Promise Yourself a Rose Garden

By Carol Nagy Jacklin and Sally Snipes

When you think of flowers, or flower gardens, what kind of flowers do you see? Most people picture roses, and for good reasons. Roses come in most colors and many fragrances. They can be flamboyant or demure, with large or tiny blossoms, and they can fit into any garden scheme. But roses do have a mixed reputation. People think they are hard to grow, and some of them are. This month roses are available bare-root, so it may be the perfect time to try a new rose or two in your garden, or even to plant that rose garden — the one that none of us were ever promised.

Choosing Roses

Many roses are prone to diseases. But there is a simple way to find a disease-resistant rose: buy only those with shiney leaves. The more a rose leaf shines, the more resistant that plant is to diseases of all kinds. Although spores and insects are out there, they cannot penetrate the waxy material that gives leaves a shiney look. Of course bare-root plants have no leaves, but they will have a picture or a description of the leaves. Roses most resistant to disease are the Rugosas species roses, which have leathery leaves. These are the old shrub roses from which newer roses have been bred for hundreds of years.

For many decades roses were bred only for color and flower size. Fragrance and disease resistance were ignored, and many of us were disappointed if we did try to grow roses. In the past 12 to 15 years, rose breeders have changed their ways, and fragrance and disease resistance have become their most important goal. The very newest roses introduced to the public are generally the most expensive. But those developed over the past 10 years will be inexpensive and the most fragrant and disease-resistant. The date of introduction is also given on the roses’ labels.

The color, shape, type of fragrance, and size of the flower are matters of personal taste that are up to you. But do notice whether a rose is listed as “ever blooming” or “repeat blooming.” A rose without such a description will probably bloom only once, in the spring. That one outrageous spring show may be what you want, but it’s best to know what you are getting.

After you decide which rose or roses you want to buy, carefully look at each individual plant. At most nurseries the bareroot roses will be in a damp sawdust or sand mixture. Pick up the plants and choose the one with the longest, most well-rounded root system. Some garden centers carry plants with roots in sealed plastic bags. These generally have much smaller root systems, but the plants are often much cheaper. Try some of each and see which do best in your garden.

You should also choose roses with thick canes (or branches) coming up from the graft union. Unless you are choosing a rose “on its own root stock” like Rugosas or some of the newest roses, 90 percent of roses are grafted onto a rootstock called “Dr. Huey.” Dr. Huey has small red-orange flowers with white centers, carried on tall canes. If you have these roses in your garden, you probably have plants that sprouted from below the graft of other roses.

Planting Roses

If you have bought a bare-root rose, submerge its roots and canes in water overnight before you plant it. (It can soak several nights without a problem, but a rose soaked for weeks will almost certainly rot.) Most roses need full sun (which means 4 to 6 hours of sunlight a day.) Choose a spot and dig a hole. You want to have ample room for the root system and you want to mix half of your garden soil with humus or compost. If the difference between the soil mixture in the hole and the garden soil is too great, the feeder roots (of any new plant) will tend to stay inside the rich soil hole even after all the nutrients in the hole are used up.

Be very careful about ground level. Place your graft right above ground level so that you can be sure to pull off any suckers (Dr. Huey branches) coming from below the graft. Pull rather than cut off the suckers to eliminate buds near the sprouted sucker. Even if the ground is wet, water your new plant well to eliminate air pockets and to be sure the roots are pointing in the right direction.

Feeding Roses

A former president of the American Rose Society and now the president of the International Rose Society has come up with a rose food formula that is reputed to be the best. We’ve never tried it, but intend to do so this year. Its name — Magnum — sounds expensive and it is. It contains every trace mineral a rose needs, in exactly the right proportions. It has been manufactured under several company brand names including Grow More and N’Rich.

What about banana peels? They do work, but take 6 months to a year to show results. If you want faster results with banana peels, chop them up and bake them in a slow oven until they’re dry. Then crush the dried peels around your roses, and you will have fast-acting rose fertilizer for free.

Watering Roses

“Just enough” is what you’re told if you ask rose experts about watering. If you push for clarification, they’ll tell you to dip your finger into the soil next to the rose. If your finger comes out lightly covered with dirt and cool feeling, the rose has just enough water and you don’t have to add any. Watering rates do depend on wind, weather, and the water-retaining qualities of your soil. So some finger tests will probably be required until you can tell what “just enough” is. Of course, if you see drooping buds, that’s a sure sign that the plant needs water.

Cutting Roses

Many of us were taught to cut a rose stem to a 5-lobed leaf. There are problems with that advice: many roses have only 3-lobed leaves. The newer wisdom is to cut the rose stem where it is at least as thick as a pencil. Otherwise, you will encourage thin stems that cannot support the flowers. If you can cut just above an outward pointing bud, you’ll be doing a little pruning while you gather your flowers.

Pruning Roses

The goal is to have a plant with an open center surrounded by at least three main branches. Cut off the thinnest branches and any branches that cross other branches. Cutting stimulates growth. So try to cut above a bud that is pointed away from the center of the plant. This will keep the center open allowing all parts of the plant to get sun and air.

Spraying Roses

Roses must be given a dormant spray because rust, mildew and most other diseases hide on the leaves and infect new growth as it emerges. But here in Southern California, our roses often don’t become dormant so we need to put them in dormancy when they are growing the least. That means now. Before you apply the dormant spray, prune the roses, as described above, and remove every leaf. Spray twice, about a week apart. Choose a windless day and follow the directions on the label. Dormant spray coats your roses (and fruit trees) with oil and sulphur and will eliminate most of next year’s problems.

But what if you do spot aphids or other ills? Start by spraying water on the plants. Three days of spraying water will most likely eliminate aphids and even mildew. If you do have rust or other diseases, try spraying a soap solution. If two applications don’t work you can move on to chemicals. Chemicals designed for a specific problem work better and are much cheaper than multi-chemical sprays or systemic sprays and granules. If diseases persist, take out the rose and replace it with a disease-resistant variety.

Throwing Out Roses

Old species roses can live forever. The saying goes about Rugosas, “The first year they peep, the second year they creep, and the third [and later] year[s] they leap.” But hybrid roses have finite life spans. They can last about 20 years. Although “lasting” does not necessarily mean “pleasing.” Roses, for all their mystique, are not expensive plants. They grow well from cuttings. If a rose disappoints you, throw it out and try another. If you have an old rose that is no longer pleasing, cut it into two bushes with a chain saw, and replant both parts. You may then have two roses that do please.

You don’t need an entire rose garden, unless you want one. Roses can delight mixed throughout your sunny garden spaces: place a climber at the corner of a shed, cover a pergola for summer entertaining, or just plant one beautiful rose of your favorite color. This year instead of buying your Valentine a bouquet of roses, buy and plant a rose bush. You will be bringing in bouquets for years to come.