A delicate ‘scion’ (cut from a fruit tree or climbing plant) known for producing excellent fruit is grafted onto a wild, robust and vigorous ‘rootstock’, enabling it to grow better and remain healthy. The result is therefore better, “nobler” than before, which is why the term ‘grafting’ is often used.
Especially when it comes to propagation: if clematis are grafted or ‘improved’ onto pre-cultivated root balls, they are ready for sale after 6 months. As ‘root-genuine’ cuttings, on the other hand, they need 12-14 months. Grafting therefore allows nurseries to work more efficiently, the plants become cheaper, and everyone is happy. There are further advantages for customers: all our trumpet vines are grafted and are therefore guaranteed to flower in the first year! The situation is similar with wisteria: thanks to grafting, these also usually flower after about 3 years rather than 7–10 years.
Yes, with such a rootstock, the already good characteristics of the ‘noble scion’ can sometimes be improved even further. The colour of the flowers becomes more brilliant, the fruit sweeter or more aromatic, and it can even ripen earlier than usual. All this can be controlled by the choice of rootstock, even adaptation to difficult soils such as sand or clay. A ‘grafted’ plant is then a high-quality plant, and ‘grafted’ is actually a term of quality!
All these advantages work as long as the rootstock really ‘serves’ the scion and does not develop a life of its own. This means that the rootstock actually remains only a root and does not develop its own shoots. However, if it suddenly does so and ‘breaks through’, then there is a big problem, because sooner or later the rootstock will displace the scion. For a while, you will then have two types of blossoms and/or fruits on the same tree and wonder why, until eventually only the boring and worthless shoots of the rootstock remain and the splendour is completely stunted or displaced!
The longer a grafted climbing rose stands, the higher the probability that the rootstock will ‘break through’ and displace the actual rose. Based on my experience, I estimate that after 10 years, approximately 20% of all climbing roses are displaced by the rootstock, after 20 years approximately 50%, and after 40 years approximately 80%. My example of this is the ‘rose garden’ in Dresden on the Carusufer. Roses were cultivated and cared for there until around 1990, but after that they were largely left to their own devices. Instead of the many rose varieties that were there at the time, there are now wild rose bushes of ‘Rosa canina’ everywhere, which was the preferred ‘rootstock’...
However, anyone who chooses a specific climbing rose for their façade is certainly thinking about a longer period than just 10 years. That is why FassadenGrün offers root-genuine propagated roses, e.g. “Rotfassade”, where no licence from the breeder exists anymore. Even after 100 years, this will still be a “Rotfassade”...
In order to be able to react quickly to market fluctuations and produce new stock, our nursery needs short growth periods, which is why almost all of our wild vines are grafted. This does not make the plants any ‘nobler’ or better, but perhaps a little cheaper. Unfortunately, however, rootstocks occasionally ‘break through’, and then our customers suddenly have a vigorous ‘virginia creeper’ on their wall instead of a ‘mini creeper’, because this is how many of our wild vines are grafted. It's not ideal, but what can we do? To graft or not to graft? These are questions we are seeking answers to...
FassadenGrün has put together a special collection of particularly frost-hardy plants. These include the “William Baffin” rose and the “Mitschurinski” grapevine. When these plants are grafted, the rootstocks have a frost hardiness that is approximately 10 degrees Celsius lower. In unfavourable cases, especially when there is no snow and very low frost temperatures hit the upper soil layers unchecked, this can lead to the above-ground parts of the plant surviving, but the rootstock in the soil being damaged. This in turn affects the vitality of the above-ground parts of the plant in the following year, even leading to their death.
To prevent this, it makes sense to deliberately offer such plants as ‘ungrafted’.
Fassadengrün is a commercial supplier of stainless steel wire rope systems in Germany, Europe and overseas. Information about: Which plants are suitable, are climbing aids necessary, should they be made of wood or metal? Here at FassadenGrün you will find all the information you need from a single source.
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