I just moved into a new home. There is a nice looking rose bush, it is about
5' high so I would imagine it is not a new one at all.

I dont know much about rose bushes at all. There are no blooms or buds on it
at all.

The leaves look fine, there are no signs of bugs or any type of disease.
I am in Colorado at an elevation of 5,600' if that matters at this time of
year.

Should I be seeing buds or blooms at this time, and if so what could be the
problem.
Any suggestions as to a fertilizer for it. I dont know the Ph of my soil but
around here the soil is usually clay type. Not sandy.

Thank you

"DXer" wrote in message
...
I just moved into a new home. There is a nice looking
rose bush, it is about
5' high so I would imagine it is not a new one at all.

I dont know much about rose bushes at all. There are no
blooms or buds on it
at all.

The leaves look fine, there are no signs of bugs or any
type of disease.
I am in Colorado at an elevation of 5,600' if that
matters at this time of
year.

Yep, it does. Check here for hardiness zones:
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html
Knowing the zone you're in helps others help you.
If you can't find your exact zone on that map, just
call any local nursery. They should be able to tell
you which zone you're in.

Should I be seeing buds or blooms at this time, and if
so what could be the
problem.
Any suggestions as to a fertilizer for it. I dont know
the Ph of my soil but
around here the soil is usually clay type. Not sandy.

Thank you

I was just visiting the Salt Lake City/Ogden Utah
area, weather conditions similar to yours or maybe
a bit warmer and even in established public gardens
only a few roses have buds on them, no blooms
that I saw. So I'd be patient for a bit longer until it
warms up and stays warm.

Roses can do fine in clay and if your bush is
well established I wouldn't try to change the
soil at this point.

There are lots of different views of fertilizer! I
tend to be mostly organic (seaweed, fish emulsion,
alfalfa tea, etc.) these days but some people do just
fine with Peters 20-20-20 or even Miracle Gro
applied monthly. I would stay away from
fertilizers that contain pesticides. Some can
actually kill the rose.

Note: It's important to water well before
applying fertilizer, especially inorganic ferts
like Peters & Miracle Gro. Water one morning,
apply fertilizer the next morning and water in.

You probably want to prune it but it might be
better to wait until it goes dormant next fall
and you can see what you're doing. You can
cut out dead canes (dark brown, brittle) any time
as far down as you need to cut to get to healthy
cane (green outside, creamy white inside). If the
bush has a lot of cane growth, you can also cut
out some of the interior canes to open up the
center and let air get to the leaves. I dab a bit
of white glue (e.g. Elmer's) on the cut end of
any cane as thick in diameter as a pencil and
larger than that.

Important note: Some roses bushes' newest
canes are red, not green. If the cane is flexible
then it's probably not dead.

A good site to check for rose information:
www.ars.org
Look at the menu on the left and click on All
About Roses. Then click on Rose Care Articles.

Also, the relatively inexpensive Sunset & Ortho
garden books on roses have a lot of very
useful information. They're in bookstores, home
improvement stores, etc. You might even be
able to find copies in used book stores for
under $10. They might be older editions but
the basic information should still be useful.

HTH - Gail
near San Antonio TX Zone 8