Antique
(March 2014)
I have sold my house and want to take my Zephirine Drouhin and New Dawn roses with
me. I planted them just last year. They will have to stay in pots until I find a new
home. Any suggestions for a successful move would be much appreciated.
Get the largest pots you can handle and dig up a root ball and pot them up. Prune
them back enough to make moving manageable and keep them watered. If you do it now,
and the temperatures are predicted to be ridiculously low--below 25--move them to
a protected spot and don't forget to water. I would group them all together and put
them as close to the house as possible—possibly behind current shrubs if you can.
When spring comes move them into sunshine. The reason for the largest pot idea is
to be able to keep them watered until you can permanently plant. The longer they
stay in a pot in one place the quicker they will try to root through the container
to the soil below.
April 2011
We purchased a Lady Banks Rose in Louisiana last year. We kept it inside this winter
and put it back outside this spring. It is doing well but no flowers. They told us
it is not rated for our zone 7 in central Arkansas. Will it prosper if we leave it
out all year?
Lady Banks Rose (Rosa banksiae) is a wonderful thornless rose that only blooms once
a year in the spring. There are many beautiful specimens of this plant all over central
Arkansas—one of the largest near the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion. The flower color
is either a pale yellow or off white. There is little to no fragrance to the rose,
but it makes quite a statement when it is in bloom, and the plant is disease free,
with no spraying! The vines are quite vigorous so give it room to grow or a trellis
to grow on. If pruning is needed, do so after it blooms. The flowers are small but
quite numerous when in bloom. It would be much happier in the ground than inside during
the winter. Plant it in full sun to partial shade in rich soil and let it grow. Central
Arkansas would be considered its northern range of hardiness, and occasionally a late
freeze may zap it back a bit, but we haven’t seen that problem in quite a few years.
(April 2005)
I have a Lady Banks rose draped across my brick mailbox. It is about four years old
and has bloomed beautifully in the past. I have had to trim it each year - rather
severely. It is beginning to bloom now, but some of the leaves have black spots and
it does not look as full as it did in the years past. Want to know if it is alright
to fertilize now and what should I use. If not, when should it be fertilized? I live
in Monticello.
Lady Banks rose is one of those wonderful old-fashioned roses that seem to only get
better with age. I have never heard of it being plagued with disease--in particular
blackspot. Maybe you should move it to a location where you don't have to prune as
severely, and let it prosper. In Monticello, you could have an amazing bush if you
didn't prune. This thornless rose only blooms in the spring, but the larger it grows,
the more impressive its bloom season. Fertilize after bloom.
(March 2005)
We have a beautiful antique climbing rose in our yard. It is a Cecile Brunner. It
has grown to epic proportions. It is now up high into an oak tree nearby. Naturally,
it is quite lovely when it blooms. However, we were ignorant to the fact that we should
prune out the dead canes right away and have consequently let it become overgrown.
How do we prune it now? Do we cut it down to a manageable height and start over? Please
advise.
Most Cecile Brunner roses only bloom once in the spring, so enjoy your spring floral
display before you begin to reshape. Then you can take it back as far as you want
to. They can be prolific growers, and if space is not an issue, you can let them grow.
Thinning out older, woodier canes annually after flowering, will keep them more manageable.
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