Austrian Copper Rose

[Jeffrey A. Del Col]

In a previous article, katherin...@hortus.bc.ca () says:

>Last year I planted two Austrian Copper roses (r. foetida ?).
>
>I put one on my side of a neighbours blue spruce (a beautiful tree
>that they have since cut down to make room to park a huge
>trailer...) thinking that the colours would complement each other.
>I put the other one almost opposite on the other side of the yard.
>Both sites are open and sunny. My plan was to obtain a third
>Austrian Copper this year, for a new front bed.

(deletions)

>This year has been a disaster. I cut them back by a third in
>February and have fertilized them a couple of times with all-
>purpose flowering shrub fertilizer and fish fertilizer. This years
>growth is awkward looking, sticking out at strange angles. The
>blooms were sparse and appeared only sporadically. They were a
>washed out colour and lasted only a day or two. The bushes have
>black spot and all the parts of the branches that had blossoms have
>lost all their leaves. The new growth seems very healthy but
>overall they look terrible.

As you have discovered, AC is extremely prone to blackspot. This
is a notorious feature of it and R. foetida and its close
offspring. It needs plenty of air circulation and sunlight.
Never water it the evening, and try not to wet the leaves no matter when
you water it. It does not seem to like most anti-fungal
sprays either, so prevention is the only recourse. Clean up
the fallen leaves and burn them.

My experience is that R. foetida and AC resent pruning. They thrive as
big, rather unkempt shrubs. Your bushes are showing their displeasure with
having been trimmed. They should recover next year. They do not
like to be fussed over or fertilized as much as hybrid teas or
other roses. I leave mine pretty much alone, just one shot of
all purpose rose fertilizer in the spring, and they seem to like
it that way.

Three years ago I had to prune an R. foetida that the deer had browsed--
the next year the plant looked awful. This year it is growing well
and was covered with blooms this spring, so there is hope--be patient.

J. Del Col (fond of species roses as ever)
--
Jeff Del Col * "Sleeplessness is like metaphysics.
A-B College * Be there."
Philippi, WV *
* ----Charles Simic----

[katherin...@hortus.bc.ca]

Last year I planted two Austrian Copper roses (r. foetida ?).

I put one on my side of a neighbours blue spruce (a beautiful tree
that they have since cut down to make room to park a huge
trailer...) thinking that the colours would complement each other.
I put the other one almost opposite on the other side of the yard.
Both sites are open and sunny. My plan was to obtain a third
Austrian Copper this year, for a new front bed.

I am a fairly new, but very ambitious, gardener and I'm
'attempting' to transform our, previously all lawn, yards.

I have dozens of rhododendrons and I thought that species and old
fashioned roses would be the most suitable to combine with them.(?)

The Austrian Copper roses both put on lots of beautiful, healthy
growth last year and a couple of pretty blossoms that lasted about
a week.

This year has been a disaster. I cut them back by a third in
February and have fertilized them a couple of times with all-
purpose flowering shrub fertilizer and fish fertilizer. This years
growth is awkward looking, sticking out at strange angles. The
blooms were sparse and appeared only sporadically. They were a
washed out colour and lasted only a day or two. The bushes have
black spot and all the parts of the branches that had blossoms have
lost all their leaves. The new growth seems very healthy but
overall they look terrible.

The nursery where I purchased the roses has very little information
beyond the little write-up in Sunset's Western Garden. I did
notice that they did not stock this particular rose this year.

I planted other roses last year and they seem to be doing well
under the same conditions.(Matador, Mdme Hardy, Mdme Plantier,
Graham Thomas and Winchester Cathedral)

I was wondering if it is too wet for them here, in the Vancouver
area? I have an area on the south side of the house under the
eaves that I could move them to.

Are there particular care requirements of Austrian Copper that I am
not aware of or is this just the way the rose is? (in that case
would anyone like a couple of plants)

Thanks alot,

Katherine

Maple Ridge, B.C.
(katherin...@hortus.bc.ca)

[Julia E. Shields]

<katherin...@hortus.bc.ca> wrote:

>Last year I planted two Austrian Copper roses (r. foetida ?).
>I put one on my side of a neighbours blue spruce (a beautiful tree
>that they have since cut down to make room to park a huge
>trailer...) thinking that the colours would complement each other.

......deletions to make my news program happy and willing to send a
short post........

In your concern for the rose, please don't forget to plant something to
take the place of the lovely backdrop of your garden picture...Do you have
room in your yard for a replacement blue spruce? Even a thriving plant
covered with beautiful roses is not going to look good if the trailer is
perfectly visible behind it.

If only nature and neighbors would cooperate, wouldn't we all have
beautiful gardens?

Regards,

--
Julia Shields
School of Medicine
Chapel Hill, NC

[Susan Sanders]

In article <REGAR...@hortus.bc.ca> , katherin...@hortus.bc.ca
writes:

>I was wondering if it is too wet for them here, in the Vancouver
>area? I have an area on the south side of the house under the

I was reading along, remembering the *gorgeous* large hedges of 'Austrian
Copper' I had seen in full bloom in Colorado, then remembering the
scraggly, black-spot infested 'AC's I tried to grow in SE Michigan, and
then came to the word Vancouver. Vancouver! You're even wetter than we
are. All I can say is that after several years of trying, I gave up.
They seem to do wonderfully in drier places, and they are incredible in
flower, but it wasn't worth it to me here. Your mileage may (or may
not!) vary.
-Sue Sanders

[Jim Huber]

I had been interested in acquiring Austrian Copper until I read of its
propensity for blackspot. I have had success with two somewhat similar
roses (probably AC is in the parentage), Eyepaint and Cocktail. They have
the added advantage of nearly continuous bloom, and I have not seen
blackspot. Both came to me as tiny rooted cuttings and they have been
somewhat slow to establish for me, but Eyepaint, now three years old, is
wonderful this year. Cocktail, at two years of age, is still looking
quite youthful but has had abundant flowers, and both seem healthy.

As an aside, I, too, have a lot of rhodies in my garden, now mostly
providing backgrounds to mixed borders of azaleas, dwarf conifers,
ornamental grasses, perennials, small shrubs and, now roses. I became
interested in roses and wanted to integrate them into this landscape, and
so far I'm extremely pleased with the way things are developing. It's a
lot of fun to get the sizes and shapes and color combinations right.

Jan Mountjoy
tali...@crl.com

katherin...@hortus.bc.ca wrote:
: Last year I planted two Austrian Copper roses (r. foetida ?).

: I put one on my side of a neighbours blue spruce (a beautiful tree
: that they have since cut down to make room to park a huge
: trailer...) thinking that the colours would complement each other.

: I put the other one almost opposite on the other side of the yard.

: Both sites are open and sunny. My plan was to obtain a third
: Austrian Copper this year, for a new front bed.

: I am a fairly new, but very ambitious, gardener and I'm
: 'attempting' to transform our, previously all lawn, yards.

: I have dozens of rhododendrons and I thought that species and old
: fashioned roses would be the most suitable to combine with them.(?)

: The Austrian Copper roses both put on lots of beautiful, healthy
: growth last year and a couple of pretty blossoms that lasted about
: a week.

: This year has been a disaster. I cut them back by a third in
: February and have fertilized them a couple of times with all-
: purpose flowering shrub fertilizer and fish fertilizer. This years
: growth is awkward looking, sticking out at strange angles. The
: blooms were sparse and appeared only sporadically. They were a
: washed out colour and lasted only a day or two. The bushes have
: black spot and all the parts of the branches that had blossoms have
: lost all their leaves. The new growth seems very healthy but
: overall they look terrible.

: The nursery where I purchased the roses has very little information
: beyond the little write-up in Sunset's Western Garden. I did
: notice that they did not stock this particular rose this year.

: I planted other roses last year and they seem to be doing well
: under the same conditions.(Matador, Mdme Hardy, Mdme Plantier,
: Graham Thomas and Winchester Cathedral)

: I was wondering if it is too wet for them here, in the Vancouver

: area? I have an area on the south side of the house under the

: eaves that I could move them to.

[LnThomson]

If you're in a humid area, Austrian Copper will take constant spraying to
keep it healthy.

Mine has fragile canes that break in strong wind - also it seems to water
stress worse than my other roses. If you're charitable, it has an
interesting architecture of bare canes with new growth on the ends.

Maybe others have had more success.....

Lynn, San Antonio, Zone 8/9