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Old 06-08-2003, 09:32 AM
Cass
 
Posts: n/a
Default Lavender Dream?

In article , dave weil
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 21:25:09 -0700, Cass
wrote:

In article , dave weil
wrote:

Oh yeah, how about Phyllis Bide? I really like the look of yours. How
old is it? Is it "trained" around a framework or something?


Yes, it's trained up a 4 x 4 post that has some 2 x 4's that form a
cross-like structure near the top.

| |
___|_|____
___|_|____
| |
| |

I don't know if this has the remotest chance of working...
but the 4 x 4 fits through the little square in the middle, as if were
coming straight at you.

You need 10 foot 4 x 4, about 2 1/2 in the ground in Quicrete.

But Phyllis Bide is truly a rambler, and not a mound. It looked like a
huge mound in the early years, but now it is...just huge:

http://home.earthlink.net/~cbernstei...es/Phyllis.jpg

Lots of fun to deadhead. *Now* I know why people grow it as an
espalier. Doh.

BTW, my Portland from Glendora is starting to get really big. It's
suffering from spots (that tree fungus that everyone has talked about
maybe), but the biggest "problem" is the fact that it's getting a
little top-heavy. Since it sits in some pretty windy conditions, it's
definitely been leaning due to likely root rock. I've propped it up on
the leaning side using a little stack ofbricks and I hope that this
will help it stabilize. Before I did this, it was leaning at about 30%
off vertical with the longest cane almost touching the ground. I
started trying using a broomstick, but that just didn't work...

I was told not to prune it the first year, which I didn't. I'm
guessing that I should prune it this fall, right? How far do you think
I should go?


I'd deadhead hard right now. In the fall, I wouldn't prune it,
exactly, but definitely top it by a foot or so if you haven't already
taken that much off already. I believe in topping roses where wind
damage is possible. It sure didn't generate growth around here when I
did it last December. Then next spring, I'd prune it at the regular
time.

I hear that the folk in SoCal say it does really well whacked hard,
like an oversized floribunda. I didn't hear that until too late to try
it last winter. I pegged down some droopy canes and pruned off all the
little twiggy growth, and the thing exploded. So definitely prune
Glendora (now correctly called Joasine Hanet) just the way you want it
to look.

As you can see, it's starting to get a little bit of a "rangey" look.
Earlier, it looked bushier.

Here are the most recent pics of it (the first two are from about 30
minutes ago):

http://www.pbase.com/image/19989586

http://www.pbase.com/image/19989546


Man, did that thing grow this year!

This one's from April of this year:

http://www.pbase.com/image/19989612


Isn't that cute?

Right now, it's about 5 1/2 feet tall. The earlier shot from April
shows it about 3 1/2 feet tall. I'd really like to keep that "compact"
upright bush shape and I guess I'll have to do that by pruning, right?
Any hints?


Mine gets rangy too.

Here how I pruned to remove lots of the laterals, especially at the
base:

http://home.earthlink.net/~cbernstei...ndoraJan03.jpg

And here's how rangey it was 6 months later, which was a month ago:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cbernstei...sineJuly03.jpg

Looking at the pruning photo, it's pretty clear that I could have cut
off at least 2/5's more in a half circle shape. I'll do that and more
this year. Mine is definitely wind blown.

I think we're both witnessing that Joasine Hanet is a lovely background
shrub. If we're going to have it as a specimen plant, we have to prune
harder.

Just my opinion this month.


Thanks for the pretty specific advice, When you say deadhead it hard,
are you saying that I should essentially give up the blooms at this
point of the season?


No, but after a stem blooms, I'd cut the cane back 6, 8 inches. You
know there are people who cut every cane back to 18 inches to make then
thicker and stronger. Well, Glendora looks like she needs some
backbone.

Did you strip the leaves or did that occur naturally?


I strip every leaf off every rose every winter.

BTW, we had a huge gale come in last night with 60 mile and hour
winds. Here's what the plant looks like today:

http://www.pbase.com/image/20022439

As you can see, some of the canes are horozontal or worse.

http://www.pbase.com/image/20022565

Here you can see the lean. I don't have enough bricks to keep it
upright it seems.

I've got a candidate for pegging (the one down on the ground in the
second picture), which I might just do and see what happens.

After seeing your picture of the more mature Portland/Joasine, I think
I'm going to let it go in that direction. I doesn't look like it wants
to grow in the shape that it was at in April. I *will* have to keep it
a bit pruned though, because, as you can see, it's pretty close to the
place where I park my car. Man, it should grow pretty close to Aloha,
that's for sure.


Isn't that just like life. You're gonna let yours go all native and I'm
gonna discipline mine to look more like yours. The grass is always
greener...

As to Phyllis - YIKES! Even though it isn't a mound anymore, I
wouldn't mind having something like that in my yard! Hmmmmm. Perhaps I
would plant it near the dead maple tree/Cecile Brunner.


Oh, but you'd better check what the color looks like in the heat. Try
one of the Texas supplier websites and see their pix. Even tho I'm in
USDA zone 9, I'm in Heat zone 2 or 3. So colors are intense and dark
here.

And as to Baby Love. Here's a side view of the bush, clearly showing
the bush shape. You know, a couple of those at the entrance to a path,
or maybe at a walkway or steps, would be really cool.

http://www.pbase.com/image/20022774


Yep, that's just a nice, clean, leafy rose. Terrific.