New Rose

Guernsey Donkey2

I received and planted my new David Austin rambling rose today.  I was a little concerned to see two of the stems had black on them - are they dead? Will the plant still thrive? Should I prune below the black marks? There are some new buds just visible on some of the stems.

nultyphilip224

@Guernsey Donkey2,..i would cut off the black parts just to be on the save side,..find the nearest bud below the black area and cut above it,..not close to it,..as the area above the bud will die back to the bud,..your rose bush will not be affected in its growing at all by doing this cut as now is the time for new growth on rose bushes.

Guernsey Donkey2

Thank you nultyphilip - I will do that tomorrow morning and see what happens.  There are two or three little red buds/new growth on these stems so I will cut just above them.  I was disappointed that they would send a bare root plant out with the black stems - but perhaps that is common practice.

Nollie

I’ve had DA bare root that came like that, I think if there is a hard frost the tips can die back and go brown/black a bit. I pruned the dead tips off after planting, had a hard frost myself and it happened again. So after the risk of frost here had passed, I pruned them off again and all are well and thriving, so I think its not a problem.

Guernsey Donkey2

Thanks for the reassurances Nulty and Nollie, I feel somewhat relieved that this is a well known occurrence, I will get the secateurs sharpened tomorrow.