roses

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Comment by Kimberley Pacholko on April 15, 2010 at 10:10pm

Jackie: It is hard to determine why your roses have died without more details. There are always so many potential reasons. I also have clay soil but my roses do fine. Here are some of the most common reasons for rose failure maybe one of these will ring a bell.

> Growing roses not hardy to your zone.
> Trying to grow roses in a location that receives less than 6 hours of full sun per day.
> Trying to grow roses in the same spot another rose has died. (There are several theories for this known phenomenon, one being that the rose roots must send off some sort of toxin that is potent only to other roses.)
> Trying to grow roses under the over-hang of your homes roof (thus not receiving enough rain water).
> Trying to grow roses in a PH level that is either too alkaline or to acid. (The best PH range is between 6 & 7. You can easily test this yourself with a store bought kit costing $10.00 or less)

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Comment by Jessica on March 5, 2010 at 8:39am

What zone are you in? I give my roses a lot of winter protection, and I am very careful about buying roses that are hardy hardy hardy. My father-in-law has gorgeous roses (he's in Holland, so it's a different climate than my zone 5b) in really sandy soil. Have you tried simply digging some sand into a bed? That's what I did in my old garden, and they seemed to like it.
Also, I'm careful to remove any fallen leaves from the ground and then I burn them, and when I mulch and manure, I make sure it doesn't touch the stem of the plant. I have one rose here which I discovered languishing in a bed full of golden rod and rudbeckia getting only partial sun. It had received no attention for years, and blooms non stop all summer. I think many roses are simply not hardy enough for the climates they are sold in.