old rose in hedgerows

[mark smyth]

Does anyone in the UK or Ireland know what is the splash of red made up of 100s of small red roses that are in hedges just now? Very often they are beside a tumble down traditional two room single storey house.

[Michael J Campbell]

Excelsa.

[mark smyth]

Thanks Michael.

Easy from cuttings I read. Do you think I can take cuttings now? Green cuttings or semi ripe?

[Michael J Campbell]

Hardwood cuttings in September.

[mark smyth]

Thanks again

Look at this image of a plant trained to form a 'trunk' or maybe grafted at the stop of another rose

http://www.gardenworldimages.com/Details.aspx?ID=104149&TypeID=1&searchtype=&contributor=0&licenses=1,2&sort=REL&cdonly=False&mronly=False

[Michael J Campbell]

Mark,that is grafted on a Rosa rugosa stem that has been trained up for grafting std roses.

[zephirine]

Beware, Mark. Excelsa (sport of Dorothy Perkins) is:
- addicted to powdery mildew from july onwards
- impossible to destroy or move once it has settled somewhere as own root...(10 years experience!)
It is one of the OGRs that you find in nearly every old garden here, transmitted through cuttings just as Veilchenblau, Dorothy, American Pillar and Alberic Barbier.
One had been planted, ages ago, on the side of the stone staircase that enabled to reach the cellar, in my previous home. A huge plant, very vigorous, so prickly that you couldn't reach the cellar unharmed (maybe some previous owner's wife had put it there to prevent excessively frequent visits to the wine cellar from her DH? Dissuasive, I must say!  )... and becoming white every summer.
I tried to destroy it: cutting back of each new shoot every two weeks, even(for once!) R-U couldn't stop it from coming back every year.
After 10 years of struggle, when I sold the house the score was : Excelsa: 10 Zephirine 0....