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roses and bulbs in pots. I have rose bushes in pots ( 1ST year) can I plant some bulbs in aswell. Worried about compost I added in summer.
- 4 Nov, 2018
Answers
What sort of compost did you add during the summer?
4 Nov, 2018
Thank you for your replies. The pots are quite large with small shrub roses I bought as ' bare root ' this summer. I planted geraniums and debonias around them . They still look lovely and in full colour but I was going to dig them out now ( seems a shame but I think they will die otherwise) before the frost gets to them and bring them in . The bulbs were to replace them for some colour early spring ive got crocus , mini iris , hyacinths and anenomes to put all round in general. I dug in manure in the summer when I planted the roses, and have bought grit for the bulbs ( .watching gardeners world too much) . Was worried the manure may damage the bulbs.
Think I may dig out the bulbs after flowering and replant the geraniums if they survive. New to this and not tried roses, bulbs or bringing in plants before so does this sound ok ? Ive been starting gardening as a stress reliever and have found it brilliant to take my mind off worries would recommend it to anyone.
4 Nov, 2018
Welcome Strawberryb! I think we would all agree with you about gardening as therapy!
Re your pots I would bear in mind that roses have quite shallow roots and digging round them may cause some damage. Even hoeing round roses isn't recommended, and myself I wouldn't put bedding plants round them. But while the roses are small you could put small bulbs round the edge, but don't dig or plant anything near enough to damage the roots. You could plant some long flowering annuals seeds round next year - eg dwarf nasturtiums (not the climbing stragging sort), that will just die off at the end of the summer.
To remove the geraniums try levering them out from the edge of the pot. It may be too late to save them this year - depends on your local weather.
For your other summer bedding why not put it in another container? In that you could leave daffodil bulbs in all year and just put your bedding on top without disturbing the bulbs.
What are debonias please - or did you mean Begonias? If so you can just leave them - the frost will kill them and they will disappear on their own.
4 Nov, 2018
If you've got roses in pots, they're fully hardy and don't need to be dug up and brought indoors - that's likely to kill them, being inside.
In regard to adding manure to pots, that really isn't a good idea - composted manure in open ground is fine, but is risky contained in pots. Even your own garden compost is risky, unless you've produced it using a hot, aerobic method, which would kill off any pathogens in it.
Regardless, it seems nothing has been harmed by adding the manure (though I wouldn't recommend risking it again). If you like the roses, leave them in situ and plant bulbs round the outside, after you've removed the summer bedding (geraniums and begonias). Its a little late for planting daffodils, but certainly tulips will be fine to plant this month; choose from the shorter varieties rather than the very tall ones. You might get away with crocus too, so long as you haven't got very attentive squirrels around... Most tulips need to be 4 inches down in the pots, so I'd wear very thin gloves so you can feel if there are any rose roots in the way so you don't break them when inserting the bulbs.
As for planting summer bedding in the same pots again next year, bear in mind the rose roots will take up a fair bit of room in the pot as they grow on, and you may find there isn't sufficient space between roots to add more plants, though you may be able to next year at least.
And, by the way, according to something I read in one of the papers recently, gardening is the best therapy for anxiety. I already knew this, because at a particular point in my life many years ago, I'm 100% sure starting to garden was the only thing that kept me sane... and then I was hooked! Good for the soul, gardening...
4 Nov, 2018
Many thanks to you all for your good advice - Ive taken some of the geraniums and begonias (deboniase was a typo error)out today - stopped when the rain began and it becam dark ! I am hoping they will survive the winter in Mums 'orangery' ( its really an enclosed lean too on the back of the house but it does get lots of light). After reading your tips I think I may put bulbs only in the largest pot that has a rose in tomorrow. Then put the other bulbs in two long containers I bought perhaps with some pansies.
I must be very old fashioned as I thought horse manure great for plants ( not bulbs though) - especially roses, also makes the compost Ive bought go a lot further, so thought I was being double clever.
I got a selection of winter hardy perenials with 70% off they were a 'suprise batch' and seem quite decent but got to get them in quick - a lot to keep me busy.
4 Nov, 2018
Composted manure is a fantastic addition to soil in open ground, and good for roses. But the risk is, it may contain some pathogens, and whilst they won't be a problem in open ground, they may well be contained in a pot, that's the difference.
5 Nov, 2018
And if you "rescued" it from the road it will need some months of rotting down before you can safely use it. Fresh manure can burn the roots. (Though I used to be sent out with a shovel and bucket and what I collected went straight on the roses with no apparent harm done...)
5 Nov, 2018
welcome to GoY :o)
depends on how big the pot is with the roses in them. if you were thinking of small bulbs like tete et tete daffs and crocus then yes possibly.
if the pots are very large then certainly the dwarf /small bulbs will be fine. what ever compost you have the roses in will be ok for most bulbs. but bear in mind the more plants in the tubs the more you will have to water them. through the summer keeping the roses watered may inhibit the bulbs from flowering next year. if your intention is to remove them after flowering just be careful not to damage the roots of the roses.
why are you worried about the compost you added in the summer?
4 Nov, 2018