Daybreaker does Lazarus

Some of you may recall my wretchedly embattled, scale-eaten Daybreaker, sucked dry and reduced to a hapless twig on its deathbed.  I took everyone's advice, put the recommendations  all together and went crazy,  scrubbed, dipped, and repotted the poor thing anew. Still, I didn't hold out a lot of hope for the patient.

Well. Here is the Comeback Kid. In no time, it sprouted an array of new canes, new leaves, new everything.

I was going to wait until the buds opened, but I couldn't wait to show everyone who kindly assisted in the rejuvenation process what a remarkable thing has happened. I will wait until bloming is done, then move back to a bigger pot.

IMO, this variety is one excellent, game and beautiful little rose. It sure deserves its Gold Medal at the Oz trials.

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Oh Betsy I'm so glad Daybreaker has come good. Good? It's brilliant! What a turnaround. No-one would guess that this was at death's door just a while ago, now looking the picture of health. Looks like you'll be enjoying its flowers at Christmas. Yes I agree it is such a pretty rose and a tough one too judging by what yours has gone through. Thank you for putting me onto it, mine is a delight.

Looking good now Betsy !!!

Betsy, what an awesome transition, you did a great job well done.

You know, Paul, I think it was the whole week of rain here, both heavy and light, and fairly constant. All of the plants just took off, sort of a belated Spring flush.

DB isn't back to full size yet - it's a flattering shot, I have to confess. But lots of new red growth still emerging, and, as we used to say back in the Cold War days (nostalgia!), better red than dead ;-))

A point i would make is if you have a rose doing well in a particular spot don't move it. A friend of mine had a magnificent bush of the miniature Figurine and flowers from the bush were winning regularly on the show bench. He moved it and the bush was no where near the bush and flower producer it had been.

Ausrose wrote:

I wasn't sure whether I was a wombat or a gopher.

.

My friend, I have seen the photographs....definitely a wombat......  

i also have seen thee photos and unfortunately I can't disagree.

Last year I purchased 5 bushes of Daybreaker with the aim of adding another floribunda to my floribundas for exhibiting purposes. I must admit I didn't look after them as well as I should have and they are now in sick bay and coming along quite nicely. If all goes to plan I should have units of Daybreaker on the show bench for the NSW Rose Championships to be held during the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

For reasons I can't explain, Doug, I'm quite chuffed that you as a proven blue ribbon exhibitor thinks Daybreaker is a worthy show specimen.

Let us know how the patients in sick bay get on. By Easter they should be in great shape, if my near-dead DB is any indication of this rose's bounce-back capabilities.

The only negative comments about DB on USA gardenweb, including those of esteemed Kim Rupert, suggest that the big flaw in this rose was its inability to hold its colours, and that it washed out to drab yellow in the heat. Mine certainly lost its sunrise colours in high summer. Hope that yours can keep/recover their rosy tinge come autumn.

betsy a number of roses have this problem. Two that come to mind are Flemington Racecourse and Glorious. A solution is to grow them where they only get morning sun and although this sacrifices the number of blooms on the bush they don't fade to any great degree.

neptune wrote:

Ausrose wrote:

I wasn't sure whether I was a wombat or a gopher.

.

My friend, I have seen the photographs....definitely a wombat......  

Lets see now Scale, mildew, weevils, earwigs, leaf hoppers, red spider mite, grasshoppers, possums, emus, deer, dogs, rabbits, wallabies, chooks, Christmas Beetles, roundup and now ..... wombats????

I'm glad I went back and read the previous posts and discovered that it was referring to Ausrose and not the latest means of killing roses.

Ausrose wrote:betsy a number of roses have this problem. Two that come to mind are Flemington Racecourse and Glorious. A solution is to grow them where they only get morning sun and although this sacrifices the number of blooms on the bush they don't fade to any great degree.

So interesting that you say this, Doug. For five years in a salt-ridden, rose-hateful Kiama climate, I had 24 roses that received sun from 9:30 to about 1pm, and about 5 that had the full nominal amount of 7 hours. The short-sun roses positively thrived; the full sun ones did not.

I swear that the conventional wisdom of x-amount of sun prescribed for roses in northern hemisphere conditions does NOT apply to Oz. Roses are said to photosynthesize best in the morning, and in Australia, the rest is overkill , almost literally.