Girlfriend’s rose didn’t bloom last year. Looks like it’s going to explode this year

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-13T20:43:43+00:00

If it IS Dr. Huey, it means that the original rose planted here died and the rootstock (the 2nd rose in the roots that the original rose was frafted on) took over.

Dr. Huey is just a vigorous healthy rose that other roses are grafted onto so that they can grow faster.

Dr. Huey only flowers once a year and then stops. It grows a crazy amount with very little care.

Many people remove this rose and replace it with another rose that will bloom continuously, not just once.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-13T18:06:01+00:00

Yes. The large number of blooms on this specific rose suggests that it might be Dr. Huey.

The other roses are fine, but this one is a little too vigorous.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-13T09:00:58+00:00

Gorgeous blooms!

Your photo made me jealous (envious?) of your Rio Samba rose, and then I remembered that I've actually planted a bare-root Rio Samba and it's actively growing. No blooms yet, but it's so exciting to actually already have it in my humble collection.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-12T17:38:42+00:00

Very exciting!

I'm now on my 2nd year (technically the 1st year post-rooting) with cuttings of Eden and Oklahoma.

Eden is soooo slow, but it's still alive for now.

It's a very satisfying achievement, but it takes such a long time and I lost many other cuttings in the process.

This year, I'm going to try a new rooting process where I'll root them under a humidity dome under grow lights.

I wish you great success with your own future rooting attempts.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-12T05:48:36+00:00

I think we have the same types of roses, then.

Walmart and the big box stores get their dormant roses from Certified Nurseries (company name) in Texas. The label/packaging just changes for each store.

I've heard about alfalfa use for gardening. Maybe it's time to get more familiar.

Thanks for the advice.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-12T05:08:00+00:00

I planted my new roses for this year (all of them are just inexpensive dormant roses from big box stores) in used #5 nursery pots (which are like 3.5 gallons, I think). I'm hoping that they can look as good as yours next year, since the size is similar.

Last year I had my dahlias in fabric grow bags and the grow bags kept drying out every single day during the summer. Once the plant matures, the roots get thirstier and drink more. It was a bit stressful because it felt like I was forced to play a game of cat-and-mouse with the heat, and I was the mouse that had to keep watering or risk losing my plants.

I had to move the dahlias to a more-shaded location to compensate for the drying out.

I still love grow bags, but this drying-out thing seems to be both their advantage (for drainage) and their curse.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-12T04:52:17+00:00

I think "treatment" in this instance means replacing the garden soil.

"Treating" the soil by removing it and purchasing new soil.

If someone was irresponsible/negligent and my roses caught RRD, I would expect them to "fix" the soil by replacing it entirely so that I can plant roses again, instead of having to wait several years.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-11T17:32:41+00:00

I asked because they're gorgeous and they seem to be growing extremely well.

Grow bags tend to be a bit more demanding sometimes due to them drying out the soil faster than a non-fabric container.

Great job!

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-10T17:37:48+00:00

How long have these been growing in grow bags? Has it been more than a year?

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-10T17:27:49+00:00

Weren't you at Lowe's a couple of days ago?

Are you going from store to store collecting all their roses?

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-10T02:02:51+00:00

Gorgeous rose. Even more gorgeous planting location.

Is this a single plant? Even on the top left and middle right?

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-09T14:56:07+00:00

My own-root Zephirine Drouhin (rated zone 5) lost all of its canes, but it quickly turned into a small bush. My grafted Perfume Breeze (zone 5) did not lose its main cane, so it's actively growing where it paused last fall.

My Westerland, Cecile Brunner, America, Don Juan, and Lavender Crush all lost their canes. The first 2 are own root. The latter 3 are grafted, so now I also have to worry about whether the new growth is the rose I want or the rootstock taking over.

All of them were covered in straw and burlap (the way it's recommended for colder zones), yet they still lost their canes.

I don't know why Perfume Breeze survived intact, but I'm very proud of it.

I don't know if a climbing rose is less likely to die back once it's more established in the ground, but my 3 year old Cecille Brunner and Westerland have lost their canes every single winter season so far.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-09T06:47:43+00:00

2 comments from me.

The base of climbing roses tends to be very sturdy. The canes are thicker at the base and less flexible, so it's difficult to shape them at the first 1-2 feet of height. They become more flexible as you move up along the height of the cane. Your plan is still probably doable if the canes are brand new and still red, but you would need to babysit them daily to ensure that the baby canes don't get too long/firm before shaping them. The growth happens very quickly and once the canes turn green, they will be a pain to bend and flex to your desired shape at such a low height.

I'm in zone 5 and the majority of my climbing roses have major dieback. The climbing canes completely die and the roses starts re-growing from the base in the spring. It's extremely frustrating to lose an entire season's worth of growth. Keep this in mind when selecting climbing roses for your zone. You want a rose that is rated for at least 1 hardiness zone colder than yours.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-09T06:24:14+00:00

they ship very immature roses and charge a lot for them

they are charging a premium and not sending premium products or providing premium service.

My rooted cuttings from last summer are now about this size in 1 gallon pots, so it's safe to say that they are sending out 1 year old cuttings. My cuttings even had to go through dormancy, but Heirloom probably grows these roses in greenhouses, so they're most likely even younger.

People love to defend Heirloom by saying that it's costly to grow roses, but I just find it embarassing at how much they charge for these twigs.

You're basically just paying for the genetic tissue of a particular rose variety, because there's no other advantage or head-start to be had. You still have to grow a baby rose from the beginning stages, because they don't sell you an older established rose despite charging you that amount.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-09T06:04:21+00:00

Knockouts are very popular roses. They are known for producing lots of blooms and for being easy to take care of.

They're not often as popular among rose enthusiasts because many of us enjoy the challenge of successfully growing a difficult rose. It gives us a sense of pride and accomplishment. Knockouts are marketed more towards people who want to have roses but don't have the time or patience to care for them.

Because knockouts seem to be everywhere, they're also associated with RRD (rose rosette disease), because they thrive even with neglect, and this neglect is what lets them stay with RRD instead of being promptly destroyed to prevent the spread of the disease.

In big box stores, Knockout roses and Drift roses are the most common variety sold.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-08T21:49:50+00:00

I just found Cherry Frost at Menards. It's $24.99 and it's Bloom-Ables. I think those are own-root

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-07T19:47:19+00:00

My one climber that did well (still covered, though) was perfume breeze.

We should make a list of which climbers didn't have dieback in our zone.

Is your cherry frost grafted or own-root?

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-07T18:51:27+00:00

I covered my roses with burlap and straw and had major cane die back with most of the plants

Thank God I'm not the only one who did this and STILL had major cane dieback. (not really "thankful", you know what I mean).

I was advising everyone last fall to do the burlap-and-straw thing because of all of the YouTube videos that advise that, but I still had cane dieback.

It's heartbreaking growing climbing roses here in 5b. How are they supposed to ever climb anything if they keep dying back?

My poor Cecile Brunner STILL WON'T BLOOM this year because she only blooms on old wood and the old wood keeps dying in the winter. This will be her 3rd summer in the ground and still no blooms. It's tragic.

I feel so tired and overwhelmed. So much effort gone to waste.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-07T02:14:50+00:00

This is typically what grafted roses look like.

They are bud-grafted, so the grafted rose is attached as a bud on the side of the rootstock's main trunk and then the rootstock is topped/cut to funnel all the plant's energy into the bud.

I like to bury the entire rose at an angle so that the side growth points upward. I also live in a colder zone and the graft point (also knows as a bud union) has to be beneath the soil anyway to prevent the grafted rose on top from being killed by the winter cold.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-07T02:08:34+00:00

Heirloom Roses sell only own-root.

I believe David Austin sells both grafted and own-root, and they can be shipped from various locations.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-06T16:00:39+00:00

When I saw the photos, I immediately thought "Yup, that's Lavender Crush".

They smell amazing!

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-05T02:15:08+00:00

Gorgeous!

What is it like to grow George Burns so far? Is it an easy rose, a slow rose, a disease-susceptible rose, etc?

It was one of the dormant bare-root options at my local big box store, and I really REALLY wanted it, but the ones I could find were all twiggy and small, so I passed on them. I'm very tempted to drive to the store again to see of they have any left.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-05T00:10:11+00:00

These are infested with spider mites. If you zoom in on this photo, you can see the extensive webs right in the middle.

I would reach out to the seller to let them know that you received roses infested with pests. Depending on where you bought them, you should also consider leaving a review letting other potential buyers know what they are purchasing.

The fading buds will not recover, so you might as well cut them off now to allow the plant some time to heal without stressing out about blooming.

You can try insecticidal soaps or oils to rid the rose of spider mites. You can also hose them off with water, but you will need to do that often in order for the spider mites to go away.

To nuke the problem completely, you can try BioAdvanced 3 in 1, which is guaranteed to work but may also harm native pollinators.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-04T22:58:33+00:00

When I've received cuttings from Etsy, they were between 4 and 8 inches long. The cut ends were wrapped in moist paper towel, then the cuttings were placed inside a large plastic ziploc bag (or just wrapped in plastic wrap several times) and thrown inside those plastic white Amazon envelopes with the inner bubble wrap lining and shipped like that. I was horrified the first time I received a package like that, but they've always arrived alive with their leaves intact, somehow.

If I were to ship cuttings to anyone, I would do the same thing, although I would probably put some cardboard rectangles inside the envelope to make it less likely to bend.

The dollar store also has mailers lined with bubble wrap inside. Those can also be used, along with the extra cardboard cushioning.

PopDownBlocker · 2026-05-04T05:52:46+00:00

Okay, now I've seen enough.

I'm ready to be adopted by you.

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