Finaly Soul Sister has arrived

I picked up Soul Sister AKA Koko Loco this week from Roworth Rose nursery. It is their 1st grafting of this rose, quite small with a but a large price of $25.00, well for that, it better be a good performer    anyways I was happy to grab it, as there is no one else here in Perth grafting this rose. 

Paul, any chance of a photo prior to planting it if you haven't, a shot in the pot would do, I just wanted to see the size of the plant.

roseman wrote:Paul, any chance of a photo prior to planting it if you haven't, a shot in the pot would do, I just wanted to see the size of the plant.

Thanks David, here's a couple of picks, normally I wouldn't buy a rose at this size and certainly not for $25
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There goes the paint duco......  

neptune wrote:There goes the paint duco......  

don't get me started on the duco, after having my car keyed twice at the shopping centre, the complete side of the car was the first time then the whole back of the car, not impressed.

paulh wrote:

neptune wrote:There goes the paint duco......  

don't get me started on the duco, after having my car keyed twice at the shopping centre, the complete side of the car was the first time then the whole back of the car, not impressed.

Know how you feel...last month my brand new car scratched by a trolley at the shopping centre

Paul at that price and size I would take very special care of it.

roseman wrote:Paul at that price and size I would take very special care of it.

you betcha David.

Well it's the 24th September and here's a photo of my Soul Sister aka Koko Loco. 6 weeks have past, whilst it is markedly larger, it seems to be a slow grower.
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Unless I am wrong, I think you will find it is slow and small,
Wendy might chime in here with hers this year ?

Nice new growth tho Paul, what do you think of the colour, it will fade in the heat of Summer.

Looks lovely Paul.  Such a pretty pink.  Will have to look out for this one.

roseman wrote:Unless I am wrong, I think you will find it is slow and small,
Wendy might chime in here with hers this year ?

Nice new growth tho Paul, what do you think of the colour, it will fade in the heat of Summer.

Thanks David, this is the second flower for this plant, imo it will need to smarten its ways.

Paul, would you please tell me the name of the rose behind and to the left of Koko Loco.  it looks a lovely rose. 

The photos are of fortunianna rootstock I purchased from Mistydownes that I planted in July 2013. The first one was particular plant was treated like an exhibition rose and performed accordingly while the second one only received water as it grew.

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It can be seen plant one has outperformed its mate. What I plan to do now is treat the second plant like an exhibition rose and see whether it picks up.

How are they positioned in relation to the sun Doug ?, Is the soil the same ?

Both grown in my potting mix formula that I have developed over the years and the pots are in similar positions in relationship to amount of sun. The basic difference has been fertilizing and watering.

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Bush of the floribunda Imperator. This one bush gave the AQ and I Grand Champion 2011 Sydney Royal Easter Show

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Ausrose, I hope my fortuniana takes off like yours, could you give us your potting mix formula and your fertilising regime for your pots. Cheers

Paul I am still experimenting with additives and quantities at the moment and will release the formula as soon as I complete my experiments at the end of the season.

roseman wrote:Unless I am wrong, I think you will find it is slow and small,
Wendy might chime in here with hers this year ?

Yes. Especially when nibbled by rabbits or fullers rose weevils.
I don't think it is marketed as a "tall growing" kind of bush in any case. Seems to be compact.

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This is 'Koko Loko/ Soul Sister. It is the small one, left of the big rose and in front of the supervisor "Tabatha".
This is it after pruning Saturday 27th Sept,
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Why do you prune so hard so late?

Wendy, it is your favorite rose, my one did not grow like yours. The two canes that you see are the best it had. Other canes died. The one that had the original tag died which happens a lot I believe, I have no idea why.
As for pruning late, I prune when I get round to them, if I do, some roses don't get done, it's just me. The other reason is I can see all the new shoots and then choose the direction I want from the plant to follow.

Yeah, I don't leave the tag on the rose any more. Not since Laurie Newman told our gardening group that you should never leave it on because that cane always seems to die. Occasionally I have left it on and had it very loose. Appears to not be a problem then. It seems to be the plastic - I suspect it aids in burning the cane when the weather warms up. Some roses I have received at times which have a cotton string tie to the label never had a problem.

Ausrose wrote:Paul I am still experimenting with additives and quantities at the moment and will release the formula as soon as I complete my experiments at the end of the season.

As far as fertilising goes for my pots go predominantly I use  Neutrog's Strike Back for Orchids and GOGO Juice with various liquid fertilizers. What liquid fertilizers depends on what I can pick up cheaply. My belief being variety is the spice of life.

Thanks again for the info, look forward to seeing what results you come up with.

Hi Wendy, no matter how much I loosen the tags with those plastic ties on the cane it still dies. I replace the tags with the pull through tags and put the names on them. It also means that I still have the picture tag instead of ending up with a faded tag that I cant read the name.