Our Rose Trees Have Not Done Well At All This Year. We Have 15 Bushes Planted Last Year By The Gardener From The Centre. I Live

Question

in Montreal. Last year we had some beautiful flowers this year three. They placed mulch around the whole site. Coming from England I have never seen this procedure. It will soon be time for things to start shutting down for the winter so I am desperate to try and correct this problem before next spring. The roses have been fed and watered as we were told but with hardly any growth to the bushes. Need your help please…

Answer 1

Hello and thanks for submitting your question to us here at Gardening Know How. Rose Trees or Rose Standards are not naturally occurring trees. They are rather grafted creations by man. The upper desired rosebush is grafted on top of a hardy rose cane grown specifically for the purpose of creating the rose trees. In my cold climate area they are typically grown as annuals. Even with some major protection for the winter, the top part/grafted on rosebush will not survive the winter outdoors. Some folks leave them in a big pot planted in the ground. Others plant them in big ornate pots or half whiskey barrels that can be moved into a protected indoor environment for the winter. Others will use a method called the Minnesota Tip to tip the entire rose tree over to one side and bury it in the ground for the winter. Mulching the rose trees in your garden landscape like is done with regular rose bushes is okay. It helps hold in much needed moisture and makes the garden attractive. If the rose trees are no longer performing, I suggest that maybe the top desired grafted on rosebush has either died or is close to death. The hardy rose cane and root system many times will take over and send up its own growth. That growth may or may not bloom for several years. It will not be the blooms they originally had in that case. Here is a link to an article about rose trees/standards for you: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/roses/learn-more-about-tree-roses.htm

I hope this helps you understand them better. I highly recommend feeding them with a good organic rose or rose and flower fertilizer for top performance.