last pic.. is there significant shade to the left.. so that the plant is growing away from the shade.. to the brighter side. .. ????? ... oh.. or is that just the result of your binding???

i hope all that plastic is to kill weeds.. AND WILL BE REMOVED BEFORE YOU MULCH ...oops ... most weed seed is wind borne.. so minutes after you put down plastic.. weeds are deeding on top ... and then root thru it making removal of either very hard

it also interferes with water movement into and out of the soil..

as well as air movement ...

i cant understand the first pic...

ken

Thank you both for your responses. I’ll just remove the poles and let it grow on its own. The stems look like they’re all leaning to the right in the picture- some of them are, but there’s two in the other direction so despite shade being an issue it gets at least 6 hour of full sun on clear days. There are some tall trees behind my roses that have been badly damaged and will be cut anyway; hopefully that will help them get more even sunlight. As for the weed fabric, well, my garden has been in a state of chaos and it needs a lot of work. Haven’t laid down any mulch, this is to temporarily keep the weeds from overtaking the bed which they have done before. Is mulching on weed fabric that bad?!

Update: I was in for a shock yesterday. I was watering my roses when I noticed that my “Gold Struck” bush is not producing yellow buds…but pink! After some research I found out that if a grafted rose ends up dying over the winter, the second graft, which is supposed to remain underground and is better suited for establishing the root system, begins to grow branches above the ground. This would explain the spindly stems and strange leaves! Now for my question…Gold Struck has parentage from the St. Patrick and Centennial roses, the latter of which is pink. Does this mean the rose currently growing is Centennial or is the parentage not the same as the two varieties grafted?? And more importantly, should I let it be or pull it out? I don’t mind having a pink rose but I’m scared of having weak stems and structure…

What you are seeing is most likely the rootstock and if producing pink buds, either Fortuniana or Manetti. It has nothing to do with the topgrafted, Gold Struck portion. Rootstock will often produce very vigorous growth, even with roses that have not been killed back by winter cold. If they appear on a viable rose bush, they will quickly take over and should be removed ASAP. If the topgraft has died off the there is little need to remove and you can grow on as you wish.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) Rootstock is the word I was looking for! That makes a lot of sense. The topgraft has certainly died off, so I guess I’ll keep it. Won’t be as nice as Gold Struck but oh well! Can always plant a different yellow rose. Thank you so much.

Be sure to post a pic once it blooms, and folks can tell you which understock it is!

Update: the rootstock is actually Dr. Huey! I contacted the rose breeder and confirmed it. Classic red blooms with rambling stems. Unfortunately I will likely have it removed because it is crowding my other roses and I don’t want a sucker to take over!

Unfortunately I will likely have it removed because it is crowding my other roses and I don’t want a sucker to take over!

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im glad you came to this conclusion without me having to write you a tome on why you need to do it...

just do it..

ken

btw: welcome to the forums.. include your big city location in every post.. or add it to your name line.. it sounds like you crept into t z5 winter... and it might behoove you to add some winter protection in late fall ... especially on your more foo foo roses ... in my ground freeze MI area.. i had a hard time growing ANY yellow hybrid T roses.. and getting them to winter over... i just presumed it was the fact that they were bred so far out from the common stick.. that they were inherently weak.. or what i called.. foo foo... i just quit wasting money on them ... buying rose plants as annuals got expensive real fast.. lol ...

@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 Ken, thank you so much for the insight. Certainly gets quite expensive, especially when we’re talking about only a few months blooming time! Now it’s time to find a replacement, I’ll write up another post for that lol…