Rose help

[tapdancingmum]

I have a rose that just grows but never flowers. When I got it I thought it was a bush rose but am now wondering if it's a rambler/climbing rose. No sign of buds just new leaves and it must be over 8ft high.

If it is a climber I will try and move it so it can grow up the side of the house but when would be the best time to do that?

Unfortunately, I can't post a picture as it tells me I can only post 6 a day. I've never posted any and this was just one but hey ho! 😀

Did it have a label when you bought it? How long have you had it? And yes that's pretty tall for a bush rose, and it should have had flowers by now. I bought one rose that had produced beautiful healthy leaves but never flowered in 3 years. It might have been in a spot that was too shady, but there was another rose right next to it flowering its socks off. I binned it, it was a thorny little sod.

Is it in a spot that’s too shady? We have ramblers and climbers and they flower profusely and have done since year 1. Do you know the grower?

When I bought it the label said it was a bush rose (I think) but I think that may be wrong 😂. It certainly didn't say it would grow so large otherwise I wouldn't have put it where it is. It's in full sun and grows really well, apart from having no flowers. I've had it about 5 years now and the place I got it from has closed.

We are going to the garden centre today so may just replace it with a passion flower or something not quite as vigorous.

Have you tried pruning it or feeding it?

I prune it every year but the following year just get leaves. I will bung some chicken .... round it to see if that helps as I haven't got any specific rose feed. Oh I do have some miracle grow but don't want to end up making it get any higher!!

Finally managed to post a picture - had to do it from the laptop as the app wouldn't let me

That's a lovely healthy plant, in a good sunny spot. It ought to be covered with flowers, at least once a year.

What time of year are you pruning, is it possible you are cutting off the flowering shoots/buds?

Otherwise, I think ditch it.

Pruning it in about February and it grows like this.

I'm not a person who gets rid of plants but we have had a major tidy up in that bed and it irritates me that I get no flowers on it. I may just have to be hard hearted 😀

Too much nitrogen, too little water, or pests such as aphids eating the buds. Give them rose food, water every couple of days and make sure you rinse off any pests with soapy water.

It's probably too late for it to flower now- all my roses (bush and climbers) are coming to an end although some that I lightly pruned after they flowered a few weeks back have another flush coming.

I'd cut it right back to almost the ground either late autumn or early spring. Some roses only flower on new wood, so you need to encourage them to grow.

Give it a bucketful of well rotted manure in the spring too!

Some roses only flower on new wood, so you need to encourage them to grow. Some flower on second year wood. Particularly ramblers, they put out flowering shoots from the main shoot. They particularly do this when they have broken through the canopy into the sunshine, and they recognise this by their stems no longer being supported, and bending down. So a way to stimulate flowers is to bend the main stems over in an arch.

But this one may be a climber not a ramblers, and I don't have a clue about those.

I assume you've had a stern word with it already?

Try cutting half of it down in late autumn, but leaving the other half as is, and see if any of it flowers anywhere. being horizontal it should be throwing out side shoots and flowering on those. You might want to try winding the long shoots you're leaving round that obelisk - I do that with my Charles de Mills and it flowers its socks off (although it's a very prickly job).

If the half and half method doesn't work then ditch it! It's had more than enough chances.