topic Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER in Home

LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

Oznell — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 01:15:54 GMT

You veteran rose growers probably know about "Dr. Huey Rose". We've had one for awhile, but didn't know its name! We tend to be only casual gardeners, or gardeners by accident, although hubby is much more knowledgeable.

My husband took this photo in our yard, so I'd be able to post here. Meet our "Doctor Huey"!

For almost 20 years, we had a "Saratoga" rose, in a little round garden in the center of the backyard. It was a lovely, white one. It was always a bit delicate, and susceptible to beetles and the cold. ( Our back yard faces north, and we've discovered it has a cold micro-climate.)

Sadly, it succumbed one year, but a deep red velvety climber rose appeared in its place. Turned out, that the old strain "Dr. Huey", was a hardy rose root stock, that other roses were customarily grafted onto, ( like our Saratoga), to help them flourish, I guess.

I hated to see Saratoga go, but I like Dr. Huey too. Has anybody else here have it "take the place" of old roses in their yard or around the neighborhood? First introduced in the 1910's, they tend to appear in older, established neighborhoods.

They seem to have long "canes", that like to grow horizontally.

It only blooms once a year for a few weeks-- will hate to see it go!

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

Luv2Dnce — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 01:24:47 GMT

Wow, you have a lot of knowledge about roses. I love them, they're my favorite flower.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

gtx — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 01:44:57 GMT

@Oznell Beautiful. I have never heard of anything like it. It must be very hardy. It would look nice on a pretty arbor.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

spiderw — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 01:45:10 GMT

What a stunning flower and such a beautiful color!!!! I wish I had roses growing but do not. I do have some peonies which are my favorite, day lilies. I am not much of a gardener but I do love flowers and your story about the Dr. Huey Rose taking the place of the Saratoga rose is so interesting. I guess nature is always amazing us with her gifts,

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

just bee — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 02:50:42 GMT

@Oznell

Oh, my goodness! You've just solved a mystery!

This particular rose started showing up around the neighborhood several years ago. Then, one day, I noticed it in my front rose garden.

Funny, I didn't plant that...

But it looked healthy and happy so I let it do whatever it wanted to do. Like, take over.

Sadly, when our house burned, all the landscaping surrounding it had to be removed when they tore it down to rebuild.

I lost all the roses, including the Dr. Huey, and the area in front of the house became a patio.

But both the front and back yards were redone and we have plenty of other roses. No visiting "Dr." yet...

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

Oznell — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 12:16:23 GMT

That's the thing, @Luv2Dnce -- I don't know much at all. I just got curious, once this red one "magically" appeared, and tried to look it up. Luckily, there was lots of info on it online. So agree with you about roses-- they are mysterious and beautiful!

@gtx , oh, good idea, you're right-- the way the Dr. Huey rose grows, it would look great climbing up an arbor... maybe we should consider putting a trellis of some kind there. Then could plant other climbers too...

@spiderw , peonies are so lush and gorgeous! We have just a few, at the side of the house. Do you cut yours and bring any of them inside? I'm a wee bit skittish about bringing ours in, since ants tend to want to hide in those voluminous petals, at least in ours. But peonies are visually so romantic ....

@just bee , I was hoping someone else would have seen or have experience of this jaunty medical 'interloper' too! So sorry you lost your beautiful garden, like so much else, in that horrible fire. But how great that you've planted more roses-- do you have a favorite? I bet they grow well in sunny Albuquerque.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

We rescue cats — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 12:23:42 GMT

Still a beautiful rose with such a rich color!

I wonder if Dr. Huey was originally grafted onto Saratoga stock.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

just bee — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 14:39:45 GMT

@Oznell

No favorite, although I do miss the Scentimental rose I lost after the fire.

Haven't replaced it.

And, yes, roses do remarkably well here in New Mexico.

I think it's because the plants that survive here in the high desert all have thorns, spines and pr_ckles.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

spiderw — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:21:03 GMT

Oznell!

I am always tempted to cut the peonies and bring them inside but I do not. Aside from the ants, they do not last long so I admire them as they are! I do have faux peonies that I bought at a store called Pier One which has closed. I have the peonies in a glass vase you had recommended a few years ago!!!!! I think the vase was from QVC.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

PA Mom-mom — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:50:47 GMT

@Oznell We had that happen with a Queen Elizabeth rose. We bought it for my daughter's birthday when she was pretty young, and it lasted many years. Then, one year it didn't make it. The root it was grafted to continued to grow. I never tried to find out what kind of rose it was. DH thought he successfully dug it out or cut it off, but it keeps coming back each year. Now, it's surrounded by other plants. Maybe we should move it and give it a chance.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

just bee — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 16:53:50 GMT

@PA Mom-mom wrote:
@Oznell We had that happen with a Queen Elizabeth rose. We bought it for my daughter's birthday when she was pretty young, and it lasted many years. Then, one year it didn't make it. The root it was grafted to continued to grow. I never tried to find out what kind of rose it was. DH thought he successfully dug it out or cut it off, but it keeps coming back each year. Now, it's surrounded by other plants. Maybe we should move it and give it a chance.

@PA Mom-mom

Now that you mention it, I think the "Doctor" appeared where my Queen Elizabeth was growing.

Her personal physician, I assume.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

PA Mom-mom — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 17:04:12 GMT

@just bee wrote:
@PA Mom-mom wrote:
@Oznell We had that happen with a Queen Elizabeth rose. We bought it for my daughter's birthday when she was pretty young, and it lasted many years. Then, one year it didn't make it. The root it was grafted to continued to grow. I never tried to find out what kind of rose it was. DH thought he successfully dug it out or cut it off, but it keeps coming back each year. Now, it's surrounded by other plants. Maybe we should move it and give it a chance.
@PA Mom-mom

Now that you mention it, I think the "Doctor" appeared where my Queen Elizabeth was growing.

Her personal physician, I assume.

@just bee I think you are correct!

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

Mz iMac — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 17:33:59 GMT

@Oznell One of the reasons I miss living in West Philly. We have backyard alley ways where everbody had rose bushes w/roses blooming into the alley so you can smell them as you walk by. If you're not careful, your face can get all cut up from the thorns if you're running through an alleyway.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

SactoSue — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 01:49:25 GMT

I am very well acquainted with the succession of rootstock roses after difficult winters.

I've lost so many lovely, fragrant hybrids and such. My rootstocks all come up as Blaze. A simiilar small, but abundantly flowering and aggressively growing rose.

The best cold weather roses I have planted are the Canadian Explorer roses.

Tney are extremely tolerant to cold and snow and are a delight. I have a 30 year old William Baffin duo of roses over an archway that were stunning in their heyday, although they have lost a lot of vigor and probably need to be replaced.

I have also had great success with the Henry Cabot and Alexander MacKenzie varieties.

My greatest challenge with roses, however, is deer. My rootstock Blaze is the only rose left in the front yard because the deer that come by every other day eat everything else. The backyard has a fence, but it does not prevent the athletic deer from jumping over and having a pleasant afternoon hiding out and snacking on my lovely roses, Grrrrr.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

Nonametoday — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 23:20:05 GMT

LOL, about Dr Huey. I grew around 500 roses at one time and I learned after a couple years to quit buying grafted roses because eventually, in cold weather, they are going to become Dr. Huey. My fortuniana roses became same as the parents, so I only bought own-root roses after that. Sure, they get a slower start but they are forever.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

Oznell — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 23:53:51 GMT

These are great rose stories!

@We rescue cats, it was the Saratoga that was graf

Stunning bi-color "Scentimental" rose, @just bee -- thanks for posting that picture! Judging from the name, must have a wonderful fragrance too-- that's what I miss from our Saratoga...

@SactoSue , good to know, that "Blaze" is another hardy root stock that more delicate roses can piggy-back on. Love you experts sharing your secrets. I'm sure most serious growers find the original root stocks boring and pesky, but I'm just happy to have *something* that will reliably come back, year after year, ha. Great to hear about the cold-weather survivors, neat!

@Nonametoday , with your rose-whisperer talents, it's easy to see you have no need of any hardy root stock back-up. 500 different roses, wow what a garden! Such gardens are truly Edenic...

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

occasionalrain — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 22:51:39 GMT

My parents' house had peonies along the side that were put in a vase on the dining room table. I was told the ants were needed by the flowers. My family isn't ant phobic, no harm in a few ants.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

mousiegirl — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 20:25:51 GMT

@Oznell "Dr. Huey is a climbing rose. It is a vigorous, rambling, climbing rose that is often used as a rootstock for grafting other rose varieties. While it can be grown as a climber, it is also known for its tendency to sucker and potentially take over other grafted roses if not properly managed."

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

candys mine — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 19:15:18 GMT

@OznellYUP. My one and only dabble into "Boughten" roses was Decades ago, one called Butterscotch. A lovely tan color that was set off nicely by the rich brown color of the house next door.

Wouldn't you know it 2 years later they resided the house to Tan!

Anyway a few years after that we had a terribly freezing cold winter and Butterscotch was no more.

Me, being the sensitive soul that I am couldn't pull the bush up because, come Spring, there were some green shoots coming out from the base of the plant. I wasn't sad when the flowers were red with a yellow middle. I could See it against the neighbours house again! So Yeah, I can Vouch for it being a hardy rootstock!

The other rose on the property is a mounding, rambling, monster of clusters of pink pompoms. I think it's called "7 Sisters." Can't get rid of the thing. I suppose it has a right to stay since it's been here for at least 75 years!

A replanted runner has grown big enough to keep the kids away from the fence with the steep drop into the next yard.

Re: LOSE ONE ROSE, GET ANOTHER

Oznell — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 23:18:06 GMT

Wow, @candys mine , with a tantalizing name like "Butterscotch", I had to look that rose up:

Gorgeous, I love it-- no wonder you were disappointed. I bet they come in a subtle range of equally yummy tawny colors.