Throw Dice, Guess Rose

Apr 10, 2007 4 Replies

The previous owners of my house bought a rose bush and apparently, their thinking (?) process involved this: "What would be the worst possible place to plant this thing?" So, they stuck it two feet from a large evergreen shrub, in a corner of the house where it gets about 45 minutes of sun in the morning, and total shade for the remainder. It grows almost 8 feet tall, though, which raises a question: Is it leggy because it's not getting enough light? Or is it tall because it's a climber? There are no identifying tags, of course.



I realize nobody can know the answer, unless I arrange for DNA analysis. So, I'm collecting guesses. Hit me with your best shot. No penalties for wrong guesses. I'm planning moving it, and its final position will depend on whether it's a climber or not.


The message from "JoeSpareBedroom" contains these words:

To do that we need a closer description of the leaves, flowers, growth habit of stems, thorniness etc.

Janet

It's never flowered, at least not in the two seasons since I've been here. Distance between leaf things (along main stems) is WAY too long, compared to any healthy rose I've ever seen. Stay tuned until the weekend, and I'll see if I can get a photo of the thorns. Weather's too sloppy to bring a camera out there today.

On Apr 10, 8:04 am, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote: ...(extra deleted)...

If that is your deciding factor, put up a tall pole, or drop a line down from the evergreen, wait a season, and see how far up it grows...

I've already waited two seasons. Growing a rose in shade is a defective experiment, since we already know they need sun.

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