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Initial post
25 FEB 04 by
Anonymous-2270
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I have been growing French Perfumes for 4 years now. Each spring, I have been rewarded with the most beautiful blooms that were huge and healthy. This year is a different story. I have only had two small blooms and instead the bushes are growing tall, not wide. I haven't pruned them much as they weren't too healthy from a very harsh winter here(record snowfall and temps). I figured they needed more time to recoup. They are growing well now but still no blooms. I've also noticed they have no three-leaves. They are all five or seven now. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it or if it's just a natural phenomenon as they've always had three-leaves in previous years. Is there anyone that might have an idea as to why they are not blooming? Here's a photo from last year...first blooms. I desperately miss them!
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REPLY
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Most roses are grafted onto what is called an understock and this gives the plant more vigour. When there has been a severe winter, the top rose can die and you are left with the understock which is very vigorous. Most understocks are from wild roses which bloom on last years canes and they have 5 and 7 leaflets, so if you cut their canes back, then you have cut off the flowers. The other thing that may have happened is that the severe winter may have killed the flower buds. French Perfume is a beautiful rose but it is not very hardy and needs a lot of protection for the winter.
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Reply
#2 of 2 posted
25 FEB 04 by
Unregistered Guest
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My guess is the tall non blooming growths are from the rootstock... DR Huey strikes again.
If you leave the tall growths and they bloom next year a fairly dark red , once only no repeat
This will confirm Dr. Huey rootstock is taking over.
If you recognize this problem early enough the solution is to pull the "suckers"(shoots from the rootstocks) while small. If too big to pull then dig to access the root and remove all of the shoot.
This may be a good opurtunity to transplant the rose somewhere else and do the surgery while
it is bare root.
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