[gardeners] Digging up a rose
Rosemary Carlson (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 19 Jul 1998 15:49:13 -0400
Help! :) I think I'm calling Lucinda here - or any of you rose experts. I
have a rosa rugosa in my garden - very vigorous. Looking at it, it seems to
have had BABIES! 3 small rosa rugosas growing near it. So, I say to myself,
AH HA! I can dig up one of the babies, pot it up and take it with me when I
move! Right? Well....................I don't know - and here's where I need
help.
I dug up the rosa rugosa baby. Or tried. JEEZ. The root system seems to go
to China (it's 90 degrees with equal humidity while I'm doing this). I
can't FIND the bottom of the root ball......then I realize the roots seem
to be running toward the "mother" plant. Is this a baby that grew off the
mother's root system? Anyone know?
At any rate, I kept on digging......and digging......and there was NO END
to the baby's root ball. By this time, I'm convinced it's still attached to
the mother plant's roots. And it didn't want to be dug up - that much was
for sure. But, I kept on .........and up it finally came......but without
much root. (SOB) A few little hair-like roots - not many. Obviously, it was
attached to its mom.
Question: OK, not many roots - hardly any - and the few that came up were
just little hair-like things. But, ever hopeful, I stuck it in rooting
hormone and in a pot I'd prepared for it.
Have I killed it? Will it grow? Any suggestions/advice helpful - also, how
DO rosa rugosas produce offspring??
Rosemary in Lexington, KY
zone 6a
http://www.morehead-st.edu/people/ro.carls