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Color Break-through in Climbers!
Planting and Care
#1 Grade Bare Root Roses. $21.85 each. Buy 2 or more save $3.00, only $18.85 each. |
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Garden Club Questions and Answers
Question: We have heavy clay soil. When I plant I add compost. The first couple of years my plants do well, but then the compost disappears, the soil gets more compacted and the plants start to decline. If I dig into the soil it seems that I am back to pure heavy clay. Should I be using peat moss rather than compost? Answer: You are correct.
In a couple of years, the compost will be almost totally decomposed with
barely a trace left. As this happens, the plant tends to settle a little
lower into the ground which makes the root suffocation situation even
worse. I have found that peat moss decomposes somewhat more slowly than
compost, but it does totally decompose in a few years. On sites where the soil is heavy clay, our Landscaping Division uses Espoma's Soil Perfector when installing certain plants that require a light soil. Soil Perfector is a natural ceramic mineral that does not decompose in the soil. It is made by heating the mineral in a kiln to several thousand degrees thereby expanding the mineral to contain thousands of tiny storage spaces that hold air. Depending upon the soil and what we are planting, we use between a 2-1 mix and a 4-1 mix of soil to Soil Perfector when backfilling. Question: Through the years I have grown a lot of roses but I am not what you would call a serious gardener. Sometimes when my roses sucker, I get the same rose and sometimes I get an entirely different rose and I have to cut the sucker out. Is there any way to determine before the sucker blooms which type of sucker I have? Answer: Through the years rose culture has changed. Before World War II most roses were grown on their own roots and suckers were not of concern because the entire rose was genetically the same. Then growers discovered that many roses grew larger and faster when budded on other vigorous "root stock" roses. This root stock is the source of the rogue suckers. Recently, with increasing cost of labor, some growers are trying to get away from budding and are growing more and more roses the old way - on their own roots. One grower went too far. He learned the hard way that many Hybrid Tea varieties are not vigorous enough to thrive on their own roots. So it looks like we will have budded roses around for the foreseeable future. If you don't know which of your roses are own root, I can give you a couple of hints: 1. Almost all shrub roses and rugosa roses are own root.2. You can usually tell a budded rose because there is a distinct round knob (bud union) where the branches all come together and have been budded onto the root stock. 3. Examine the sucker growth and see how closely it resembles your rose. Often root stock suckers have distinctly different leaves and growth habits. Even though you chose budded varieties, you can reduce suckering. Budded roses which are planted with the bud union a couple of inches below the soil are less likely to sucker from the rootstock. Question: My New Year's resolution is to use all organic fertilizers in my garden. Which all natural lawn food do you recommend? Answer: Espoma's Bio-Tone Starter is an all natural plant food enhanced with the same beneficial microbes that were in the old Soil Life product. Although it was not developed for lawns, for someone seeking an all natural organic lawn food, I doubt that you will find a better product. I suggest applying 50 pounds for each 5,000 square feet of lawn twice a year, in early to mid spring and then again in early autumn.Question: Are the Knockout and Double Knockout Roses deer resistant?Answer: If deer pressure is extremely intense they will nibble on your roses, but it's certainly not their favorite food. In the summer, there are usually more tender morsels in your garden that the deer prefer to your rose bush. In the winter when the deer are very hungry they may eat a rose bush, especially before it has defoliated. But by the end of winter the rose needs pruning anyway. So, as long as the deer just nibble at the tips in late fall, winter or early spring, there is nothing to worry about. Think of it this way: the deer are just being helpful by doing some early pruning!!! I can report that several customers have told me that Knockout roses are more deer and Japanese Beetle resistant than other roses. I have no first hand experience on deer resistance, but I have observed that the red Knockouts particularly are quite resistant to Japanese Beetles and most other insect pests that trouble roses.
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