Indoor/outdoor plants and "forcing"

[~Czarina~]

Okay, I am hoping for a little advice on a couple plant things I have bouncing around in the dark and empty spaces of my mind . . . or more correctly where my mind should be. (Sorry, it walked off earlier and just doesn't seem to have returned as of yet.) ANYWAY . . .

1) Is it possible to start wild roses and if so will they retain with wonderful and powerful smell? How would you start roses period?

2) My mother and I had about 100 Africian violets in our basement (with grow lights) because we basically have 9 months of winter and that gets really glommy so having some pretty green plants and flowers brightens life up a little. Well, the heater went out last winter and several of them died. Now that we have a little extra room under our growlights I was thinking at trying to force tulips. (A personal favorite of mine.) How would one do that? Any suggestions or tips? Can you force the same bulbs more then once? I found what seems to a be a very detailed site but any suggestions would be more then welcomed. What other flowers could you force? I know some refriderating or cooling of some kind is required for most and that would not be a problem.

I know some of these might seem really stupid but I would rather ask and seem stupid then just smile and nod and not have a clue.

 

[DebºoºS]

So glad you asked a rose question. I'm no expert but I do have some experience.
Wild roses can be grown from cuttings. Try to snip a branch with as much root as you can. One that's on the ground usually has some fine roots. At least then you have something to work with. Dip the branch in rooting hormone,plant it about 4" in some of it's original soil mixed with potting soil. Set it in the shade, keep it watered and wait and see. It should smell as beautiful as the wild ones. Today I was working next to some of our huge bushes and I noticed they smelled more like honeysucle than roses ?

Tulips can be forced indoors. You're right to put them in the frig then pot. Keep it watered and wait & see.

Good luck, hope it helped. I'm sure others will join in with their advice.

 

[DebºoºS]

Found this on my computer. More than you probably ever wanted to know about propagating old roses & this is the edited


The spring and fall months are the best times to propagate Old Garden Roses (OGRs) by taking cuttings. Cuttings are prepared by removing a section of a stem right after the rose finished blooming. You should have at least four budeyes, two for under the soil and two above. Remove the leaves from the two bottom budeyes and leave the top two leaves on. Use a rooting compound such as Root Tone or Dip and Grow, and follow the instructions. The cutting is placed in sterile potting soil in a clean container. Containers can range from 2" to 1 gallon.
Prepare your cutting in the usual manner and place it into a one gallon pot filled with either a good sterile potting soil or sand, perlite, peat moss, or whatever mix that tickles your fancy. Cut off the bottom and remove the label from a 2 liter soda pop bottle and place the bottle, with cap on, over the cutting, slightly burying the edge into the soil. You'll be surprised how well this works as the plastic jug works as a mini greenhouse, and allows plenty of room to add water around the outer edge without removing the bottle. The bottles are placed under the patio cover where they get little direct sun. The translucent and clear bottles seem to work the best, however, translucent bottles are much cooler and should be used for cuttings placed in the sun.

If fungus is a problem, treat all cuttings with a fourth strength fungicide. When the weather is warm or hot, fungus is likely to form. Keep the cuttings damp, but not dry or soaking wet. You must have sufficient moisture to create the necessary humidity within the bottle. You can place 1-4 cuttings per bottle, but 2 is ideal as not to create a tangled mass of roots.

When the cutting gets new growth, in about 1-2 months, undo the cap of the bottle but do not take it off at this time. You need to harden the cutting first. After a few more days, take the cap off entirely, then after a few more days, remove the bottle.