Spring Rose Care - The Easy Way
Modern
roses are the longest blooming of all shrubs. Many varieties start
flowering in mid-late spring, with recurrent bloom cycles through late
fall. Unless you are looking to grow absolutely perfect blossoms for
competitive exhibition, roses actually require much less work than you may
usually read about. Carefully chosen varieties of shrub roses will - with
no summer spraying - yield a full season’s bounty of blooms.
 Pruning is usually considered
to be the most time-consuming of all rose care tasks. Recently, a research
study compared 2 beds of the same Floribunda roses. One bed was hand
pruned by skilled rose growers. The other was pruned with a combination of
a power hedge trimmer and a lawn mower raised up on huge wheels.
Throughout the season, the two groups were compared for flower production.
Guess which plot did the best. Hint: it wasn’t the hand pruned plot.
Carefully chosen roses are much tougher and more forgiving then most
people realize.
Timing
Springtime rose rejuvenation should be accomplished after winterkill (if
any) has become apparent, but before the new leaves unfurl. There are
several ways to figure this. I’ve found it is most successful to work on
the roses just as the Forsythia starts to bloom, rather than slavishly
following the calendar.
Feeding
If you hilled-up your roses with mulch last fall, the first thing you need
to do is to tear down the mulch mounds and spread it around the roses so
that the total mulch depth never exceeds 1 ½ inches. If you have more,
remove the top layer. The first fertilization consists of four different
products, a handful of each should be sprinkled around the plant in a
circle, about 12-18 inches out from the stem: Espoma Rose-Tone®, Espoma
Kelp Meal®, Sulphate of Potash Magnesia and Greensand. (Five
additional feedings, a month apart, consist of just one handful of
Rose-Tone®—nothing else. Never feed after September 1st; late
feeding encourages late emergence of tender growth, which will be
winterkilled). Use 1/3 to 1/2 as much of all products, at all times, on
miniature roses. Pruning
It’s not as hard as it sounds, if you keep the following points in mind:
-
You will
need five good tools: sharp by-pass pruners, by-pass loppers, small
pruning saw, elbow length (gauntlet) leather or rubber/plastic impregnated
gloves, and safety goggles.
-
Over-pruning roses in Spring tends to weaken the plant. Prune away no more
than one-third of the live growth.
-
On all
roses, remove diseased, dead and broken canes. A cane that has blackened
from winterkill, or suffered physical damage, should be shortened to an
inch below the offending section.
-
Where
possible, cut on a 45 degree angle.
-
Once-blooming (as opposed to recurrent-blooming) roses require no further
pruning in the spring. These are primarily antique roses and old-fashioned
ramblers. Do whatever additional pruning necessary in early July.
-
Reduce
hybrid tea roses to 4-5 vigorous canes not shorter than 30 inches.
Grandifloras should be reduced to 5-6 canes not shorter than 36 inches.
Reduce floribundas to 7 to 8 canes not shorter than 24 inches. In general,
try to achieve a vase-shaped plant for most roses in these categories.
-
Especially
on hybrid teas and grandifloras, cut ¼ inch above an outward facing bud.
Cut so the 45 degree angle allows water to drain away from, rather than
into the bud.
-
Mini roses,
shrub roses, rugosa roses and repeat blooming antique roses just need a
haircut, trimming them to size.
-
Treat
English roses and Romantica roses as grandifloras.
-
Trim
climbing roses and pillar roses to shape. Aged canes should be removed, as
should those that grow away from the support or criss-cross awkwardly.
Massive rejuvenation pruning is best postponed until early July and done,
if at all, every 3 to 5 years.
-
To prevent
cane borer, put a dab of Nubark™ Rose Stick on the cut wound of any cut
branch greater than pencil thickness.
-
To
discourage diseases and insects, rake up and discard all pruned material,
including leaves, with the trash.
Spraying
A spray of lime sulphur will kill the over-wintered spores of blackspot
and mildew. Mixing the lime sulphur with horticultural oil will control a
broader range of pests. To achieve full effectiveness from the oil, this
spray must be applied on a day when it is not going to freeze the
following night. Spray the roses to the dripping point and spray all the
surrounding mulch. During the next few days, top dress with enough mulch
so that total coverage is 2 to 2 ½ inches. As roses leaf out, occasionally
they are troubled by green aphids on the tips. These are easily controlled
with insecticidal soap.
Next week, we’ll talk about some of my favorite minimum maintenance
roses—the ones that are naturally resistant to pests.
Plants and Products
Mentioned in this Article: |
New
for 2003 at Carroll Gardens!
 What a Peach™ (PPAF)
So many low
maintenance shrub roses come only in shades of pink. Here’s one of the
cleanest roses we have encountered, in a distinctly different
color---peachy cantaloupe, pretty close to an apricot hue. In our tests,
What a Peach™ was one of the top 10 of all roses in terms of blackspot and
mildew resistance.
The leaves emerge a gorgeous red and mature glossy green. The 2-3” double
blooms come in clusters all season long and have a moderate fruity
fragrance. What a Peach™ matures to an upright, bushy shrub about 5 feet
tall, ideal as a hedge or around the base of a raised deck. We suggest
cutting back to 3 feet in the spring, as well as removal of any long
shoots that may appear late in the season. Carroll Gardens is pleased to
feature this outstanding new rose as a part of our 2003 online catalog!
Click here to learn more about What a
Peach™ or order online.
  Wren Nesting Bags
These nesting bags have
been designed for the wren. They are available in both long-lasting
coconut (left-most picture) and
seagrass fibers
(pictured far right). The bag provides protection for birds during
severe storms and winter nesting.
Click below
to learn more:
Coconut Fiber Wren Nesting Bag
Seagrass Fiber Wren Nesting Bag |
