80% death rate of rose bushes... HELP!

4 years ago, I bought three bare root Blue Moon rose bushes which I planted next to each other. They thrived, but the blooms were a horrible, washed out pinkish lilac. I’d only bought them because I thought, not unreasonably given their name, that they’d be blue, or at least a very blueish mauve.

Spring of 2021, I very carefully dug them up and gave them away. I bought 5 bright yellow bare root rose bushes to replace the Blue-not-Blue Moon ones. I followed the instructions to the letter, and all five seemed to thrive. However, come spring this year, 4 of them looked dead. I gave them till early July to show the slightest sign of life. They didn’t, so I dug them out. The surviving bush was very sickly looking, but at least it had green leaves on it, even though it never budded…. Until early Oct!!! Its solitary bloom was so big for its size it looked like a kid dressing up in their mum’s clothes.

What I would like to know is what on earth did I do so wrong to end up killing 4 healthy rose bushes. I bought them from a very reputable dealer, so I don’t think the bushes themselves were at fault. If just one, or even two, had died then I’d put that down to bad luck. But 4 out of 5? That’s an 80% death rate, which seems awful high to me for just bad luck. If anyone out there has any idea what I might have done wrong, I’d love to hear from them. I want to buy some more yellow rose bushes to replace the lost ones, but I’m a bit wary of doing this as I’m on a very tight budget and don’t want to accidently kill them too.

To add insult to injury, when I visited the charity farm I’d given the Blue Moon roses to, I noticed that they looked terrific. They were still a lilacy colour, but a very bluey, clean, bright looking lilac instead of the YUK dirty pink lilac colour. They didn’t even do anything to them, other than stick them in the ground and left them to get on with it. They must have really good soil, or something.


A photo of the solitary yellow bloom coming up. I’m thinking of putting down some homemade 2-yr-old leaf mould (I got the idea to make leaf mould from Monty Don) around the weakly bush. Is this a good idea? The leaf mould/mulch almost looks/feels/smells like soil now. Is that supposed to happen?


The solitary bloom was so top-heavy for its weak stems that it had bent over so much I had to prop it up with a forked stick to photograph it. I dare not prune it as its still a bit tichy and skinny.

 

Just wondering how far apart you planted them, that plant looks a bit crowded where it is, if there was 3 others there as well.

 

@pete

@Hi


The 5 yellow roses I planted are called 'Rosa Chinatown' hedging roses; mature height = 120cm (4ft), mature spread = 50cm (20”), plant spacing = 50cm (20”)

As you can see from the very rough diagram I drew for you, I planted them in an un-side-down W pattern, all approx. 2ft apart. I coloured in yellow the circle of the surviving rose bush.




Since it bloomed, I’ve decided to call the survivor Faye Dunaway (from the film ‘Chinatown’.) Faye’s not as crowded out as it appears because the petunias, bizzie lizzies, etc, are all in containers, sitting on top of the soil/lawn so not depriving it of soil nutrition. Nor do they prevent sunlight getting to her. The gladioli by her are in the ground though, as is the hydrenga bush to her left. We live by the sea and get a lot of wind, but that part of the garden is very sheltered.

The 3 Blue Moon roses I’d planted there previously, were planted in a ‘V’ formation, with the two by the back wall 4ft apart and the third one planted between them but at the front of the boarder, approx. 2ft from the back wall. They thrived; I just didn’t like their Yuk colour.

 

It's a mystery then, can't think of what the problem could be .

 

Roses like all day sun and a heavier soil - the picture not only looks overcrowded as Pete says but is close a wall - so will suffer from rain shadow.

I'd lean towards planting in containers - so that you have more control.

 

I am leaning to the problem could be in the soil?

Replant disease / RHS Gardening

 

I wasn't going in that direction mainly because the other roses were only growing there for a short time.
But maybe wrong.

 

Personally, I wouldn’t have planted any more than two roses in that space. If you want to save it, I’d be tempted to dig it up and incorporate plenty of organic matter (well rotted manure) into the soil. As a precaution, it might be a good idea to import (from elsewhere in the garden) some fresh soil. Interesting link there @gks . As we all know, this year has been exceptionally dry, so that won’t have helped.

 

The rose in the picture looks really poor, the foliage doesn't look good and I'm wondering if the flower is it's last death throes.

 

You could well be right, it looks very impoverished.

 

I agree with @gks, this could well be re-plant disease. Were there, or could there have been, roses in the spot previous to planting the Blue Moon Sajehar? It could be they just didn't flourish there but having planted the yellow roses in the same spot does suggest it's the disease. Nobody is certain why this happens, particularly with roses. Some gardeners have had success changing a large amount of the soil before planting more roses, but more often than not it's best to plant them in a different area.

GC's rosarian @wiseowl may be able to enlighten you more about this problem.