Sunday, May 22, 2011

Graham Thomas Turns 3!

Graham Thomas
You may remember Graham Thomas, a climbing rose that I bought three years ago from the Antique Rose Emporium.  I was uncertain at the time whether it would survive winters in a container.  But it's hardy to zone 5 (I'm in zone 7) and I planted it in quite a large pot.  My worries were unfounded--it bounces back every year.  I hardly do anything to it.  This spring, I just cut back any branch that was brown.  I also added more potting soil, some time-release fertilizer, and some Vermont Container Booster.  That's about all the effort I'm willing to expend.  The rest is up to the plant.  I'd say Graham Thomas is faring quite well.

Bookshelf:  Container Gardening Books
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 20, 2011 at 8:00 AM

    Despite 2 acres of garden, I wanted to plant some English climbing roses on our North East facing back deck. In April this year I planted a Graham Thomas in a large container. It has pushed out plenty of growth but no flowers all summer and I'm wondering if this is due to not enough hours of sun? Could you please tell me how many hours sun you get on yours?
    Many thanks,

    ReplyDelete
  2. MiriamOctober 20, 2011 at 8:59 AM

    Thanks for writing. My Graham Thomas fully faces East and it gets sun from sunrise until about 2:00 pm. I will tell you that in its first year, it did not produce a lot of blooms. If you've read any of my other posts, you know I'm a low maintenance gardener so I don't go in for all the specially formulated fertilizers and additives for specific plants. So all my Graham Thomas gets is a fresh top layer of Osmoscote time release fertilizer, some Vermont Container booster (I order it online), and more potting soil. I get the most blooms at the beginning of the season (around the May/June timeframe) and then very sporadically through the rest of the year. I have a few blooms opening up now in mid-October. So give it another season and see what happens. Good luck and write back to let me know.

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