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Thomas for Roses - Historic Archive Only
Discussion id : 97-547
most recent 18 JUL 17 SHOW ALL
 
Initial post 14 FEB 17 by Give me caffeine
I've just found out that the variety of multiflora that this nursery uses for rootstock is completely thornless.

This does not mean the dreaded HMF "thornless, or almost", which usually translates as "gnarly spikey things right where you don't want them". I mean genuinely and completely thornless.

This is quite handy if you need to remove a wayward shoot or two. No gloves are required to deal with the rootstock itself (the scion may be a different matter, of course). This applies even if you have taken your eyes off the bush for a couple of weeks, and the rootstock has sprouted up several feet long. No thorns, at all, anywhere.
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Reply #1 of 7 posted 14 FEB 17 by Kim Rupert
I wonder if that might be the same as Ralph Moore's old "Rum 10" thornless multiflora? It didn't even have the small prickles on the mid ribs. He named it that as he obtained it from Roy Rumsey, his Australian agent for many years.
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Reply #2 of 7 posted 14 FEB 17 by Give me caffeine
No idea, but I suppose it could be. I can certainly see why a nursery worker would find it convenient for budding.
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Reply #3 of 7 posted 14 FEB 17 by Kim Rupert
No prickles? ABSOLUTELY! LOL! It is NO fun getting everything all lined up, then getting JABBED by a prickle as you try to tie the bud in.
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Reply #4 of 7 posted 14 FEB 17 by Give me caffeine
I'm half tempted to try and strike some, just in case I want to try budding things myself at some point. Since it's not spiky it could just go nuts in a corner without bothering anyone.
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Reply #5 of 7 posted 14 FEB 17 by Kim Rupert
Uh, it's multiflora. Since when has a multiflora grown anywhere it's been told to without "bothering" anyone? Birds adore the tiny, red hips and "deposit" guano-encapsulated seeds all over, all of which will grow. It can sucker and it WILL layer itself anywhere it touches the soil. Maintaining one for propagation can be convenient, but I would plant it in a large pot, on a solid surface where it can't hit the soil. And, I would seriously dead head it to prevent seed formation. Been there.
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Reply #6 of 7 posted 14 FEB 17 by Give me caffeine
Ok. Thanks for the tip.
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Reply #7 of 7 posted 18 JUL 17 by Paz
also, this multiflora they use has light pink flowers Ive noticed...
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Discussion id : 94-495
most recent 21 AUG 16 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 21 AUG 16 by Give me caffeine
I just got our last roses for this year from Thomas for Roses, having decided we wanted a few small ones to fill in some of the tapered gaps between the (soon to be) big Teas. Opened the package, and they'd sent me an extra Chanelle gratis!

Can't grumble about that, so grumbling I am not. :)

They're good, strong plants too. The last lot I planted are going gangbusters now. I have no doubt the latest batch will soon catch up.
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Discussion id : 93-565
most recent 19 JUN 16 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 19 JUN 16 by Give me caffeine
Just noting that if you want to get 'Spray Cecile Brunner' from Thomas for Roses, you should order "Bloomfield Abundance", as this is how they have it listed in their catalogue.
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Discussion id : 93-394
most recent 15 JUN 16 HIDE POSTS
 
Initial post 14 JUN 16 by Give me caffeine
Having just received our first order of roses from Thomas for Roses I thought a few comments were in order.

First, they're nice people to deal with. When notifying me of the dispatch of our order, Glenys even added that we could knock $2 off the invoice as the postage had been slightly less than she anticipated.

The roses arrived in good order, but due to my inexperience I made a mistake that some other beginners might wish to take note of. I had assumed that the roses would be shipped much like the ones you see in a hardware store, with each rootball individually wrapped in something to keep them happy for a bit.

Thomas ships their roses totally bare root, with all the roses bundled together and some moistened newspaper around the outside of the whole lot of the roots. Naturally I opened up the package as soon as it arrived to check the contents. My mistake was assuming that, in our warm autumn weather, the moistened newspaper around the outside of all the roots would keep the plants happy for a couple of days. The problem was that there was enough air space in the middle of the bunch for the roots to begin drying out.

I caught onto this as soon as it started having a noticeable effect, and roses are tough anyway, so now that they are in the ground they are already bouncing back. No permanent harm done, and not the nursery's fault anyway, but worth noting.

Since I wasn't ready to plant them all immediately, and since I didn't want to heel them in somewhere in the garden for a couple of days, and since like most people I had a pile of old plastic pots of various sizes sitting around anyway, what I did was pot them temporarily in budget potting mix. This seemed like the easiest and most convenient holding pattern, as it allowed me to do the job at my potting bench and then just take the pots down the block when I was ready to plant.

One 60 litre bag only cost $8 from Mitre 10, and each bag will easily do 8 roses, so for a cost of $1 per rose I think it's excellent insurance. In future I would just do this as a matter of course if not ready to plant immediately.
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Reply #1 of 3 posted 14 JUN 16 by Patricia Routley
A recent email from a friend, called Glenys and her husband, "the salt of the earth" and I thoroughly agree. I was on the Heritage Roses in Australia Mt. Gambier pre-conference tour when we had a far, far too brief a stop at this superb nursery. The memory of it inspired me to recently pen a silly little article on helping nurseries - which is one way to help conserve our wonderful old roses. If only they would send to Western Australia, what riches I would order.

Give me caffeine, that el cheapo potting mix will all fall off the roots when you transplant the rose and all those little white feeder roots will get the shock of their lives. Ideally, dig and fill the hole three months before the rose arrives. When the worms are as fat as your little finger, then you know your rose will positively leap out of the ground.
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Reply #2 of 3 posted 14 JUN 16 by Give me caffeine
They were getting a worse shock not being in anything at all. Some immediate action was required, IMO.

Yes, it comes off the roots when you transplant them, but as long as they're keep moist and as long as you take the mix off carefully I can't see it being a problem. I've transplanted plenty of things out of potting mix before and never had any problems. Bear in mind that I'm proposing this simply as a holding pattern for a few days. The roots have already been out in the air, and won't put on any significant growth in a week at this time of year. It's basically just to keep the plant hydrated through the roots that are already there.

The holes they went into are quite comfy. What happened was I started down the bottom of the block where all the best topsoil is. It's ok, but still not the best for a rose bed, so on top of that went about 6" of (free) fresh horse poo, followed by another 4" of (not free) premium garden soil, followed by some pelletised chook poo for extra nitrogen when the fresh horse poo and associated wood shavings started breaking down. This was all covered with ti tree mulch and thoroughly watered. This was done some time back.

Just recently I was given access to a small mountain of horse poo that had nicely composted itself*. I spent a week busting my back shovelling it into the ute and taking it home, then unloading and spreading it. The ti tree mulch got raked back and the composted stuff (lots of it) went on top of the preceding garden soil. About another 6" worth. The whole lot then got dug over where the roses were going (I haven't yet dug over the entire bed, which has a total area of about 100 square metres, but will do that before the roses outgrow their current holes).

The resulting stuff soaks up water like a sponge, is chockers full of goodies, and still has excellent drainage. I am fairly sure the roses will be happy.

Do I get a pass? :D

*This had witchettys as fat as my thumb in it.
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Reply #3 of 3 posted 15 JUN 16 by Patricia Routley
Yes. A gold-plated pass.
I can only manage the hole itself.
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