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Nice color !! Does the color fade like Crown Princess Magareta (to yellow when old)? Or does it keep its color stable orange like Lady of Shallott? Thank you.
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Hi.. thanks for your question..
Yes it fades, to a blush white or creamy buff colour, which I think is unfortunate, as it's such a beautifully rich colour on opening. The scent tends to fade with it too.. but there are so many new buds opening, that I don't think it's too detrimental overall... it seems to be quite prolific so far, for such a young plant..
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Thank you !! We had high heat over 90 F early June (very unusual), but now lots of rain & cooler temp. at 80 F.
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Lucky you!... I can't remember when we last had any rain in this part of England...
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We had light rain in Devon today, but nothing useful. I've been watering like mad and despite the drought the new roses I planted are growing well.
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Do you have soft tapwater Andrew? Mine is very hard, and it turns the foliage sickly looking. I ran out of collected rainwater a long time ago... I do hope we get some rain next week.. it seems strange saying that, living in this country...
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I have very soft water, straight off the moors, here. The trouble is that when the rain starts it never bloody stops! At least there were some wonderful evenings to sit out in and some delicious mornings watering at 4am.
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I try not to get any water on the foliage at all as it only encourages even more blackspot.
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Andrew: Saw Rambling Rector on sale for $12 this June, but didn't buy it due to its multiflora-parentage, which dislike my hard well-water at pH 9 .. this turn multiflora-leaves very pale. My hard-water leaves whitish calcium deposits on my pots & cups.
Marlorena: I fix my pH 9-hard-water with sulfate of potash & vinegar. I use 1 tablespoon of that per large bucket of water. Hard-water zaps out potassium, so plants can't bloom I have a dozen of impatients-annual-flowers ... there are 2 plants next to 2 bowls of water for birds. I fill the bowls with my tap-water (pH 9), then dump the used water on these 2 plants daily. These 2 plants refuse to bloom while the rest bloom well, despite occasional rain. pH of rain-water here is 4.5, acidic to break down hard minerals for plants to bloom.
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Straw... so let me get this right... you use 1 tablespoon of potash per bucket of water.. how much vinegar do you use, and what type of vinegar is this? distilled? or ordinary table vinegar?.. thank you..
My hard tap water is about the same ph as yours, it's about the worst in the country here...
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Marlorena: I use cheap white vinegar to dissolve sulfate of potash (about 1 cup of vinegar per 1/4 cup sulfate of potash powder). Re-post what I posted in rose forum: "Lots of calcium and potassium is used up to produce that many petals. With my 100+ varieties of high-petals-count roses, I use sulfate of potash and gypsum to fix my alkaline tap water (pH 9): fill a large bottle with 3/4 vinegar, then keep adding POWDER sulfate of potash FIRST until it completely dissolved (soaked overnight) then gypsum (depending on your soil's test), until those solids can no longer dissolve. Then use 1 tablespoon of that per 2 to 3 gallons of tap-water (less acid for French roses, more acid for multiflora). It's important to add sulfate of potash FIRST to vinegar, until it dissolves completely, then add gypsum last. If one mixes gypsum & sulfate of potash & vinegar, one will get cement.
I spent hours researching the cause of rust after Sonia Rykiel (over 100 petals) rust on me in a dinky pot in hot summer. If you check with agricultural abstracts, here are the causes of rust: 1) excessive rain which leaches out calcium and potassium 2) low potassium and high manganese 3) high-salt tap water 4) hot & dry weather which induce potassium deficiency. Potassium deficiency is also linked to mildew.
The logic of using sulfate of potash plus gypsum to fix alkaline tap water is: gypsum (calcium sulfate) is known to de-salt saline soil, so gypsum flushes out the salt. Sulfate of potash is to provide sulfur to lower the high pH of tap-water, plus to provide potassium to prevent mildew and rust. Austin roses with zillion petals have a higher need for calcium and potassium.
As to the mystery of balling, it took me 1 year to understand why, thanks to Grace who asked me questions about her soil test: it came back high in calcium, lowest in potassium, low in magnesium, pH slightly alkaline. But she has problems with balling, thin stems, and roses being stingy with blooms.
That's the fist flag that LOW CALCIUM IS NOT THE CAUSE FOR BALLING, the cause is alkaline tap water which zaps out potassium 1st, then phosphorus & trace elements. Folks in high pH hard water, uses potassium chloride to soften water. GYPSUM DOES HELP WITH BALLING, since the 17% sulfur in gypsum neutralizes the high pH of tap-water, gypsum also loosen compact soil, thus a faster-uptake of water. However, rose-tissue-analysis by University of CA at Davis showed TWICE MORE POTASSIUM THAN CALCIUM.
That's the logic for soaking sulfate of potash overnight in vinegar first, to release the potassium as soluble. But if you put gypsum (calcium sulfate), then potassium, calcium will lock-up potassium and it can't be broken down, very much like hydrated quick lime in tap water hardens soil in dry/hot regions.
Balling also occurs after prolonged periods of rain, due to leaching of both calcium and potassium. Calcium is the building-blocks of roots, stem, leaves, and petals. With less calcium, one gets less petals in blooms. Potassium works in osmotic pressure to draw water up, so low potassium will cause "weak necks", or droopy canes. Without "water-pressure" to force petals to open, you'll get balling.
Evelyn was the only rose in my garden which got pH 9 tap-water during 3-weeks of zero rain & over 90 F. It's next to my faucet so I kept squirting the hose on it. It went from thick stems & blooms point up ... to really thin stems, and blooms point down. Potassium was zapped, but the blooms still have many petals ... means plenty of calcium. So I fixed my pH 9 tap-water with sulfate of potash dissolved in vinegar, and that solved the weak-neck. Many people, including my husband bought "Potash" by mistake, and it turned out to be potassium chloride, with salt index 112.6 ... that's different from sulfate of potash, with lower-salt index of 43, and 21% sulfur ... the sulfur is what makes leaves dark green." StrawChicago.
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#11 of 27 posted
25 JUN 17 by
Marlorena
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Straw... thanks so much for your detailed response... I've made a note of the quantities, I might struggle to use Gypsum, I'm not sure about that but I understand what you're saying about the salt issue....it's a pity that gypsum is required, I'm kind of uncomfortable with it... what I sometimes do is use a simple ericaceous liquid feed, such as I feed Camellias with, and I might also try a seaweed feed... I need to concentrate on greening up those leaves... thanks again ... let's see how things go from now on..
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Marlorena,
You might also check your soil for trace element deficincies. I live in a high rain fall area on well drained soil with a low PH. I add lime every autumn, also extra borax as I suspect plants suffer from boron deficincy too.
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#13 of 27 posted
25 JUN 17 by
Marlorena
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Andrew, thank you... I ought to get a soil test done... There's no way I'm adding lime though... I think my soil ph is slightly acid, as I've had Azaleas and a Camellia japonica for years, and small rhododendrons, and they do alright as long as it rains..
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Most of my "high maintenance" roses are in one area so only one part of the garden gets limed and then only about 45cm around each plant. Mushroom compost might be worth a try as it contains lime and makes an excellent mulch. Being in such a dry part of the country I imagine everything needs mulching well with you..
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#15 of 27 posted
25 JUN 17 by
Marlorena
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Yes I use composted manure quite a bit... I think if I lived where you are, with such acidic conditions, I'd be growing lots of big Rhododendrons and associated plants... I'm quite envious actually of those conditions... I gardened in Cornwall on acid clay, with a rose garden, but never felt the need to add lime... I thought the laxa rootstock used here meant that it wasn't necessary..? I don't know...
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I would love to grow good Rhododendrons too but I get too many late spring frosts to grow them well. The same with Camellias, they always flower too early and get frosted. David Austin roses do not grow for me but gallica and damask roses do well. Manure can be unpredictable at times, vegetarian animals fed on shallow rooted grasses don't always produce the finest dung. Since adding a little lime each autumn my roses are slowly improving.
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Gypsum (calcium sulfate) is used to de-salt saline soil, since calcium binds with sodium, and flushes salt out. It's useful for heavy clay soil (higher salt & higher minerals). Also useful for alkaline sandy soil low in calcium.
Despite my soil pH near 8, I also grow Rhododendrons and Azaleas for the past decade .. they bloomed well with acidic rain, then declined when I used my alkaline tap-water (pH 9). Roots do "acid-phosphatase", or secrete acid BEST when the soil is fluffy & loamy. Someone with loamy & fluffy soil ... their alkaline tap water doesn't hurt much. But someone with dense & heavy clay like mine .. the same tap water turn leaves pale.
SOLUBLE chemical fertilizer with at least 10% of sulfur helps leaves to be darker-green, same with SOLUBLE fertilizer high in kelp & seaweed (with all trace-elements) .. I tested 2 SOLUBLE fertilizers with kelp, and yes, they did make leaves dark-green, but DID NOT HELP WITH BLOOMING. The drawback of kelp & seaweed is high-in-salt, thus make potassium even less available. For that reason I prefer sulfate of potash, high potassium helps with more blooms & less diseases, and its 21% sulfur turn leaves dark-green. Potassium is needed to protect plants against diseases, be it mildew, rust, or blackspots.
Lime has a salt-index of 4 (very low in salt) but with pH over 9. Gypsum has salt-index of 8 (quite low), with pH slightly acidic, around 6. Roses with lots of petals have a higher demand of calcium, so I always use gypsum in the planting hole to break up my rock-hard clay near pH 8.
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#20 of 27 posted
25 JUN 17 by
Marlorena
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Fascinating information Straw.... thanks again for your valued advice in this field...
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#24 of 27 posted
6 AUG 17 by
ac91z6
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Is there a way to favorite posts or threads? I've got USA Midwest clay soil too, and I suspect I'm going to need a similar amendment program. Great info!
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ac91z6: Here's how I keep track of my favorite info. in HMF. I use Q & A FORUM tab to search for info., like typing in "heavy clay" ... HMF pops up all the comments with the word "heavy clay" highlighted in yellow. If I see an info. I like, I post a comment "Thank you". Years later, I go back to my HMF profile, click on my own COMMENTS tab, and it will show up all the comments that I thanked previously.
Another way is to copy your favorite info., then post that in your JOURNAL. In my JOURNAL tab, I keep track of which roses I want to buy.
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#27 of 27 posted
7 AUG 17 by
ac91z6
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Ah, good methods! No telling how long it would have taken this newbie to figure it out. Thank you!
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Andrew: thanks for the info. on which roses do best in your acidic & loamy soil (gallica & damask). A friend sent me a $40 Gallica rose (thornless, lavender color), and it died instantly in my heavy clay.
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I remember my father trying to grow roses on heavy clay. 'Geranium' and 'Rosa Mundi' lingered in a torpor neither growing nor dying. The only rose that ever grew remotely well for him was 'The Queen Elizabeth Rose'.
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Yes, Queen Elizabeth was very tall in my clay soil, excellent winter survival, but zero scent. I'm into fragrant roses now, after sniffing Jude the Obscure at local rose park .. that was in 2011 and I'll never go back to scentless roses again.
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Yes you're right it is scentless but it makes a good cut flower with nice long stems. I grow Phlox paniculata vars. amongst it which enliven a bunch of flowers and that compensates for lack of smell.
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Hey Straw, thanks for all your information. I want to fix my alkaline tap water with your mixture via hose end sprayer. From what I can see, it's 3 parts vinegar to 1 part sulfate of potash powder, then add gypsum if needed.
To make sure I understand correctly, the gypsum is there to provide more calcium, right?
Also, how much gypsum does it takes for this mixture? Do you have to wait overnight for the gypsum to dissolve like you do with sulfate of potash powder, or does it happen immediately?
I have mostly Austins, which from what I'm reading, here are pretty hungry for calcium and potassium. Could I bypass the gypsum and just use Tomato Tone, which is higher in calcium and potassium?
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Everett: I agree with you about skipping the gypsum (calcium sulfate) and use Tomato Tone with NPK 3-4-6, plus 3% sulfur and 8% calcium. The problem with gypsum: it's hard to dissolve in vinegar, and impossible to dissolve in tap-water. If you have tons of acidic rain, it's easier just to put a tiny bit of gypsum (pH 6), or lime (pH 9) on top of soil.
Alkaline tap water already has calcium in it, that's why I get long-octopus canes in hot summer, and zero blooms. One time I threw 1/4 cup of gypsum around Munstead Wood (in a pot), and it went from tiny to throwing a 3-feet long octopus cane. Sulfate of potash controls the crazy growth by forcing roses to bloom. So 1/4 cup of SULFATE OF POTASH dissolved in 3/4 cup of vinegar, then use 1 tablespoon of that per 2 gallon of water to fix alkaline-tap-water.
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