Weather suited for roses

I live somewhere in Asia where it's very humid. In memory of my mom, I wanted to raise roses so that even after her passing away I can still have memorial [color=#FF0000]EDITED: no spamming please[/color]] of the roses which will remind me of her. My problem however is that the roses get wilted even before they can bloom. Are roses not OK to grow in humid areas?

Post edited by: Sakura, at: 2007/09/04 08:26

What you are refering to is rose balling http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0504/ rose_balling.asp

The website gives you good information about this. I have it happen here on occasion but not often. I find it happens to my oldest and heaviest petaled roses when the wether is rainy and no sun or air for a week or so.

Since you want to plant roses that remind you of your mother, it's the rose that will determine which one you get. If balling is a serious problem, it is preferred that you plant single to semi-double roses or roses that don't have a good deal of petals. This will help. The more petals, the better the chance of balling to occur. Also keep your distance between them liberal so there is good air flow around them. Keep them in full sun to allow them to dry out during the day. Also keep the pruned and thinned out, again to allow the best airflow in and around the bushes.

Do keep a couple of hybrid teas for your mother and see how they do. My suggestion for these would be roses such as Gemini, Dainty Bess, or any hybrid tea with 25 petals or less. The fewer the petals, the less likly balling will occur. Also with Hybrid Teas, the fewer the petals the less the fragrance. But then if they ball you can't smell them anyhow.

Wild Spice...it's name tells the fragrance.

These may not be the hybrid teas that will remind you of your mother, but may I suggest rugosa roses? Just about any rugosa that you come across will most likely do well for you. I have a real beauty here that loves moist areas and grows well in humid weather without disease or balling...Wild Spice http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=26304

Though they won't last all that long in a vase and are short stemmed, some with many prickles, they are a lovely class of roses that will take any and all kinds of weather, soil conditions and are nail hard when it comes to disease and insects. There are quite a number of varieties within this class and many of them are just as pretty (and some with better fragrance) than hybrid teas. One in particular that comes to mind is Therese Bugnet http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=21095, though I won't guarantee this girl won't ball.

I hope this helps. Keep us informed on what you decide to do and how you make out. I'm especially curious on the hybrid teas and how, keeping a larger bed with fewer roses in full sun do for you.

Thanks for the very lengthy and detailed reply Julie. Unfortunately I wasn't able to read the post from the link you sent me because I had to visit a greenhouse. I bookmarked it though so I can visit it anytime.

I'm actually not concerned with the species or hybrids. My problem is with the weather. I can still remember I tried raising one local species but it got wilted even before it can produce flower buds.

Portrait welcome to the forum. I'm glad you joined. I'm sorry I had to edit your link (however the roses you were referring to weren't visible at all) - because it's a commercial site. Hopefully you can place a link to a non-commercial site showing the roses you are referring to.

Julie, great advise I hope Portrait will keep us updated on his decision.

I'm actually not concerned with the species or hybrids. My problem is with the weather. I can still remember I tried raising one local species but it got wilted even before it can produce flower buds.

Get your soil check, and have them check for qualilty as well as microscopic nemotodes. There's something wrong here and I'm afraid that even to add soil amendments may not help. It is also possible that you need to water several times a day until the roots take hold. But get your soil checked, no matter.

I just did that today Julie. I informed the soil analyst about the purpose for this test and hopefully she can give me a favorable response.