Help with roses

[bunny85]

Hi, I'm a relatively new gardener and planted few rose bushes last year (David Austin). They flowered beautifully this year but what I don't like is the blooms seem too heavy for the stems so they are never upright but point downwards. Is there anything that can be done about it? Does it mean the stems are not very healthy? I've already bought the rose feed. Thank you!

Not the only one it seems

forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1013892/problem-with-my-david-austin-roses

Thank you so much for the link! My roses look exactly like the ones on the photo there. I'm sooo pleased to know that that's normal and they'll get stronger in a few years. Can't wait!

This is a common problem and asfaik due to the weight of the flowers, nothing to do with poor health.

The only thing I can think of that might help would be staking.
Either with single stakes or a decorative hoop one that the plant grows through.

I personally don’t ever really feed my roses, they may get an occasional handful of bonemeal or compost once every year or two in the spring but generally I don’t feed and I have lovely roses.
Think rose feed is something of a con myself

Thank you frostedviolets!

I'd previously posted about this too and it seems common. I think it can take The Rose a couple of years for the stems to become strong enough: ive just staked mine for this year and I'm going to cut it back hard in autumn or spring to encourage it to grown shorter but stronger next summer. X

It's happened with a couple of my David Austin roses, too. I suspect part of the problem is that I'm too timid with the pruning - if I'd pruned harder, the stems would probably be shorter and sturdier.

Feeding could make it worse, at it will encourage lush growth with not much strength - lots of leaves, slower development of woody material.

I’ve struggled with this for years. It’s even worse in wet weather because the weight of water inside the flowers makes them heavier, and causes balling. My solution - now I choose semi-double or single varieties. Better for bees too.

I manure my roses every year and together with hard pruning it results in lovely thick robust stems.

I'm sure your approach is the best one, VenusClapTrap. It's my pusillanimous pruning that has contributed to weak growth and soft stems.

Lots of great advice, thank you so much

I think a lot of the david Austin roses are like this - i think you need to research the roses more to find ones good for cutting to get stronger stems - This is why you cant buy old fashioned style of roses in shops as cut flowers.