nina weibull roses

29 Apr '05 11:17 pm

hi all,

i have just set 2 nina weibull roses in my garden in cork (southern ireland). they seem to have rooted fine and there are new leaves and buds sprouting. the leaves are a dark red in colour and are prefect. i have them in a sunny position. out weather is never particularly hot or cold for that matter but we would have a fair bit of rain - should i fertalize more because of this? at the moment i am using tomatoe food once every three-four weeks and i have chicken waste dug into the soil. i was thinking of setting marigolds to help keep the greenfly at bay but does anyone know of anything better?

thanks, nia

1 May '05 9:48 am

Hi Nia and welcome.

I'm growing my first ever roses at the moment so I don't have much wisdom to offer first hand yet!

I've heard that chives are a good companion plant to keep the greenfly off of roses, and they also can help prevent black spot. I wish I'd remembered this sooner - I've recently had to break from my organic gardening attempts to save my roses from a hideous aphid infestation. Poor little roses were covered, just as they are starting to bud Sad

I've been using a seaweed fertilizer every two weeks - it was the only organic all-round fertilizer on the shelf, not sure if the roses particularly like it. I think the slow-release fertilizers are supposed to hold out against the insistent rain the best.

Good luck and enjoy!

4 May '05 8:31 pm

thanks for that, where are you that your suffering so early?

5 May '05 6:57 am

Up on the roof terrace in London - 4 degrees warmer than the rest of the country...

I don't know how the roses got so bad so quickly - my only excuse being that they were at the back of a few plants, so I couldn't get close to the rose bushes to see what had made their stems 'thicken' recently. I doused them in some nasty chemical Sad

and I'm now squashing stray offending aphids with my fingers. Yuck.

There is more advice in the rose forum here about companion planting. Time to get some garlic in the roots!

Your fertilizer question has made me wonder... it has been raining lots here recently, does that mean the plants need more fertilizer? Mmm.

6 May '05 11:25 pm

french marigolds are one of the best things for controlling greenfly, all be it the greenfly must be taken care of first. the marigolds are poisonious to the nasty beggers. a neighbour of mine who has roses for a few years uses chives growing around the base.

good luck with that Very Happy

31 Jul '05 6:42 am

Dear Nia, Nina Weibull is a very easy Floribunda Rose.
Try this:When the Autumn season starts, give her some organic ,natural food , like compost, or humus.In this way you will naturally enhance the quality of the food she "eats", her soil which surrounds her.Then, in early Spring, right after you prun her, spread around her roots some granular fertilizer, which will genlty be absorbed by her soil with your waterings and the rains(the surface soil around the plant should always be fresh and soft, never hard and dry!).Repeat this again by the end of June. NEVER give fertilizer from mid-July on, because her tender new growth might be frozen during early winter, especially in the zones hardiness 6,5,4. Did this help?

All my gardener to gardener love, Liza from Belgium.

24 Aug '05 11:43 pm

Hi Liza,

since you seem to be a bit of an expert on these roses would you mind if i picked your brains? Laughing

the flowers seem quiet delicate, is this the case or am i doing something wrong with them. once the bloom opes they have fallen apart within a week or so, the smell is just fantastic.

when is it possible to move one of them? i think i may have planted the two too close together.. only about a foot and a half between them and one is not doing so well.

thanks, Nia

26 Aug '05 10:54 pm

Dear friend,

I'm not an expert, of course, but I feel you're treating just fine your Roses.

Like all plants, Nina Weibull "behaves" differently, according to the climate conditions and the specific spot she is planted. For example, maybe you have noticed, that roses' blooms are darker coloured and smaller, when the weather is fresh and rainy. And a plant that needs more light and sun tends to create its branches longer or taller, in order to reach what it needs.In this way, Nina keeps her blooms longer , when the climate is in accordance with the season she blooms:not Autumn conditions in summer time, not hot summer conditions in early Spring time.

And concerning the distance: Nina Weibull is supposed to be about 50cm. tall(:1,5 feet or 2), but in the spot I planted mine, she is more than 80cm tall!! Now.If you planted two Ninas side by side, it is a very good distance the one you reffer to. You only have to keep the center of the plants "airy", which means cut back certain thin , tiny branches, in order to give some air and space in the center of the plants, keeping only the strong branches , which are going to give her clustered blooming style. In this way, you will protect your plants from any diseases in rainy weather, plus they'll be happier blooming in delight.

By the way, if your Ninas smell deliciously , is fantastic news for me, because mine...never smells! Which means --I guess--that the climate conditions, plus the spot you planted them, allow them to function ...in this deliciously smelling way. Lucky you!!

All my love, Liza from Belgium

30 Aug '05 8:55 am

Lisa, your rose caring ideas are just brilliant! have you ever tried to grow the David Austin rose called Heritage? I have, three different times, three different locations, and I've failed - but I'm tempted to try just once more taking all of your good advice!

Fresh air - very important - and sun - and good food. It's the same for us gardeners, I reckon!
Cheers, and lots of gardening love to you.

30 Aug '05 10:07 am

Dear friend, I really don't understand why this Rose reacts in this way...One of his parents is the "easy" and free flowering Iceberg (:Graham Thomas's parent as well).It's really so strange...

I only should add another very vital element, indispensable for a happy and healthy Rose: the good draining conditions. For example, for a Rose that becomes more than 1m.(:3 feet) tall, I always dig a hole 60cm deep and large (2feet), and in the bottom, before I add the rich soil,I put --15 cm thick-- good draining material(:tiny terracota balls).In this way, the roots are kept safe from any diseases ,or even perish,due to excessive humidity.

All my love, Liza.

nina weibull roses

nina weibull roses

Rose care

Aphid attack

Nia's Nina Weibull Roses.

The Heritage Rose