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Old floribunda rose
Victoria Sponge
Posts: 3,502
Hi,
I have a floribunda rose which I dug out my sisters garden about two years ago. It looked old but I chopped it down as much as I could and last summer it was lovely and covered in flowers.
I moved it and this year there has been barely any flowers and it seems to me it is shooting mostly from below the old wood lump...I cut them off at first but then began doubting myself as some of the long stems had similar clusters of pink flowers...
Is it worth digging it up and examining where the long stems are coming from or has it had its day? It seems a shame if I restored it only to lose it the next year...
Thanks for your help
Wearside, England.
0
Posts
difficult to say from the photos. I'd give it a bit longer, have a look at it again once next season gets under way , then decide.
..they look alright to me.... if next summer you find you have single white roses with 5 petals, then I would cut those stems out at the base...but I don't think you will...
..quite a nice rejuvenated bush...
as my dear late Mother would have said " act in haste, repent at leisure"
It might not have been grafted, it might be growing on it's own rootstock - that looks a pretty pink bud
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Okay- maybe I just ruined it by cutting out the stems earlier in the year then
It is just it looks so different from last year - it was about 2 1/2 ft long and less than 2' high but this year it has grown stems of over a metre long...the flowers have looked the same though...
Thanks guys
Maybe you just 'woke it up' a bit and made it pull its socks up - and of course we've had an amazing and very long growing season this year
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Maybe Hopefully it'll flower more next year- I'll leave it alone after the spring prune
Who knows Victoria Spongs, you might get a magnificent alternative on the new stems! Fingers crossed!
Well I do like things to look magnificent Tootles
I'll hope for a rich burgundy colour
You can probably tell if you have suckers from the rootstock by looking for 2 subtle differences in the suckers from the main stems. They will probably be different in colour, one being a darker green, when new. The other is the number of thorns, usually more to the inch on the suckers. If you can see such differences you probably have suckers. These should be the ones growing from lower down and need to be pulled/ripped off, not cut. Cutting will encourage more, which will gradually weaken your lovely plant.
I would do this sooner rather than later, and before the Spring growth starts. Take it up now in a mild spell, and treat it like a bare root plant. Tear off the suckers, pulling downwards, and replant. Prune the whole shrub quite hard, to get a better balance between top growth and roots and away you go.