I have a neighbor with a beautiful rose that I would like, too. Is there any part of that rose I can take a cutting from that will give me the same color and petal texture? I have taken cuttings in the past of other roses and never get the same color or look as the mother plant.
– Telly Jane, Rocklin
Winter is a good time to make rose cuttings from dormant wood, said UC Master Gardener Bill Pierce.
Cut pieces of stem 8 to 10 inches long. Dust the bottom end – the one that grew closest to the soil – with rooting compound (available at nurseries) and bury that end in the ground or in pots filled with a mix of perlite or sand and peat moss.
Leave only one bud – the place where a leaf grew – above the soil. Put the pots outdoors in a place where the rains will keep them damp. Growth will begin in late March or April. Leave the cuttings in the pots for the remainder of the year and transplant to the garden next January.
If you start the cuttings in the soil, it is best to put them in an area that gets some afternoon shade to give them some shelter from our hot summers.
Cuttings will probably bloom in late summer or fall. In most cases, these first flowers will not be exact replicas of the mother plant, but they will start to mirror it as the plant matures.
It is possible that when you started plants previously, you did not provide the same cultural conditions as those the mother plant grew under. Changes in cultural conditions can alter the appearance of flowers; for example, more shade would promote deeper coloration and smaller, weaker buds.
If you accidentally made a cutting from sucker growth coming from the rootstock, that cutting would not be true to the variety you wanted. Sucker growth is usually very vigorous, and it is understandable why it could be taken by mistake.
When you make your cuttings, check to see that the origin of the stem you are cutting is on the bush and not from below the "bud union" (the grafting point on the trunk) or from below the soil. The bud union is the area from which the canes arise; anything growing below this point is sucker growth sprouting from the rootstock.
In California, most rose rootstock is a variety called Dr. Huey, a vigorous red climber introduced to the United States in 1920. Almost no one grows Dr. Huey for its flowers (at least not on purpose), but its roots are outstanding. If the blooms on the cutting looked like a 2-inch dark-red wild rose, chances are that was Dr. Huey.
More on apricots
The Feb. 26 Garden Detective answer regarding the pruning of apricot trees indicated that stone fruits always flower on 1-year-old shoots. The use of the word "shoots" could be misleading. The terms "shoots," "branches" and "spurs" are often used incorrectly.
When pruning fruit and nut trees, it is important to know what types of branches or shoots the tree usually uses to produce fruit. For example, persimmons bear mainly on "new shoots" that originate from near the tips of 1-year-old branches, so you should not make many heading cuts on those trees unless strong branches are desired.
Many trees produce spurs (short shoots specialized for fruiting) that should be retained, and sometimes reinvigorated, in pruning.
Apricot trees are an example of a fruit tree that bears fruit on spurs. Peaches and nectarine trees produce flowers and fruit on long 1-year-old branches.
Source: "The Home Orchard," University of California Publication 3485.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.