A Rose is a Rose -- Maybe
January 18 was Husband's and my 44th wedding anniversary. On our anniversary tour of the local Food City, he bought me a pink rose out of the cooler. Gorgeous thing! Well, by nipping the end off the stem every day and filling the budvase with the hottest water out of the tap, I got it to last until yesterday. And it was still beautiful.
Now, it might have lasted another day, but I wanted to try something more with it -- now that I have the greenhouse. I'd bought some rooting compound to start clippings of rosemary and thyme, and I thought I'd try it on the rose. When I had taken leaves from the rose as they shriveled, I'd noticed that the buds at the nodes were bright green, and they continued to grow a bit every day.
So yesterday I took a tall -- maybe 6 inches -- plastic flower pot from the greenhouse into the house, washed it thoroughly, adding a little bleach to used dishwater -- nothing much gets wasted here -- trimmed the stem to the three nodes it still had, nipped a bit off the bottom of the stem, dipped it in the rooting compound to cover the bottom node and planted it in the pot. The pot had a quarter of an old dish rag in the bottom to insure that the dirt didn't fall out the drainage holes, then a layer of mulch, and some garden soil mixed with play sand so that it would be light but still hold moisture. AND I had to cut off the blossom.....(sigh)
But I hope it will root and I'll have a rose bush in a few months.
PS--I love comments from my friends....and stangers if they are nice.
Now, it might have lasted another day, but I wanted to try something more with it -- now that I have the greenhouse. I'd bought some rooting compound to start clippings of rosemary and thyme, and I thought I'd try it on the rose. When I had taken leaves from the rose as they shriveled, I'd noticed that the buds at the nodes were bright green, and they continued to grow a bit every day.
So yesterday I took a tall -- maybe 6 inches -- plastic flower pot from the greenhouse into the house, washed it thoroughly, adding a little bleach to used dishwater -- nothing much gets wasted here -- trimmed the stem to the three nodes it still had, nipped a bit off the bottom of the stem, dipped it in the rooting compound to cover the bottom node and planted it in the pot. The pot had a quarter of an old dish rag in the bottom to insure that the dirt didn't fall out the drainage holes, then a layer of mulch, and some garden soil mixed with play sand so that it would be light but still hold moisture. AND I had to cut off the blossom.....(sigh)
But I hope it will root and I'll have a rose bush in a few months.
PS--I love comments from my friends....and stangers if they are nice.
posted by Jane Bierce | 9:03 AM
2 Comments:
Frib, be sure and let us know if it works! I collected some pieces of a rosebush outside my mother's house but never got them into the rooting medium - so would be encouraged to try again should I read about your success.
Thanks for an interesting read.
(And congrats on the book deal on the other post!)
BBN
Ditto letting us know if it works. I bought rooting compound one time, but after reading the label I was afraid to even take the lid off! Hugs. Lavinia
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