Spring Season Switcheroo
As I mentioned in November, I’ve spent the winter acting my butt off. I’m currently in rehearsals for my last show of the season (Vanities with Wyoming Players) and itching to GET DIRTY! I think that will happen this weekend. I plan on starting off the gardening season with the Herculean task of moving a very large and well-established rosebush.
I’ve raved about my Terese Bugnet’s vigor and scent, but I have become terminally annoyed with the annual intrusion of prickly canes into the stairs leading from the deck to the yard. I’ve tried pruning, cautiously the first year and recklessly the second, but I cannot escape the fact that the rose is simply planted too close to the deck and stairs. Luckily a prime space has opened up just a few feet away…
The deck was built in an odd shape to accommodate a red maple (visible in the left side of this photo). The tree must have been much loved by a prior homeowner. Sadly it succumbed to cicadas and Tim chopped it down for me last Fall (2005). I stuck a potted saucer magnolia in the dirt for the winter, but plan on permanently moving the rose here. The magnolia will be planted where the rose presently is. (Switcheroo!)
Advantages:
1. The rose will get more room, sunlight, and air movement.
2. The stairs will be passable during the summer!
3. The roses will scent the dining area. (We put our little outdoor table in the cut-off corner of the deck.)
4. The magnolia, once it grows up, will shade the deck. Right now, after the sun clears the house, the deck is blasted with light and heat from late morning to early afternoon.
Disadvantages:
1. I’ll be moving a very large and prickly bush.
2. The rose may die.
3. I will get very muddy.
I really don’t mind getting dirty and the rose is not rare (i.e. it’s replaceable), so I’m going to give it a go this weekend. Despite the certainty that I will be cursing and bleeding, I’m looking forward to it!
I’ve raved about my Terese Bugnet’s vigor and scent, but I have become terminally annoyed with the annual intrusion of prickly canes into the stairs leading from the deck to the yard. I’ve tried pruning, cautiously the first year and recklessly the second, but I cannot escape the fact that the rose is simply planted too close to the deck and stairs. Luckily a prime space has opened up just a few feet away…
The deck was built in an odd shape to accommodate a red maple (visible in the left side of this photo). The tree must have been much loved by a prior homeowner. Sadly it succumbed to cicadas and Tim chopped it down for me last Fall (2005). I stuck a potted saucer magnolia in the dirt for the winter, but plan on permanently moving the rose here. The magnolia will be planted where the rose presently is. (Switcheroo!)Advantages:
1. The rose will get more room, sunlight, and air movement.
2. The stairs will be passable during the summer!
3. The roses will scent the dining area. (We put our little outdoor table in the cut-off corner of the deck.)
4. The magnolia, once it grows up, will shade the deck. Right now, after the sun clears the house, the deck is blasted with light and heat from late morning to early afternoon.
Disadvantages:
1. I’ll be moving a very large and prickly bush.
2. The rose may die.
3. I will get very muddy.
I really don’t mind getting dirty and the rose is not rare (i.e. it’s replaceable), so I’m going to give it a go this weekend. Despite the certainty that I will be cursing and bleeding, I’m looking forward to it!
Labels: deck, magnolia, rose, terese bugnet, transplant
posted by Kasmira at 7.3.07
6 Comments:
Hello Kasmira,
I hope your plan works out and that you don't get too scratched up. But your post has made me wonder about the location of my newly bought, newly planted Terese Bugnet - sure hope she has enough room!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Welcome back! It must be spring.
Welcome back! Good luck moving the rose... I know nothing about taking rose cuttings, but can you do that now "just in case?"
Kasmira, you might want to wait until closer to May to move your rose bush. We have a nasty history of cold, frosty snaps when we least expect 'em.
In the more challenged areas, my mom suggested (through the voice of experience!) to wait as late as the middle of May before transferring or planting. But in the less hostile areas, an earlier time is safe.
Christine - I figured it would be best to move the rose before it leafed out. Everytime I've tried cuttings with this rose, they've quickly dehydrated. Because I will lose some roots with the move, I thought the rose would recover best if it was still dormant and leafless. A late frost shouldn't hurt the parts below ground.
Based on The Great Rose Massacre of last year, I would recommend moving the rose as early in the season as possible. Here in NJ, that would be about the end of March or the beginning of April when the soil starts to thaw but before they start to leaf out. They should be dormant. I waited too long last year and killed most of the roses that I transplanted.
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