Floppy Rose

I have a two year old rose, "Wild Eve". It seems healthy and flowers freely but has an odd habit. All the stems arch and spread on the ground. Consequently the flowers, which are heavy, face down and push their faces into the soil! Is this because it's a young plant, will it grow up and start acting like a proper rose or will I have to prop it up somehow?

It's description on David Austin's website says that it has a long arching growth habit and can be used as a groundcover rose - I would imagine that as it grows it will build up a framework of arching branches on top of each other which will support them new ones - at the moment as it's smaller this hasn't happened.  You  could support them for the time being in order to enjoy t he blooms - you could email or write to David Austin describing what's happening and ask for their advice as to the best way to grow this rosehttp://www.davidaustinroses.com/english/Showrose.asp?Showr=4077

Thanks for your advice Dovefromabove. I had a look on the D. Austin web site and read the same description, which is a bit misleading as the tag on the rose when I bought it says small shrub approx 3 feet high!! I will email them as you suggest, and I'll just have to wait until it gets bigger maybe.

I have a 'Lady Emma Hamilton' which I grew in a container for a couple of years and planted into the garden this year.  It's virtually flat with the rain but I'm hoping that as it grows into it's new space, the stems will strengthen to hold the weight of the flowers, or even better, that the second flowering won't be scuppered by rain for weeks on end!

I had a David Austin 'Pat Austin' growing in a large container and with a lot of their roses, the stems were far too spindly to hold the very large flower.  It must have something to do with the grafting process but it wasn't a good look and have since only bought more sturdy varieties.

One answer is to push some twiggy stick support into the ground under the plant to lift it and take the weight of the flower heads.
Prune out some of the spindly stems to allow the others to thicken, when the flowers are finished prune back a third in Autumn and then take out the spindles in spring, it should in time get stronger.

Frank.

Thanks for all the advice , seems it's a common problem. Looks as if I'll have to wait for it to grow up.

I think it may be something to do with a lot of the David Austin 'old fashioned' type roses having rambler and similar types in their family tree.

I read of a technique in America where the arching stems were effectively "trained" into arches around the central stems by pinning them down (think pumpkin shape).  The stems then sent up flowering shoots which gave a thickened and prolific appearance.  I wish I could remember the name of the technique or guide you to a website, but it was some time ago.  I meant to earmark it for future reference.  Full of good intentions, me!

Shrinking Violet wrote (see)

I read of a technique in America where the arching stems were effectively "trained" into arches around the central stems by pinning them down (think pumpkin shape).  The stems then sent up flowering shoots which gave a thickened and prolific appearance.  I wish I could remember the name of the technique or guide you to a website, but it was some time ago.  I meant to earmark it for future reference.  Full of good intentions, me!

I've read about this technique but had forgotten it. Thanks for reminding everyone about it. I have a spindly David Austin rose, too, and will be doing this. Brilliant! It seems that this is a feature of a number of 'English roses' - something I'll watch out for in future. The other problem with my rose (forgotten the name - old age!) is that it looks pretty bare after its main flush of flowering in June - not much leaf, even, more like an old rose.

I have a few D Austin roses, and yes, some do 'flop' a bit. One that was especially lazy last year is doing better this year though, still a bit floppy, but as the bush is older and bigger, the blooms are staying clear of the ground. I have Ferdinand Picard which always behaves impeccably though, and is a beauty!

This system was 'invented' by Xa Tollemache at Helmingham Hall in Suffolk http://www.helmingham.com/rosesupports.asp

I did look at this but there does not seem to be an illustration. Do you know any more about it? Thanks.

There's info here too, but still no pic http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/7429849/Train-vintage-roses-with-old-fashioned-style.html

Think I saw some on the Chelsea tv prog this year - and I have been to Helmingham Hall Gardens (really well worth a visit).  The rose supports are a sort of metal dome-shaped frame.  I've a feeling that Xa Tollemache also uses bent hazel to do this as well.  

Wow!  I knew that there would be someone out there better organised than I am.  So why, I wonder, did I think it was an American thing?  Either I dreamt it, or there was some form of link to an American website  But, whatever the case, many thanks Dove to  have followed up on my (poor) memory.  (Note to self:  save it!  Reference it!  Remember it!)  Thank you again

would something like this do the trick?  Although it says in all the blurb about domed rose supports that you tie in alomost horizontally so possibly not

I have a Wildeve rose, when I bought it, the label said compact shrub rose 3ft tall. This has not been the case, Wildeve has been more of what I would call a rambling/ground cover rose. It has produced a few flower clusters in its first year and grown quite tall, around one and half ft. I have had to put supports all round it. The big problems I am frinding are that its flowers sag downward so you cannot really apprciate them, and also the buds take weeks and weeks to form and then once they open they last around 2-3 days and drop off !!!!! So I wait all the time for buds to open, go to all the effort of propping indvidual flower clusters up.... and they blow away in the wind two days later.

I have placed my Wildeve in a prime location in an expensive half barrel, this year I have pruned it back about 1/3 taking out all the spindily stems and only leaving bigger stronger canes and stems. I have decided that if it does not do better this year I will plant it out somewhere in the garden and replace it with an Iceberg rose. 

I saw this technique at Sissinghurst and wanted to know how to do it. So thanks fro re-freshing my memory and giving the info. Will give it a go 

Interesting to see this thread revived. I was thinking about it only this morning and wondering whether I'd be able to find it again, so thanks for reviving it, Greentooth. Also interesting that a number of people have had the same experience of D Austin roses as I have had. I am going to try to create that domed shape with my rose this year, in the hope of getting shorter side shoots that will support the flowers better. 

No problem Gardening Grandma. I will try the domed shaping once my rose sends up its canes this summer. I do sometimes wonder if its worth the trouble, the wildeve flowers are nice but nothing amazing. Speaking of rambler/ climbing roses this year I have bought x4 New Dawn roses, they have a very good write up, so I am looking forward  to seeing how they do