Do you trim your rose bush back? Sometimes that helps with all the dying branches.

Mine get so leggy, I have to trim them every month. Is there a way to prevent them from becoming leggy?

I wonder about this rubber mat around the roots. Seems like it would keep water out unless it is small. Probably pruning would help, but not too far back. Maybe a third. Now is a good time to prune.
Some roses bloom well into fall until a good hard frost. That is one of the great things about them. -Ais.

I wouldn't put a rubber mat around the roots either. Thick mulch should keep the weeds down.

So it gets afternoon shade? Most roses do best with sun all day.

Describe the planting hole and the soil in more detail. The dead branches are probably from canker. Some roses, if they are vigorous and healthy enough, can wall off the canker and just grow new shoots elsewhere.

Bad description of rubber mat. Actually it is one of those mats smaller than a garbage can lid and is used for around small trees. I think that it does let water through. It is brown in color and kind of looks like a Brillo Pad only rubber and much bigger fibers, kind of string like.

Alicia, I'm going to proove my ignorance on this subject, but then you probably have discovered that already. I understand what planting hole is and dead branches, but canker etc is new to me. I will find out everything you have said, and I thank you for the info.

First off, I planted the bush about 10 feet on the north east corner of the house. As I remember the top of the soil layer was brown or black dirt. Six inches or so down is hard red clay. I made the hole much bigger than the root. I put some kind of dirt or mulch in the hole and watered it well. The beetles have done a lot of harm to it. At times there were many dozens of them on it. I put rose food, with blood meal, in it on the plans. I cut the really long branches off in the late fall and cut the dead wood off.

Ais, you mentioned about blooming until the first frost. Dang, I though I had done something magical and didn't know what. I will cut it back about a third and remove the dead branches that really are coming out of the base of the plant.

So, any other tips on what I can do? I'm going to put more much or pine needles around the base and extending out a foot or so, I want to do this to keep the grass and weeds from crowding it out. thanks again. oslo

Hi oslo and welcome. I agree with ais in that one of those mat covers should probably not be surrounding your rose. For aesthetic reasons, I would try some underplanting, which will definitely discourage any weeds that decide to lay seed there.

Also, in the early spring, I would move this precious, sentimental plant to an exposure that is right for roses. That would be the absolute optimum sun you can find in your yard. In the meantime, you might want to mound up some compost around the base of the rose for winter protection.

If you decide to move the rose, you must be careful not to create a "bowl effect" when you dig your hole (or "mass grave"...good one for Halloween), that is, a bowl of potting mix surrounded by clay. This creates a drainage nightmare b/c the clay does not drain. It is better to thoroughly mix the amendments (compost, peat moss, potting soil) into the clay so your rose is sitting in a heterogeneous mix that includes the native soil.

Os, in the summer, you can dust or spray with Sevin for the JB's. IT may not be perfect, but it will help. A new spot in the yard might also help with this problem.

peace, claire in sanford

I think the mat he is talking about is one of those recycled tire mats which is made for mulching. It will let moisture through. I use the recycled tire mulch (loose) for my front beds, it always looks nice and I never have to replace it and I don't have to worry about termites. Of course it does nothing to amend the soil and it is expensive.

Thanks
JP

Thank you for all of your answers and advice. Wgafaw, I believe the mat is made from recycled tires. It does let moisture through, sorry about not being clear on that. I would have pruned it back now, but since it might bud, I will wait untill early next year. I do trim the bush back. It tends to get real long (leggy). I will consider moving the bush. It does seem to be doing well there, but I will look for another spot. I am concerned now that the hole I planted the rose in might be in a bowl, also. This clay just does not drain here, but there was a lot of good dirt spread on top years ago for the lawn. I will dig a hole along side the bush to see just how much soil there really is.

I want to thank all of you for your assistance. That last bloom that was on the plant, I gave to my wife. Ofcourse she loved it. It still is pretty. I put it in a vase and added one aspirin, I've heard that helps preserve cuttings. I'm semi retired and I plan on doing more gardening, now.

I made another post on the fig forum. That, too, is an heirloom. I haven't gotten any answers yet, so I do appreciate all the responses, here. I have some Ivy, my brother gave me. I worried about it spreading, so I'm going to cut the bottom out of a bucket and plant the ivy that way. I haven't found a location yet. I live on a .6 acre lot which has a six foot brick wall on two sides of the lot, so there might be a good spot there. There are lots of other plants here and they have never really been cared for. Everything was planted in a "hey, there's a spot over there" type planning.

again, thanks. oslo

As for identifying -- Pat Henry, of Roses Unlimited in Laurens SC has been working on acquiring stock of every ARS winner for every year since they started, back in the 50s (?), I think, precisely because she had so many requests from people trying to i.d. or replicate a mother/grandmother's rose that had been the hot rose to have back in '52, '67, whatever. She probably has pictures of them all, though I don't have a recent catalogue from R.U. Google them if you're interested.

Adding my voice to the cries to liberate your rose from the tire-mat... these mats absorb wayyyy too much heat in summer months and cook the roots of plants unless, like certain trees, they grow very deep beneath the soil surface. Mulch with fine, organic mulch -- like chopped leaves or ground pine bark (not the huge nuggets you get at the big box stores), keeping all mulch away from the root crown so as not to promote rot, and dig in some granular rose fertilizer -- Espoma is good -- during the growing months (spring to summer). If you live in lake Norman on a new home site you are probably gardening on compacted sub-soil, so I also agree with the poster who suggested moving this rose eventually, to a raised bed or site where the sub-soil has been broken up and amended with composted organic humus. Roses need: full sun, good soil, excellent drainage. Good luck.