No, I was not eating Nacho Cheese Doritos out in the garden. Rust is the heel of this Achilles. This is some of the Rust 'Abraham Darby' was shedding everywhere: It's somehow fitting, though hopefully unintentional, that a rose named for a hero of the British Industrial Revolution, with all that iron and iron machinery, should Rust so badly.
Such a gorgeous rose, so fragrant, but the Rust is dreadful. Cheeto-ville. It's gotten to the point where I'm ready to dig it out. However, because of those wonderful flowers, Abe is getting another chance to clean up. I trimmed it back, pulled off all the foliage, and laid down fresh mulch:
Let's hope for the best. Otherwise it's bye-bye Abe. When it has leafed out and blooming again, I'll update you about it.
Update 7/21/2012. Abe is still here and still rusting. I cut it back every so often, thinking to finally dig it out, but I would miss the flowers terribly. So it grows back, rusts some more, and exasperates me yet again. This past week, cut back and leafing out yet again, I got out a 1 liter spray bottle, mixed up a small amount of fungicide, and sprayed Abe thoroughly. He looks fabulous now. For a while.
I've heard you say Jubilee Celebration was a lot like Abraham Darby in color and form, though on a more compact plant. Have you found it to be like Abe in the rust department? I've got an extra JC and am thinking maybe I should replace Abe with it.
ReplyDeleteI love JC. Rust resistance far far far better on JC. A much different grower tho--all of six of them have stayed petite, 30"x30", and foliage a bit sparse.
ReplyDeleteAnother rose, offspring of Abe, quite similar, with superior rust resistance is 'William Morris'. WM utterly lacks Abe's fragrance, unfortunately...there's always something!
Thank you! Abe's current spot would probably do fine with JC's smaller stature. But I have to agree with you on Abe's delicious fragrance.
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