy growth completely. Right now the bush looks great, including the foliage which is remarkably clean and the shape which is rounded and full at about 3'. I still think that the rain has contributed to the constant bloom this summer.

It's funny you say this. I've had one in a pot for 2 years (I know...) I planted it a few weeks ago with some other potted roses. All the rest took off immediately. RdR just sat there. Then I saw it was putting on new growth. Today it has two blooms! Be patient, it's worth it.

Sorry I'm so late responding to this post! Thank you for all the responses. My RdR was planted as a gallon-sized, own root plant. I gave it a closer look today, it looks like it has about 4 inches of new growth on a couple of canes...promising, but nowhere near my other roses. I'm going to give it some extra water and plant tone.

Funny catsrose...my RdR must have been hanging out with Cheech and Chong.

Taoseeker...thanks for the detailed info. I'll have to try some liquid ferts in the Spring.

I'll keep in mind the pruning advice...if it ever gets that big :)

Eric

Does anyone else have any comments concerning RdR for the Ohio River Valley? I really like this rose, but wonder how it would do here. I guess cincy city gardens no longer posts here. Too bad.

Like Cath's, mine died this year. I think I got it last spring as a gallon plant. It looked small and weak, but it hung in there all summer, fall, and winter. It made a small amount of new growth this spring, then it went all brown practically overnight. Everything else around it is fine, so I have no idea what happened.

Thank you. Cath, may I ask where you garden? In another post you mention having clay, so I'm wondering if you're nearby or at least gardening in similar conditions with high BS pressure.

I am located in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio.

Cath

My Rose de Recht survives and is at least partly cane hardy in the zone 4 pocket of my yard. I think it would be hardy enough for you. Mine is pretty clean and blooming fairly well at the moment, but our zone might be dryer than yours. All in all, I'd call it a keeper but not a spectacular "wow, what is that rose" kind of a rose. I don't recall much of it in the first couple of years i had it, so maybe this original post applies to me about it being a slow starter.

Cynthia