herbaltea's Blog

Starting roses from cuttings....
Jul 18, 2007 | 9:54 AM PST
Tag: Starting roses from clippings

I will not claim to be an expert on this subject......I think it is more just dumb luck....and the fact that God knew that a year later I was going to be bored to tears and Gardening would make a huge distraction.....:)

But here goes.  From what I've read, and from the people I have talked to (and yes, this is what I did)

.First, get a root stimulator.....

Next....the "cutting" or in my case the "pluck" was from a rose bush of the garden at an old Catholic church.  I think the one thing that made the cutting or "pluck" take.....was.....I pinched a "limb" or whatever you would call that.....but I went really close to the "woody" part of the rose.....but was able to get some of that "woody" part with my "pinch".....I dipped the little "limbs" or branches in the root stimulator.  I had bought just a bag of soil from Wal-mart....poured some in a pot.....stuck my little clipplngs in after having dipped them.....

The thing I don't remember.....is whether I soaked them in water for a few days to try to get a root.  My mother will also do that.  I don't think I had the patience, though. 

I put three in the same little pot....I had done this like Octoberish.....That spring.....I noticed I had a sprig coming up.....a few months later....that little sprig had grown.....had leaves.....and then a bud. 

My challenge now.....is to feed it.....because it is very spindly.....but it gets a good number of little roses on it....I think it's a 290 button rose....an antique floribunda. So, that....would be my Magnum Opus.

Oh, one thing my mom also told me.....My grandmother (actually my dad's mom)....if she was going to clip her roses back, or do any kind of major work to her roses for the year....She did it as close to Valentine's day as possible. I don't know if my Mom had learned that from her, or if she had known it before, but we are working on rooting a grandchild from a rose bush that had been in the rose garden at my grandmother's house.  Even though, my grandmother passed away many years ago, like when I was 2, I will still be able to have a rose from her garden....a living memory:)  (Sorry, I digress)

 I had pruned my rose back like a week after Valentine's day.....I was a week late....because I didn't even own a clipper at the time.  Anyway, the rose filled out nicely this spring with tons of blooms.  By this next Valentine's, it will be ready for a transpant into a bigger pot, and another pruning.