On 12/02/2015 12:18 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
On 2/11/2015 3:25 PM, Fran Farmer wrote:
On 12/02/2015 3:35 AM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Monday, February 9, 2015 at 9:53:34 PM UTC-8, Fran Farmer wrote:
On 10/02/2015 8:26 AM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
Have to confess, fertilizing is one of my weakest areas, garden-wise.

Ex: Always afraid to fertilize roses, too soon after pruning.

Pruned late January.

ISTR wait till first buds appear? Or?

Wd appreciate input from members *with similar climates* (So. Calif Coastal).

Also your guides to best Internet sites. There's overwhelmingly much out there.


Every 6 weeks once Spring gorwth commences is what I plan. Of course I
never manage to keep to that schedule but litte and often is the way to go.

Do you have "Sudden Impact for Roses" in the US? If you do, I use that
and recommend it as does one of this countries better known rosarians.
http://www.neutrog.com.au/sudden-impact-for-roses/

Thanks for reference! Will look up.

Have fertilized so little & so haphazardly over the years ...decades! There is a school of thought (not that I follow them) that holds roses are so tough you can do or not do almost anything to them.

Will try a little love this year.


Roses are tough, As tough as nanny goat's knees. Often the only thing
still left growing round old abandoned houses in the Australian country
side will be roses and our countryside IS tough. that being said, those
roses will all have gone back to the rootstock but they will still be
growing and be thickets but they will still put out some flowers.

But grafted roses in beds do a lot better with a bit of care. It is
very important to regularly dead head them if you want flowers. They
will put out a new flush about 6 week during the season after being dead
headed. And they do like a bit of water and that regular bit of feed.

I too used to ignore mine but a few years ago (after visiting the
rosarian I mentioned I was inspired to try to really start looking after
my roses. I'd already discovered "sudden Impact for Roses"and knew how
good it was for them, but I was slack about being regular in both the
dead heading and the regular feeding routine. Being better int hat area
has made a big difference to my roses. I live in a cold winter, hot dry
summer area, and rose like those conditions and do even better if given
a bit of help along the way.

One important thing (among others) to remember is that, if you are
growing a plant that would not be found growing naturally in your
environment, you must resort to unnatural care for that plant. Since
hybrid roses are unnatural, they require unnatureal care in all
environments.

Hmmmmmm. I don't think I'd agree with you on that score with the
exception of Julia's Rose. That damned rose just looks for an excuse to
turn up her toes and die and she does that to every other grower I know
round here. I've killed several Julias and so has at least one other
grower I know and others have also reported killing her. Pity, given
that she is such a glorious colour but I guess that since she's derived
from Blue Moon, which I always think is a truly loathsome rose, that
parentage might be have been pushing the envelope a bit.

Anyway, I every other rose we have here really is as tough as nanny
goat's knees and I stopped counting how many we had at 112 and I know
we've got more than that and I have also platned more since I stopped
counting.

Poor old Altissimo, of which I have perhaps 5, is still surviving along
the chook pen fence line near a bit oak and a rabbit warren and there
survival is despite not having had any watering or feeding or even
pruning from me in the 20 ears that we've been here. I really should
go and excavate them and do some maintenance on them, especially since
this year the blooms were just lovely. I do love single roses - well
really, I love nearly all roses except for non scented ones and the
species roses which I can't have because of the danger their thorns
present to my health.