On Sat, 14 Jun 2003 19:20:52 GMT, (Shiva) wrote:

On 14 Jun 2003 16:16:33 GMT, (VRB300) wrote:

Would love to hear others' stories of The Wrong Roses

I purchased what was clearly labeled as a climber (Don Juan) and also planted
at the back door. The plant appears for all intents and puposes to be
a"regular" bush since the 4 canes each have a flowering bud at the tip. I
thought climbers bloomed on laterals(I am not a rose officianado). Am I barking
up the wrong "cane"?

Nope. It looks like a "regular" bush until one cane grows too long to
stand up by itself and falls over. Then it sprouts beautiful lateral
canes every couple of inches or so. You can also hurry it along by
bending them yourself, I suppose. Mine is in its third year, groing on
a chain link fence. Many long canes horizontal with many, many
laterals, some of which have fallen over and sprouted laterals. It is
in its second major flush at the moment--has climbed 10 feet up into
the mature hollies behind it. There is nothing like sticking your nose
in a Don Juan bloom warm from the morning sun. Rosy, lovely scent!
Velvety petals! It just gets better and better with time. Mine is in
full sun--FULL full sun--gets at least 9 hours. Water it lots and lots
and it will make you happy.



Vince

Thanks for the info. This will be helpful as I start to train DJ on my
trellis, although it doesn't sound promising for the DJs that I have
planted under my dying cranberry tree. I should have probably planted
something that throws off a *lot* of long canes to wind up the trunk.
Maybe I'll drive some posts next to the tree and train them around
them and back to the tree to get some lateral growth going...