Not giving you advice because I'm not experienced in growing roses, but, I've been reading your posts and am wishing you the best. You sure are going all out to try and give them the best environment possible. My niece lives in San Antonio, Tx., and she grows roses. I have no idea what she does, but, they do well for her. I doubt her soil is much different from yours. I wouldn't give up on your poor King's Ransom yet. Give it a month or so and see if it makes a come back.

CottonTexas said: Well, it's neither transparent nor black, so it should work, right? Probably a silly question, but am I supposed to poke holes in it or something for air?

I was using larger pots and checking every day for new buds getting the rose some fresh air. I was surprised how/where new buds can develop.

LittleAnnie said: Not giving you advice because I'm not experienced in growing roses...

Hope it's not a stone in my way! I was seating on my hands until the very last phase of this rose development...

dup

Elena999 said: ...I was seating on my hands until the very last phase of this rose development...

LOL - It's true! I've re-read the thread, and @Elena999 told me what's good a while back! I thought covering the plants was to keep the sun from burning them, and the others did so well that I didn't think... Anyway, it's supposed to break into the 90's tomorrow, and stay there pretty regularly from there on, so I'm thinking I'll pitch my project hoop-shade, and see if playing with Legos as a kid did me any good.

I'll pick up a red clay pot while I'm in town tomorrow, so we can ditch my 64oz. Coca-Cola yard decoration. Cotton

I hope @Elena999 read my post in good humor, as I meant it in good spirit - not mockingly at all. I didn't understand at the time (and please still correct me if I'm wrong) that by covering the plant, it goes into a somewhat semi-dormant stage, and can "reawaken" with a kind of a new start. When I thought we were just protecting the young stems and leaves from sunburn, I figured that we're not even well into the 80's yet, and I was misunderstanding the point. Sincerely, I thank all of you that have contributed, and tried to help me out despite my stubborn silliness.

So today, I got my hoop-shade project together.



I'll share the shopping list below if anyone wants to follow suit.



I also got some fresh mulch down today, and a terracotta pot for our troubled darling rose, who seems to be showing no signs of improvement nor decline today, so no change, but there's still green in there, so I'm happy enough to wait.



Monday will begin the deep watering session for the other two plants. Our "patient" will still be getting twice watering daily, and stay rested under her red pot. In the early afternoon I'll pull the shade up over them to shield them from the sun. Today was Texas-hot for the first time this year at only 90°, so they're going to need it.

As always, any & all advice, critique, comments, or criticisms are welcome, and I hope everybody's having a pleasant evening. Cotton

LIST: I have no affiliation with the producers &/or sellers of these products, and I'm only sharing this list so that it might be helpful to others that (like me) can sometimes have a hard time finding exactly what they need.

The Amazonian:

UCINNOVATE 6.5 x 10 FT Green Sunblock Shade Cloth for Plants，70% Sun Shade Mesh Tarp UV Resistant Shade Fabric Taped Edge with Grommets (~$20)

Liberty Hardware ANCBPS7-HSG-L Liberty Outdoor ANCBT7-HSG-U1 7-1/2 Inch Bladed Plastic Yard/Gardening Ground Anchor, Green 4-Pack (~$5)x2

Easy Gardener 70035, Snap Grommets, Sun Screen Accessory, 10 Pieces (~$5)

Tractor Store:

OK Brand 8 ft. x 50 in. Handy Panel Max 50 10-Line Cattle Feedlot Fence Panel (~$20)
(TIP: Snips could not cut this, and I had to use a cut-off wheel on a grinder - a hacksaw may work though.)

Wally-World:

Hyper Tough 550 Paracord, Green, 5/32 inch x 50 feet, String & Twine (~$5)

UPDATE: Hyper Tough 20 Pack 10 inch Mini Bungee Cords in Plastic Jar (~$5)
(I used this as an improvement over the 550 paracord [listed above] because they seem to hold everything down better in the wind.)

All together about $60 (before tax), and I feel pretty confident that it won't blow away in the crazy winds we get around here. HTH

Being a Sunday, I did not water my plants this morning, nor did I take the shade cover down last night, and at some point during the day the wind blew (like crazy - like it does), and a part of the cover got pulled down. (I think I'll be adding bungee-cords to improve the design, but anyway...) This evening I pulled back the shade cloth to give them all a drink, and noticed that one of the longer branches of the first King's Ransom must have snagged and snapped, and I had to cut it off :(



So now I have a cutting that is sitting in a soda can full of water and gravel. I mean, the good news is that I've likely already killed one King's Ransom, so I'll probably need another one, but the bad news is that I've already killed one King's Ransom, and I know much less about this as a starting point.

I'm reading all the forum pages like crazy, and tomorrow when the compost, alfalfa meal, and the chelated iron come in, I'll stick it in a cut-down milk jug, and we'll see what happens. I have noticed that since I've bought these roses, I become bored much less often. Cheers, Cotton

I admire your tenacity!

This has been an exciting week. I decided that deep-watering should be Mondays & Fridays, so I started Monday morning with a slow trickle of water for the two maturing plants (trying to encourage anchor root growth) I watered them for about an hour each, and a very slow flow seems to keep the pooling issues manageable.



Our first King's Ransom has been unfairly mistreated by the wind all week, and it's starting to lean. When the other branch broke off, I was thinking that I'd be tempted to cut the other one off if the plant were more established, just so I might keep it a little shorter to help against the wind, but I wouldn't dare with such a young plant. (BTW, I did pluck that intruder after I shot the pic.)



Our Chicago Peace is looking nice, and I remain pleased with the progress here.



Our second King's Ransom stayed about the same until roughly Tuesday evening. On Monday I'd given her some compost, alfalfa meal, and chelated iron (as I did with the other two), and everything around the graft got mushy, and stayed that way for nearly an entire day, and the stems began to die back again. It's not dead yet, so we'll wait and see if she makes the long-shot, but it's not looking good.



The cutting mentioned previously was dipped in "Take Root" hormone, and planted in a clay pot, with soil that was a 50% mix of native dirt + compost (couldn't find perlite in quantities less than a metric ton), and I covered it with a cut-down coke bottle, and set it in a window that doesn't get direct sunlight. I don't think I'll post updates of that here because hybrid teas are supposed to be impossible to root when you do everything right, and I definitely did not, so I figure it'll only be noteworthy if it actually takes.

Other thoughts: So I felt a little silly buying compost, because it was so freely available back home, but being new to town, I just don't know anyone that might have it. Then there's the alfalfa meal. It is not what alfalfa likes to eat, but it is alfalfa (like hay, horse-food) ground up (into meal). Amarillo is a cow-town, and I just had this stuff shipped in ...because I'm dense.

I've been told by my mother that cheap rusty nails were the secret to making her roses a brighter pink when I mentioned I'd bought chelated iron. I was also warned against changing anything in the soil when a young plant is trying to take root. I thought that the compost, alfalfa meal, and chelated iron would be alright, and it may be a benefit should my poor rose survive, but I gave the other two some plant food (24-8-16), and I skipped giving any to the little one still recovering.

Alright, well that's enough writing to make my diary jealous, so I think I should call it quits for now. I hope that y'all're all having a wonderful day, and I'll post more pics next week. Cheers, Cotton

EDIT: ...because "hey" and "hay" are not the same

Elena999 said: Hope it's not a stone in my way! I was seating on my hands until the very last phase of this rose development...

Hey, the way I see it, now is the time to experiment. When we've got nothing left to lose, we get to try anything & everything that comes to mind, and if all else fails, there's always next year! Cotton

This week has some interesting developments. In usual fashion, I'll start with the first King's Ransom: This little beauty not only has some new growth down low, but has a new little rose bud ...and I don't know if I should be excited or scared!



Not to be out-shined by her taller sister, the Chicago Peace has also produced a new little rose bud of her own!



I had no expectations of getting roses to bloom this year, and if I'm honest, I'm all worried that they might deplete their necessary energy trying to bloom.



Our second King's Ransom is not doing well at all. I'll wait until there's absolutely no life left at all before digging the poor thing up, but there's just not much hope left for this one.

The cutting from a little over a week ago has taken to mold, so I've put it in the sun for a couple of days to see if that might help, but I'm surprised at how green it is still.

For those that are wondering, (which is quite possibly less than one of you, ) my routine is something like this: In the morning I water the ailing King's Ransom, and on Mondays & Fridays I place the garden hose on at a trickle for an hour a piece at the base of each of the other two. At one o' clock I pull the shade cloth over them to shield them from the mid-day sun, and at eight I pull the shade back down, and water the poor King's Ransom again.

I've added compost, chelated iron, and started a monthly fertilizer for them already. If there's room for improvement, then I'd love to hear from the experts! It's because of the incredible folks here that have helped me to get this far, and I hope y'all're having a wonderful evening. Cheers, Cotton

Those sound like carefully pampered roses. I hope they reward you for all the attention.

This week has been really rainy (to my surprise), so I haven't had to do much watering. The cutting I had soon took to mold, and when I put it outside to let the sun kill the mold, it got rained on. It really didn't go well from there. I was just trying something new anyway, but on with our weekly update:

The first King's Ransom is still growing like mad, and her little bud has made me quite eager to see what the first bloom will look like.



The Chicago Peace has beautiful little pink petals peeking through the bud.



The second King's Ransom both refuses to grow, and refuses to die. Well, I have refused to quit watering it, so we're stuck in what seems to be an eternal holding-pattern on this one.



I have removed the red pot that was covering it, and there has been no sign of any change since. There's only the slightest bits of green on the stems here & there, but that's enough to keep it from getting dug up.

I am wondering about shade though. Days like to today that follow what's been days of rain, with a high today of only about 75°, the sun is bright and shining, and I'm unsure if I should let them soak up the rays before the rain returns again tonight, or if I should stick to my rigid routine of covering them after lunch. I'll let them play in the sun for today, but would love to hear thoughts on this.

Anyway, that's it for this week's update. I hope that everyone is doing well, and y'all have a great rest of the week! Cotton

Yes. Do let them have sun. The only time you need to shade them is when you see the top growth wilting. Even then, no need to shade them if they re-hydrate overnight.

The root mass just isn't quite large enough to keep them from wilting in the first year, but you have been growing those anchor roots which pump up the water to the top growth over night.

Good work.

Smiles,
Lyn

It took over two months to see any growth on a massacred barely alive Lavender
crush that I bought for $2.50 a few years ago when it was hard to find. It finally sent up growth and is still alive and blooming. Not a great rose, but it could be its rough beginning. The message is, dont give up.
Actually, I planted a tiny rooted cutting in a friends garden and he covered it with cardboard and mulch the first year since it was too small for him to see. Lo and behold, the next year I saw tiny leaves and the year after that discovered it had survived and is now climbing his fence. The rose was Mels Heritage ...so worth waiting for, IMO!

Roses are full of surprises ....

I believe it is finally time that we can assess the failures and successes here on these darling little roses.

The first bloom from the beautiful King's Ransom is dedicated to @RoseBlush1 . Just as to say that without the Yellow Rose, there would be no Texas, is as without Lyn, there would be no yellow rose in my own little piece of Texas. So this one is for our wonderful Lady Lyn, for all the help and advice so selflessly given. It can never be said that RoseBlush1 could ever be worth any less than a king's ransom.



The Chicago Peace has also come into full bloom, and the symbolism here is obvious: It's why all veterans chose the path in which we did, and peace is what I pray for, for all of the wonderful folks here that have always been helpful, friendly, and kind.



Our second King's Ransom shows no change, though if there is any significant development, then I will be sure to post back here, but at least for now, I think we can safely say that the weekly updates are no longer necessary. Our roses continue to bloom, and in no small part thanks to all of y'all. Stay blessed, Cotton

Edited because I'm never quite certain that I've clearly conveyed what I'm thinking.

Perseverance pays! Well done, Cotton.

Cotton ...

Thank you for the dedication ...

It's really kind of awesome ... But I have to tell you that you are thanking not only me and the others on this forum, but you are thanking all of the people who have gone before us who have willingly shared what they have learned to those who are new to growing roses.

Your own determination to learn and do the work needed to give the roses you purchased, which were half-dead, a chance to come back has given you roses to enjoy, but has also helped others see that it is truly possible to grow roses in less than ideal conditions. Therefore, you, too, have been an inspiration to others who have read your posts and have been learning about roses as you are learning.

That is part of the gardening life. Passing along what others have taught us is the invisible joy that our gardens give to each of us.

Smiles,
Lyn

Edited to correct my typos