Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The transplantable rose.



Transplanting roses whilst they are in bloom is never recommended by 'garden experts'.

When we were settling into our first home we had three large Queen Elizabeth shrub roses, which though covered in large pink blooms were never the less in the wrong place, at least in our view. In high summer we dug out the flowering shrubs and transplanted them to a more suitable location. Everyday we sprayed them with a water mist and kept the roots damp. Those roses hardly noticed the move and thrived in their new home.

Many years later and we were faced with another badly positioned and established rose, (which despite the label had turned out to be a climber), in this our 'Mediterranean jardin'. We decided to relocate the offending specimen from it's position in the shrubbery on the west side of the villa to a new home in front of the stable block. Despite frequent watering, the move combined with a much harsher Mediterranean climate did shock the plant, which dropped both flowers and leaves.

A few weeks later and the rose had recuperated and now scrambles up the stable wall. Never say never.

A bonus for us was that in digging the rose out of the rocky soil part of the root was left behind, the root has generated a new rose now we have to decide when to move that one.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Colin and Carol,

    This post popped up when I was checking something on my garden blog which is called "The Transplantable Rose". Usually when that happens it means my words have been swiped and reblogged somewhere... it was nice to see a real post about a real plant. We seem to be attempting to grow many of the same plants, including pomegranate, figs, iris and passionflowers - although you are in Spain and I'm in the center of Texas.

    Your rose is lovely, and having it resprout must mean it likes you!

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  2. This rose is certainly a surprise it was nothing like the label, but I think it may have enjoyed the journey after all.

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