Eli,

Indeed, yes. I see it year after year in my roses. Some varieties have wider swings, good year to bad year, than others. Mature bushes often ever so slowly and subtly, decline year by year.

I also find miniature roses particularly, to have very wide swings from year to year, often growing half as big in the year following a boom year.

I also think location is a big contributing factor. Roses growing under idylic conditions may perform the same every year. Those growing under: severe winter conditions, heavy disease and insect pressure, poor care, etc., cannot maintain robust growth every year.

Moses

Had to cut alot of our roses way way back this year...yup every years different I agree...

oldrosarian - oh my sweet goodness!!! What a shame to go from that glorious frothy concoction to that brown toasted marshmallow goo. Awwwww :(

Carol

Just to clarify, what I'm noticing seems to be independent of location, environment, care, etc. Of course, some years all of them suffer from some detrimental situation like a harsh winter, late freeze, insect or fungal problem, etc, and some years they all get ideal growing conditions, but what I'm seeing is a specific plant go good year, bad year, good year, bad year., while the same variety planted just feet away is doing the same thing but on opposite years.

ebharvey1 - I've never noticed that....but I doubt I would remember how they did the year before. Interesting idea!

CCarol

EB,

Thanks for the clarification on your question.

It seems to me that the varieties of roses that progress past the initial big splash they made when first introduced to the public, to become universally recognized great roses, perform at the same high level, year after year. They have no good year/bad year cycle, which is probably strongly rooted in their good genes.

Those roses that fade into oblivion through the course of their existence, at least in part can blame their good year/bad year pattern of performance for their fall from popularity.

Two roses that illustrate this phenomenon very plainly are my minis, Jilly Jewel and Winter Magic. They are mature bushes, 5+ years old. Last year they produced great spring flushes, and each produced basal canes that a big rose (hybrid tea, for example), would envy. This year, their performance is OK, half hearted, and no basals at all so far. This boom/bust cycle is very typical for these two.

Moses

I'm with Moses on this one - my weak performers seem to have a pattern of "good year, bad year, gone" as gradual decline from harsh winters seem to set in. Many roses will survive reluctantly one winter just to disappear after another one. I don't think any roses have the breeding for on/off regular cycles like you say apple trees do, it's just that if they take a hit one year from a winter they may spend all the next summer regrowing cane and only bloom the following year (assuming those new canes survive the winter). Even the same rose variety may be under different wind or microclimate conditions that can contribute to bloom cycle patterns.

I've pruned back a few of my once-bloomers to the ground after their spring bloom experimentally to see how they respond since occasionally I can spur a second small bloom cycle in the fall that way. Most of them seem to respond to this with an "on/off" cycle year to recover their canes, so that might account for a pattern like this for people who prune their roses back severely in the fall.

What I have noticed however is that my longest-lived roses, like a number of big shrubs in my yard, seem to hit an 8-10 year renewal period where they lose all their canes one year to regrow from the base. This is not just unproductive canes dying out, since I prune those pretty faithfully, but a starting over from scratch. I've watched this with mature kerria, elderberry, and totally hardy lilac bushes (10 year old towering plants) all of which dramatically lose every branch and start over again. I'm starting to see that in roses too if they last 10 years. My Darlow's Enigma has about half the canes dead this year and it sure isn't from lack of hardiness. I'm expecting to lose the other half of his canes after this winter, but I'm not worried about his survival or return to bloom, but there will obviously be a slack year or so as he recovers canes.

Cynthia

Interesting that roses are related to apples. I've always thought they were in the same family as tomatoes. But, yes, during the years we had a vegetable garden, I absolutely did notice the every other year bounty or lack thereof, and these were not perennial plants, but veggies planted from seed every year. We did rotate crops. My guess is that after a productive year with lots of growth and bloom, the soil needs to be replenished more heavily than after a puny growth/bloom year.