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'Easlea's Golden Rambler' rose Reviews & Comments
Discussion id : 99-946
most recent 17 SEP 17 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 23 MAY 17 by Jay-Jay
This year the first flowers are of a very deep almost orangy yellow.
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Reply #1 of 12 posted 23 MAY 17 by StrawChicago heavy clay zone 5
Orange flowers look so good in your soil. Is your soil sticky & heavy clay, or is it alkaline loamy (fluffy) soil?
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Reply #2 of 12 posted 23 MAY 17 by Jay-Jay
It's Easlea's Golden Rambler and most years Golden Yellow or lighter with sometimes just a tinge of orange or even red. see my earlier photo's.
This year maybe due to a late cold period with night-frosts, the color differs.
And no, I don't have those soils, that You mention, but just plain boulder-clay enriched with humus, lava-meal and fertilizer. Top-soil is just 40-60 cm and right under that top layer 5 m of impenetrable boulder-clay.
Lots of oaks nearby, so lots of leaves and Hedera helix covering the soil.
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Reply #3 of 12 posted 23 MAY 17 by StrawChicago heavy clay zone 5
You are blessed with boulder-clay, that's high in calcium, and your roses have the most petals ever. I admire your Francis Meilland bloom (lots of petals). When my roses' petal-count is reduced, I always give it gypsum (calcium sulfate, slightly acidic). After having Marie Pavie for 6 years .. the blooms have less petals, so I gave it gypsum last fall. This spring: Marie Pavie's blooms look nicer (twice more petals). When KBW in Pakistan used wood ash on his roses ....he got the most petals in his blooms. "Wood ash is roughly 10-25% calcium, 1-4% magnesium, 5-15% potassium and 1-3% phosphorus."
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Reply #4 of 12 posted 24 MAY 17 by Patricia Routley
Jay-Jay, would you tell us what season of the year you prune 'Easlea's Golden Rambler', and how much?
My bush was making a fair bit of dead wood up top and didn't look too good. After trying to strike it for years, I bit the bullet and pruned it down to 15-20 inches or so in early Autumn. Now in late Autumn it is putting out new growth. I took the opportunity of taking many cuttings from the thicker laterals and all of them still look OK with many producing leaf growth. I hope there are roots down there to match the leaf growth.

(My self sown seedling below the plant is still in situ. It hasn't grown much and is probably about two feet tall. I am looking forward to seeing it produce something in spring.)
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Reply #5 of 12 posted 24 MAY 17 by Jay-Jay
Hi Patricia,

Until now, I just pruned what wasn't looking good or dead. Pruned what was bothering me back to a lateral and pruned that, what fell or blew off the "cat-cage" or broke in a storm.
That way it was renewed almost completely in a few years, but the original bare legged canes stayed.

When You want to prune it regularly, just prune the main canes back to a lateral on the height You like, I would suggest. Just like one does with black-currant bushes or apple-trees, of which the canes/branches are ageing.
I prune out of my gut-feeling/experience and observations.

Most of the roses I prune in late winter, but this-one during the growing season/after flowering, when I can see, which canes aren't productive/healthy any more. Or when I have scissors at hand and feel healthy enough to climb the stepladder or crawl on the cat-cage.
It's a prickly, scratchy and bloody, but rewarding job. Good luck!

And a hint: once bloomers like it better to be pruned just after flowering and not at the end of the season. Over here the fresh canes would die during the winter-frost periods!

Could You pot or replant the seedling,when it is in rest/dormancy, so it has less competition of the original?
Please post some photo's when in bloom.

Good to have You back!
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Reply #6 of 12 posted 24 MAY 17 by StrawChicago heavy clay zone 5
Thank you for that fantastic tip: "And a hint: once bloomers like it better to be pruned just after flowering and not at the end of the season. Over here the fresh canes would die during the winter-frost periods!"
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Reply #7 of 12 posted 24 MAY 17 by Jay-Jay
You're welcome.
Pruning is mostly just plain sense.
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Reply #8 of 12 posted 24 MAY 17 by Patricia Routley
Thanks Jay-Jay. Yes, I will pot up the seedling.
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Reply #9 of 12 posted 24 MAY 17 by Jay-Jay
Do You get temps below zero°C at all in winter, Patricia?
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Reply #10 of 12 posted 24 MAY 17 by Patricia Routley
Never. But we can go from 2C to 40C throughout the year.
The long term average minimum temperature is 9.7C. (Does that make me a Zone 11b?)
and a long term average maximum of 18.4C.
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Reply #11 of 12 posted 24 MAY 17 by Jay-Jay
Oh Wow!
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Reply #12 of 12 posted 17 SEP 17 by Patricia Routley
Jay-Jay, I potted up the seedling, but it was brittle and broke away from the root.
I've potted the top (later edit - named 'Easy Going'), and separately the root (later edit - died). Early days for both.

After the big prune (and it has been slow to really get a go on), I sowed many hips. Got the second one up today. Temporary names of
'East of Eden' and 'Easel'.
Later edit: the 3rd, potted up on Oct 23, 2017. Name: 'Easily Done'.
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