Roses and "snowball" plants

 Pardon my ignorance on this subject but I have almost no knowledge about
plants and flowers. I moved into a house a couple of years ago with a nice
rosebush in the backyard. I didn't have a problem the first couple of years
but this season so many beautiful roses have grown on the bush that they've
begun to droop over and almost touch the ground. I have another plant
nearby (don't know what its called) but it has white "snowball" type
flowers that are so heavy it's also begun to droop the past couple of
weeks, soiling the flowers. Just thought someone could advise me of the
best way to prop up and/or tie off these plants. Thanks!

 On Wed, 14 May 2008 14:53:29 -0500, dennmac@dennmac.net (Dennis M)
wrote:


You need to prune plants.

There are many books and Web sites about, e.g. pruning roses.

(Note: severity of pruning depends on your locality.  I am in a
mild Mediterranean climate, but the first few years I pruned
too severely because the library book I used apparently referred to
harsher Eastern US climate.)

Think about yourself -- never a haircut?  never a nail clipping?
Plants have many of the the same needs as people.

Also, put yourself in the "mind" of the plant.  Its basic function
(not unlike people!) is to perpetuate its species.  So if you
 let flowers go to seed, OK, but remember once the plant "thinks" it
has fulfilled its destiny, it sees no reason to make more flowers.

If, OTOH, you want flowers, you need to intervene to achieve
that result.

You would do well to  visit a good bookstore with a large gardening
section and ask a knowledgeable staffer about a basic book for rose
pruning.  Or a well-stocked library with a professional reference
librarian.

Or (which is what many people on-line do now) research Web
sites, using key words like "rose pruning" or 'flower pruning"
if you want to include the "snowball" plant.

Here is just one of many URLs

http://gardening.about.com/od/rose1/a/RosePruning.htm

CAVEAT:  You prune roses ONLY when they are dormant.

(Well, OK, experienced gardeners can prune lightly in summer if
warranted...note "experienced")

 The snowball flowers are probably hydrangia.   Look it up.

I like roses as cut flowers.    So I cut them with a reasonable stem and use
the thorn remove on the pruners to clean them up.
Then I cut the stem back to just above the first set of 5-leaf leaves.  This
encourages more blooms.    Fertilize lightly every month and apply a
fungicide.  Don't forget to water the roses early in the day using a soaker
hose rather than a sprinkler.



they've

 Viburnum has a variety called 'Snowball.'



On Thu, 15 May 2008 09:48:20 -0400, "Stubby"

 Your "snowball" could be peonies, but they usually haven't bloomed this
early, at least not around here, of course if your roses are in full
bloom, peonies probably would be too.

Your rose bushes may be climbers. Just train them up a trellis or
section of chain link fence and they'll do fine.

Dennis M wrote: