A fellow halfway across town told me that he was getting rid of the previous owner's rose bushes and offered me the chance to dig them up and take them myself. The lady had treated them extremely well, and they were prized specimens, all in good shape. I think it was late March, maybe early April.
I agreed, and spent two full, long, hard hours digging up seven plants. Six were in a nice garden bed, one was growing through rocks on the side. I brought them home and re-planted them in a sunny backyard spot which wasn't really doing anything for me except look barren and useless. The spot had the one advantage, pretty much unique in my yard, of getting good sun throughout the day, morning through evening.
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| I love this pink rose! |
Thereafter, I used waste water to water the plants every day, about two good-sized coffee pots worth. I added some fertilizer I had lying around, weeded the area and tilled it, and crossed my fingers.
Six of the bushes appear to have made it. One is showing no signs of life - the one that had been in the rocks. I'll let it sit for a while - it took the others a month or so to start sprouting new leaves and shoots - and eventually replace it without something else if it's a goner.
I will be updating this from time to time, just to show how they do. Needless to say, I am extremely pleased that they are starting to produce beautiful flowers.
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| This is another flower, from the plant in the foreground below |
Here is another - subsequent - pink rose from that same plant. The first rose withered within a few days. You can see its remnants in some of the pictures.
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| These first three shots were while it was just opening up |
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| These shots are from the next day, when it had opened, on July 4th 2014. |
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| This shot, taken in the full light of the afternoon, brings out the color a bit better |
My smallest transplant, the one I thought would never make it, actually has turned into a star performer. So, on this page I have rose pictures from three separate plants. This last one's rose on the littlest plant unfurled yesterday:
I got impatient today (July 10, 2014) with the two rose bush transplants (out of seven) that had shown in one case no signs of life, and in the other case had a promising shoot that disappeared a couple of weeks ago. After removing them from the ground, I was surprised to see signs of life in both plants underground, with shoots heading to the surface, though the overall root systems were next to non-existent.
These plants will really confound you like that. I took the opportunity to re-plant the two bushes in different locations where, if they don't take, it won't disturb the overall appearance of the garden. Now I'll just leave them there and pretty much forget about them until something happens. I have planted some mature Easter Lillies that someone gave me in their original spots, we'll see next spring how that works out. Patience! Always good to have in a gardener.
Update on August 7, 2014:
It has been quite rainy this summer, and I have been using some run-off water to keep the garden bed wet. Hardly a day has gone by that I have not sloshed some water in there. This may be the wettest year that the plants ever know! But that's good for recent transplants, and they seem to be thriving.
My littlest transfer, not even 1/4 the size of the others, has been the most prolific in sprouting flowers, though they haven't lasted long. Here is a picture of one in full bloom today and a couple of others lying in wait.
One of the two transplants that I thought didn't make it has sent up some shoots from the root. So, that makes six of seven transplants that made it so far. Still have my fingers crossed on the seventh.
Update August 9, 2014:
The other flower has opened on the smallest rose bush. Here are pictures from yesterday and today.
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| 8 August 2014 |
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| 8 August 2014 |
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| This shows the first tender sprouts on the rose bush I thought was dead 8 August 2014 |
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| 9 August 2014 |
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| 9 August 2014 |
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| 9 August 2014 |
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| 9 August 2014 |
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| 9 August 2014 |
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| 9 August 2014 - those three bad boys are next |
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| 9 August 2014 |
Well, I should have known, but some little critters got the roses shown directly above, including the buds. They were gone the next day, in fact. So, lesson learned. That little bush is still too low to the ground. I have some wire fence I may put up around the garden bed, though I'm not sure if that will help to protect it.
The other rose bushes are doing well, too. Here are some pictures I took today, 17 August 2014. It has been raining virtually every day this summer - literally - and it's been a terrible year for working outside. However, all the rain has been great for my plants and so forth. Better to have too much rain than too little - previous summers around here have been quite dry.
Two separate bushes are flowering at the moment. One has pink flowers, the other has red. The pink one is a completely separate bush from the little one above, much larger. Unfortunately, the rain has not been kind to any of the flowers this summer, so when I go out each morning it is an adventure to see what is there.
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| There was not a single green leaf in this bed a few months ago |
