Two years ago I experimented with one el-cheapo bagged rose (Christian
Dior, I don't recall the brand but I think it was Paramount) in a
morning sun / afternoon shade area in front of my house. Azaleas
struggled there - probably not acidic enough soil - so I thought I'd
try roses.

I watered it, gave it Miracle Gro every two weeks, and cut the blooms
as soon as they opened. That bush is thriving as it starts its third
season in my yard. Not bad for a bagged plant from Lowe's.

Last year I bought four more Christian Diors from a nursery (drove to
Roses Unlimited in S.C. - first year plants, own root) and six more
bagged Christian Diors (again I don't recall the brand, but it was not
the same as the first one) to complete a row.

I followed the Roses Unlimited tips for all of them, including the six
new bagged roses. In particular, I did not cut the blooms, instead
dead-heading them only. Great for the first year own-root plants -
they're still obviously babies, but all are doing well. On the other
hand, the bagged roses put out a nice wave of gorgeous blooms, and
then all six plants were dead within three weeks.

The moral of the story, for others who rescue those poor bagged roses:
a newly planted bagged rose is really in its third season, so it wants
to grow and bloom like mad on those nice thick canes. But its roots
were whacked to nearly nothing when it was packaged. It's an adult
plant with the roots of an infant, so it really can't spare the energy
to support the blooms.

For the first year, nothing else matters other than regrowing healthy
roots. Water deep and often. And don't hesitate to prune those
lovely blooms and put them in a vase. The plant doesn't have the
strength to support many blooms.



Now for the intriguing sub-strain question: the first one I bought
said on the label that it was very fragrant. And it sure is. More
fragrant than my Mr. Lincoln or Chrysler Imperial, which I bought in
5-gal containers last summer to replace two of the deceased Diors.
(They're fragrant, but the first Dior, as the bag said it would be, is
VERY fragrant. I wish I could remember the brand.)

I know that the bagged roses are often mislabeled, but I think this
one was what it was supposed to be. It's planted in the middle of the
own-root ones that I got from Roses Unlimited, with two of them on
each side of the bagged on. Other than the bagged one being much
older hence larger than the others, they look the same. Leaf color
and pattern is identical, the petal patterns are the same, growth
pattern is the same, etc. It's always possible that the bagged one
was a mislabeled Oklahoma or Papa Meilland or something, but it sure
does look like a Christian Dior. And the bag did say it would be
fragrant.

The four own-root plants make me think there are drastic variations of
sub-strains of Christian Diors out there. Last year, two of them had
normal red blooms, the third bloomed pink, and the fourth had both red
and pink blooms (true pink and deep red) at the same time ! (And I
know how meticulous Pat is at Roses Unlimited, so I'm confident these
really are Christian Diors, and since they're all own root, no mystery
root stock comes into play.)

This year, as part of a Grand Bagged Rose Rescue experiment ( I
planted 20 bagged roses along my driveway last week ) I'm testing out
seven more bagged C.D's. This time I wrote down the brand -
Paramount, purchased for $2.50 each at Home Depot - and noted that the
labels do indeed claim they are fragrant. Most of them are really
lacking for roots and otherwise hurting, so it will be a challenge to
keep them alive. But I'll water diligently and hope for the best. If
they live and prove to be fragrant like the first one, I'll know it's
a fragrant strain.

I really love the first bagged one. It's a hearty plant, disease
(and black spot) resistant, with large, full, classic red blooms on
long stems. AWESOME cut flowers. If this really is a fragrant
variety, more growers need to grow and sell it, because this thing
belongs on the must-have list.

So does anyone know much about varying strains of hybrid teas? I
haven't seen any references listing the C.Dior as fragrant. But then
again, I haven't seen references mentioning pink and red blooms on the
same plant either, so I'm open to suggestion....


- torgo (zone 7, Atlanta, novice but avid gardener)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
hmmm.... my old calculus book said it was ELEPHANTS all the way down.