Why have my rose buds gone all floppy?

Hi,

I'm new here and nearly-new to gardening. A couple of weeks ago I was given a beautiful climbing rose as a gift, a Starlight Express. As I didn't have a clear bit of garden ready for it, it's been kept indoors and it seemed quite happy. Its buds were just beginning to open.

Finally I have cleared a suitable bit of flower bed for it. Before I went to work this morning I put the rose (in its pot) on the soil where I'd planned on planting it this evening and gave it a good water.

When I got home from work all its gorgeous buds had flopped over. What have I done wrong, and will it recover? It looks so sad.

 

If it was in a small pot for it's size and there were drainage holes in the bottom then the June/July hot sun will have dried the soil out completely and the plant will have flopped from dehydration, even though you watered it-it wouldn't have lasted it all day long.

Give it a good watering and then plant it in the bed, you will definitely need to keep on watering the rose for a while to prevent it from drying out.

It is worth having a look around here for tips on how to prepare a bed for a climbing rose as it will need to be given a really good start if you want it to perform well.


If you act quickly ( within a day or so) then it should recover and still flower this year-fingers crossed

 

Welcome to the forum Viola Mad.
I don't know why you kept that rose indoors. Roses are perfectly hardy.
I would plant that Rose out, cut off all the flowers that have gone past - that way it might do a late show for you.
If that fails your Rose will get on fine next year. Gardening is a long term project.

 

Thanks folks, I'm so relieved that's all there was to it. I will be sure to keep it well-watered in the future. And yes, I will have a look around the site to pick up more tips on preparing the bed for it as best I can.

Alice - I kept it inside essentially because I didn't know the best thing to do. Years ago I used to own a narrowboat and had pots of pansies all over the roof. One year there was a really hot summer, and I had under-estimated how hot the metal roof would get. I basically cooked the plants. I am not really fit to be let loose on living, beautiful things. Anyway, until I had cleared the bed, the only space available for my rose outdoors would have been on the concrete path. Bearing in mind how hot it has been I really, really did not want to cook that too. Actually I was surprised at just how well it got on indoors.

 

We all make mistakes when we start, viola. Doesn't rule us out as a gardener forever!

I also suggest you scoop the earth around your rose so it's in a dish as big as a soup plate only a bit deeper. Then let the hose pipe run slowly into it for a few minutes. The dished area will make sure it all goes to the root of the plant and not run away.

Two more tips:
~ give the plant a good soak in a bucket of water for about half an hour before you plant it
~ cut a plastic lemonade bottle in half and bury the open half into the ground next to the plant. Fill the bottle when you water and it will all go to the root.

 

Ok, I gave the rose a good water and removed all the buds that looked beyond rescue. It looked a lot better, and the remaining buds perked up and started to open (indoors).

Yesterday I planted the rose out, following all the instructions above and anything else I could find on here. I have not in any way deprived it of water. In the evening I went out for a couple of hours and by the time I got back all the remaining buds had gone floppy again. I gave it another good watering. I went home at lunchtime today and it does not look any better. I can't believe it. I have checked to see if I had accidentally damaged any of the stems while planting it out, but I can't see any damage. What have I done to make the flowers all limp and sad like this?

 

As Woo says, please don't worry, it will still be feeling it from the planting. It will settle down.

 

Thank you for your reassurance. Sadly I think I have lost all the remaining buds, but hopefully it won't be too long before it produces some more if I keep watering it.