Speaking of roses

I have a question I have been meaning to put before the list for
some time, of which I am again reminded by David Felix' recent posting from 
Crete.  Over the last several years I have become more interested
in the roses that grow without irrigation or attention here in the
central valley and sierra foothills of California. So much so that
I intend over the next several years to plant a number of roses on
a  mixed woodland homesite of five acres in the foothills to which we
hold title.

There is a significant collection of old shrub, found, and species
roses here in Sacramento,at the old city cemetery, with which I am 
moderately familiar.  In addition, there are several excellent rose 
nurserymen in this area (Muriel Humenick at Rose Acres for example).  
However, none of their roses are grown completely without summer irrigation.

A short walk near the site in question turned up naturalized (for want
of a better word) plants of Hermosa, Harrison's double yellow, some
sort of Damask (probably Autumn Damask), and some mystery climber
about twenty feet up into a tree, somewhat resembling Alister Stella
Gray.  There are also roadside plantings of R.banksia lutea and alba
plena, as well as Dr. Huey, and what I think is a very large old plant
of Talisman nearby. We've been getting a lot of late season rain this year, 
so all of these look pretty good right now. I am not the best propagator, 
but with a cutting take rate of 30-40%, I should be able to start plants of 
these, grow them on for size, and plant them out in a couple of years.


My question to the list concerns any experience any of you might have
in establishing and growing roses in similar circumstances.  In this
case the elevation is 2500 feet, temperature maximums in the 100*F range in 
July and August, a low of about 12*F winter before last, but
more usually with winter lows in the 20's F.  Rainfall is about 30-40"
per annum, usually falling between November and May. The soil is a fairly 
heavy clay, but in the mixed wooded area surrounding the house that has not 
been scraped and leveled by bulldozer, there's a good
accumulation of forest litter from the oak, pine, cedar,and madrone,
that form the overstory.  I'm guessing it's been about a hundred years since 
the site was last disturbed by logging/ mining.

There are a number of small open areas from old roads, powerline cuts, and 
who-knows-what other reasons that appear to me to be potentially
viable for roses.  The deer, of course, are voracious feeders and famous for 
valuing the taste of the rosaceae, including apples, which
I also grow.  So I am prepared to provide wire caging for the first couple 
of years, as well as supplemental irrigation until the plants are 
established.  I'm guessing my best bet is to plant roses that will
grow high enough that the deer can't reach them or aggressively enough
that it won't matter  if they browse a little.


If you have any experience that might seem relevant(negative experience is 
also quite valuable) in growing roses in a mediterranean
climate with similar or less rainfall without supplemental irrigation
once established, I would appreciate hearing from you.  Of particular
interest would be the sort of rose with which you have had success
or failure (e.g. Tea, damask, species) and its situation, cultivar
name if available,  tricks or techniques you've used in getting it 
established or known history if it predates your arrival, and a brief
description of its size and habit with you (large lax shrub, monstous
thorny gorilla, climbs forty feet into nearby pine tree - that sort of 
thing). If you don't have the time right now, save this and respond to me 
privately when you can. Quite often this is the case with me,  by the time I 
get caught up with a week's worth of digests it seems the list discussion 
has move on to another topic.


Thanks very much,
Michael Larmer
Sacramento, California



________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index