Rose identifier

honeybean

I inherited a rose years ago and I have no idea what it is. It grows to about 6ft tall and is never bushy like a shrub but has top growth. Unfortunately, being a novice gardener, I treat it like a shrub Rose like all my others. So it gets pruned, cut back etc.

Anyway, a few months ago, I was given a standard tree rose and I’m beginning to wonder if this rose is the same? I obviously have no pics of the Rose because it got cut back so only small at the moment. 

I just wonder what to do with this rose after years of cutting it back? Should I let it grow tall and leave it  like a tree rose? It obviously has no ticket and I just thought it was a weird spindly tall, thin rose. After all these years I realise I’ve been treating it as a shrub rose when it probably isn’t!!

I have added the only pic I have of the Rose. It’s a terrible picture but it gives you the idea of how spindly it is. 

The conifer has gone now. 

Any advice please?

Thanks 

Nollie

The photo is too blurry to know what it is for sure. It could be a hybrid tea, which usually throws up long, stiff stems (it could be spindly and leaning towards the light there because of competition from the former conifer). It could be a climbing rose, whose long, flexible stems should be fanned out and tied into the fence on wires. For ID and specific advice I think you need to wait until it’s grown and in bloom and then post some better pictures.

But in general - roses are hungry and thirsty plants, so clear any weeds from around the base of the rose, give it a deep water then lightly work in some organic rose food (your local garden centre should have something suitable) with a hand fork and mulch over the top with some compost or bagged well-rotted manure - keeping the mulch, especially manure, away from direct contact with the stems at the base of the rose. Then you will have set the rose up for summer and help it to grow away healthier and stronger. Keep watering if it’s dry, a whole 10L can poured slowly at the base once a week is better than more frequent sprinkles.

honeybean

Nollie said:

The photo is too blurry to know what it is for sure. It could be a hybrid tea, which usually throws up long, stiff stems (it could be spindly and leaning towards the light there because of competition from the former conifer). It could be a climbing rose, whose long, flexible stems should be fanned out and tied into the fence on wires. For ID and specific advice I think you need to wait until it’s grown and in bloom and then post some better pictures.

But in general - roses are hungry and thirsty plants, so clear any weeds from around the base of the rose, give it a deep water then lightly work in some organic rose food (your local garden centre should have something suitable) with a hand fork and mulch over the top with some compost or bagged well-rotted manure - keeping the mulch, especially manure, away from direct contact with the stems at the base of the rose. Then you will have set the rose up for summer and help it to grow away healthier and stronger. Keep watering if it’s dry, a whole 10L can poured slowly at the base once a week is better than more frequent sprinkles.

Thanks Nollie, I will feed and mulch it and post a better picture when it’s grown. It might behave differently now that it doesn’t have any competition. 

honeybean

Nollie said:

The photo is too blurry to know what it is for sure. It could be a hybrid tea, which usually throws up long, stiff stems (it could be spindly and leaning towards the light there because of competition from the former conifer). It could be a climbing rose, whose long, flexible stems should be fanned out and tied into the fence on wires. For ID and specific advice I think you need to wait until it’s grown and in bloom and then post some better pictures.

But in general - roses are hungry and thirsty plants, so clear any weeds from around the base of the rose, give it a deep water then lightly work in some organic rose food (your local garden centre should have something suitable) with a hand fork and mulch over the top with some compost or bagged well-rotted manure - keeping the mulch, especially manure, away from direct contact with the stems at the base of the rose. Then you will have set the rose up for summer and help it to grow away healthier and stronger. Keep watering if it’s dry, a whole 10L can poured slowly at the base once a week is better than more frequent sprinkles.

Nollie, now you’ve suggested a hybrid tea, I’ve looked them up and it looks and sounds very similar to a Queen Elizabeth Hybrid Tea.... so should be interesting when it’s grown to see if it is that. 

Thanks 

Nollie

You never know, it might be, but there are an awful lot of similar pink roses... I look forward to finding out, honeybean, don’t forget to come back with piccies later. 😃 

Marlorena

Honeybean has just beaten me to it, as I was going to suggest that when this rose blooms, you compare it first to the Queen Elizabeth rose, which is a very tall, often neglected Hybrid Tea, light to medium pink, and with foliage similar to yours...
I was going to mention it as a possibility, for it can only be that at this stage, as it's one of the world's most planted roses, along with one called 'Peace'... obviously for sentimental reasons, since introduced in the 1950's...   it's found everywhere and often seen like yours climbing something, reaching for the skies and generally unkempt..

honeybean

If it is a hybrid, how do I deal with it? I’m assuming it doesn’t need pruning like a shrub?