Iceberg Rose Bushes

2 Jul '07 6:16 am

Hi!

I just found this site and this forum, so I signed up. And here is my contribution to this discussion about Iceberg roses:

I planted two climbing bushes last spring. They bloomed nicely. This year, one of them is going CRAZY with bloom!! The first 'wave' of blooms seems to be over. I'm hoping there are more, as I don't see any buds at the moment. I'll explain why only one is doing so well, though the other is giving the old college try!: last fall, I cut back two of my rosebushes! Climbers! WAY back!! After I did that I thought...wait...am I supposed to be doing this?! The 3 I didn't cut are beautiful The other two, as I said, are just a little behind! Oops.

Anyway, my main point here is a funny observation...my icebergs have BIG NASTY thorns and a lovely fragrance!! Go figure! They are not strongly scented,as my Zephirine Drouhins are(yum!) but they are pretty!

Nice chatting with you!

2 Jul '07 5:43 pm

If ever there was a moniker which reeked of a story behind its origin, Messymoops is the one. Please do tell how that came about.

Also, I'm curious to know where you grow the Iceberg rose. It does fine for me in Berkeley, California (USA) and many folks here also grow it. I believe Sally Holmes is equally well represented around the globe.

You seem to have many roses I don't know and haven't grown. I look forward to your pictures and accounts of how they've done for you. Not that I have much more room for roses, however I can be tempted still.

3 Jul '07 2:55 am

In reading all the posts on this subject, it almost sounds like everyone has a different "Iceberg Rose". My own is not a climber, so that could account for some of the difference. However, some of you have said your iceberg is fragrant and others not so; some have almost no thorns and others are heavily thorned. What gives here? Are Iceberg roses actually different in different parts of the world?

3 Jul '07 4:21 am

I read that it was first developed in Germany by Kordes in 1958 where it is called "Fee des Neiges" and "Schneewittchen". The climbing sport came along in 1968 in the UK. Mine, the climbing variety, has thorns but few in number, widely spaced, and not much scent. Where a bountiful, healthy, pure white rose is wanted it is hard to beat.

3 Jul '07 7:56 am

Hi, Mark. The name comes from something I called myself when I was little. I think that's the right story, anyway!! It turned into a nickname my dad called me. He's gone now, and when the internet came along, I started using the name! Sometimes when I try to register using it, they tell me the name is already taken!! HAH!!! Doubt it!!

As for my roses, all I have are the icebergs and the Zepherine Drouhin. i'll post pictures soon. These are climbers that I ordered from Spring HIll last year. They didn't bloom last year, just got comfy. I have them all planted along a strip of fence in the back yard. I think they get mostly southern exposure, though morning is east. They seem happy. Unfortunatley, the aphids seem quite happy too!! They're currently driving me crazy!! Evil or Very Mad

There's also a mystery pest that seemd to eat tiny holes into the buds. I have uncovered one black caterpillar, but haven't found others. Dirty dogs!!!

More later and pics.

p.s. I'm in Massachusetts. Zone 6a, I think.

3 Jul '07 8:00 am

...will my Icebergs rebloom? This is only my second year with ANY roses, adn last year they didn't do much!

3 Jul '07 9:39 am

.. that doesn't sound right. Messymoops it is then. It is amazing how much past detail is lost when our folks are no longer around to ask. We just had dinner with Jim, Lia's 92 year old father Saturday and he's our only surviving parent.

Your Iceberg should definitely rebloom. However it will do this much faster if you remove all the old spent flowers, feed it and water it enough. Roses are tough but to produce flowers the way they're able to, they need the building blocks readily available. People have all kinds of routines for feeding roses. I just give mine a half cup of any granular fertilizer that says its for roses monthly from Spring through Fall, but you should probably stop provoking more bloom by the end of summer so it can get ready for winter. (I really don't know about dealiing with snow and ice so someone else should advise you here.) I try to give them a couple of long, slow soaks a week in the summer with a soaker hose.

Deadhead, water and monthly fertilizer and you should flowers galore. You probably know you can knock off most aphids with a hose, and these roses don't turn to wadded tissue paper when it gets wet so let them have it.

3 Jul '07 11:08 am

Oh, Messy's fine! That was short for Messymoops!

I have been cutting off the spent blooms. They're all gone now, so I wait! Luckily the others are still going, having started a week or two later that the white ones. I am due to feed them, though. And I always talk nicely to them!!

Any guess who the little buggers are eating thru the buds?! I hate them!!

As for winter, I did nothing but leave them alone last year, and this was the thanks I got, so it was okay! The minute anyone tells me I have to bury something to overwinter it, I'm out! Bad enough I have to suffer thru the nastiness of winter!! Wink

3 Jul '07 12:22 pm

I forgot to say that I get little holes cut out of my leaves too. I think we have some kind of leaf cutting bee (fly?) around here. They don't take much and they cut such perfect circles that I admire their work. Everyone in the Northeast tells me that Japanese beetles are the worst of the worst. Apparently they go after the flowers, not the leaves. Faith in Alabama was just telling me (on this site) how awful they can be. I can't remember which forum that was on. You might like looking at her forum under "Our Plants and Gardens" to see photos of her many roses; [[This will take you there: http://forums.mooseyscountrygarden.com/viewtopic.php?t=863&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=190 ].. Liza too has many many roses [ http://forums.mooseyscountrygarden.com/viewtopic.php?p=10079#10079 ]. Of course Mary (Moosey) has many [check the main menu]. Heck, I can't think of anyone here who doesn't admire and grow them except possibly Jacqueline in Kuala Lampur - but she has the most incredible tropical plants and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she also grows 20 kinds of roses tucked away in her very compact garden [ http://forums.mooseyscountrygarden.com/viewtopic.php?t=1014&start=130 ].

21 Oct '07 1:55 pm

It's amazing how different everyone's Icebergs are! I had one in the UK which had thorns and smelt of virtually nothing, but the one I have here in Sydney is almost thornless and sweetly fragrant. I nearly didn't buy one here because I like my roses fragrant, but there was one flowering in the garden centre and once I smelled it I was sucked right in! Laughing

One of my rose books suggests you shouldn't over-fertilise Iceberg or it will produce lots of foliage at the expense of flowers, I don't know how accurate that is.

Iceberg Rose Bushes

Icebergs

Welcome Messymoops.

Iceberg rose mystery

I've wondered about that too, Faith.

Moniker and roses

I almost forgot...

Hi again Messy,

Fine

Hi again, Messymoops.