A few years ago I was given a "Julia Child's" rose for my birthday. It was gorgeous!! HUGE, fragrant, butter yellow blooms, a real beaut. Well, I overdid it with the fertilizer The poor thing coughed and sputtered and struggled until I thought it was done :'( Then I noticed these little green leaves and I was thrilled. Then my darling husband accidentally hit it with the weed eater :-x I decided to dig it up and move it to the flower bed outside the front door. It took off like a rocket!! I babied that thing and babied it. When it bloomed they were just plain ole red field roses :-? Doing some research I learned that some companies graft their hybrid onto sturdier plants. I guess all the trama this little rose went through killed the hybrid but not the stock. Has anyone else had this happen to them??
Yep, my Blaze climber froze to the ground several years ago and the next spring instead of being red it was covered with white blooms and a few pinkish ones...the next year the red graft took over and it has bloomed red each year since then.
Oh my - I never knew that the sturdier stock plant actually survived all the trauma and showed exactly why it is the dominant one. So sorry about your Julia's Child Stratsmom. THis just shows up mu ignorance when it comes to roses. I only have one rose bush that survives all trauma and neglect - correction - it is my daughter's rose bush
I have had one Rose shoot up a runner from below the graft and bloom a single flower. I cut it off and the graft took over again.
My green rose probably froze to death or something, and the root took over. I was very disappointed since the green rose is hard to come by. So you're not alone.
When it comes to growing roses I have a black thumb. They always die on me so I don't even try to grow them anymore. Glad so see others have such beautiful ones even if it come from the original root stock.
About every rose I have ever had that was grafted has done this to me. The top dies off and then I am left with a rose color I didn't expect. The next time I try to get a special colored rose I will be doing some starts so that the entire thing is that rose color. That way if I lose the original I have back-ups.
Texas is not kind to roses, but the own-root and antique roses do better. Since they are not grafted, they don't revert to the root stock rose (which usually isn't much to look at). The nice thing about the antiques and own-root roses is what you buy is what you get--no surprises!
