- Author: Rosie D
Bugs!
Do I spray insecticides for them? Nope! I grow my roses in a no-spray garden. There are a couple of ways that I get rid of them. One, I hit the plant with a strong blast of water from my hose. Make sure you spray the underside of the leaves. That will knock the little buggers to the ground, and they are too lazy to climb back up. Two, I squish them with my fingers. Now don't go euuuwwwwww! It works! Use gloves if you wish. Three, I have California native plants in my yard. They attract beneficial insects like ladybugs who love to feast on aphids. So, try doing these things to help remove aphids in your garden.
Hoplia beetles start as grubs in the soil. They grow slowly over the winter and then come out of the soil in the spring. They love to eat the flowers of your roses (their preferred diet) but will attack other flowering plants as well. You know you have them if you see holes in the petals of your roses. They will often hide in the center of the flower.
The best way to handle them? Pick them off with your hand and squish them or drop them in a bucket of soapy water. I have never been able to master the soapy water trick (I need a third hand for that), so I don leather gloves and squish them! Since they like light-colored roses, planting dark-colored roses might be helpful. You can also just cut off the flowers and dispose of them.
Unfortunately, sprays don't work to kill these little buggers. They love to hide in the interior of the blossoms, so it is difficult for the spray to get on them directly. If you do choose to try to use an insecticide to kill them, do not do it when bees and other beneficial insects are present as it will kill them as well. In about six weeks or so, the beetles will be gone for another year. One must have patience as a gardener. Dealing with Hoplia beetles is a good lesson in patience. By the way, I do try to get out and squish them twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening. It's an effective way to check on my garden and it is a great way to unwind from the day.
If you choose to use a chemical for spider mites, both horticultural oils and soap will work. Insecticides don't work on spider mites. They are a mite which is different species. So, check the label to see if the designation, “miticide,” is present. Pesticides claiming they are “for mite suppression” are usually weak and will not perform well or will require multiple applications.
Do not use them when bees and other beneficial insects are present. Do not use a dormant or horticultural oil when it is going to be over 80 degrees that day as it can burn your plants. Don't use it if it is going to rain. If you are going to use these chemicals, you must dress the part and use eye protection, a face mask, gloves and preferably suit up. Dispose of any leftover chemical properly and wash up/shower afterward (including washing your hair).
Fungal diseases
Another fungal disease you might see on your rose bushes is black spot. It looks just like the name says, black spots with sometimes feathery margins on your rose leaves. The spores of this fungal disease spread by splashing water, so don't sprinkle your rose plants at night. There are also rose varieties that are black spot resistant. So, look for those if black spot is a problem in your garden.
When your roses have completed their first bloom, it will be time to deadhead and feed them. You should get a nice second bloom about six weeks after the feeding.
Alice Hamilton! This antique rose is named after Alice Hamilton who was an American physician, research scientist and author. She was a leading expert in the health field and is considered to be the mother of occupational health in this country. This during a time when women could not vote! She became an M.D. at age 24 in 1893 when she graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School. She was the first woman appointed to the faculty of Harvard University in 1919. I could go on and on about this amazing woman, but I hope you check out her bio and her rose.
Until Next Time…”Teaching you how to grow a garden is better than giving you a thousand roses.” Matshona Dhliwayo
- Author: Rosie D
Welcome to March! This is the time when your roses are starting to break out from dormancy. It is a good time for garden maintenance before the big flower display in April.
If you didn't do this last month, take some time and check your irrigation system to make sure it is working correctly. Make repairs if it is not. My garden is strictly on drip. Yes, I did go through every emitter to make sure it was an adequate size and working, and cleaned out the valves to make sure they were free from sediment. It is worth the time.
If your watering system isn't drip, run your sprinklers in the morning (only on days that we can water) before the day warms up. This will avoid moisture evaporating or collecting on leaves which can (during the warmer months) result in sunburn or (during the cooler months) make it favorable for fungal diseases to develop on your roses. If you have sprinklers, avoid watering in the evening or at night. This will prevent excessive ground moisture at night. Soil that is too wet can lead to unhappy roots and/or fungal diseases. Avoid watering when it is windy, so the water doesn't evaporate into the air instead of watering your roses.
If you are thinking you might want to use fungicide to prevent fungal diseases from happening, I would encourage you to wait and see if they develop. Only spray if you see fungal diseases or pests that can't be managed by any other means.
If you believe you must spray, no matter what, here are some dos and don'ts. Don't spray on a windy day. Don't spray during the late morning, afternoon or evening hours. Don't spray when bees are out (even organic sprays). Don't spray when it is over 80 degrees F as it can burn your plants. Don't spray on a rainy day or if it is going to rain the next day. Don't spray if your pets (or your neighbor's pets) are in the yard. Don't spray if your children/grandchildren/neighbors are in the yard. I cannot stress enough that spraying is serious. You must take precautions.
If you choose to spray, you can use a lime sulfur spray or a horticultural oil mixed with a dormant spray for fungal diseases. You need to wear an appropriate face mask (N95), gloves, closed-toe shoes (no sandals or slippers), and disposable coveralls or a safety suit. Yes, anytime you spray your roses for insects or diseases, it is serious business. You can hurt yourself or others if you don't. That includes organic sprays as well, such as neem oil, BT, etc. Just because something is labeled organic, doesn't mean it can't hurt you, your neighbors, pets, birds, bees, etc. Shower, including washing your hair, after spraying. Those chemicals (yes, even organic ones) need to be stored appropriately. Don't mix chemicals because you think that it will be better for the plants. Follow directions on the label. Leftover sprays and their containers need to be disposed of, appropriately. If all of this sounds like a lot of work, it is. There are alternatives!
I remove leaves that have powdery mildew, rust, etc., if I get it. New ones will grow in. Mostly, I don't get fungal diseases. That is because I try to choose disease-resistant varieties for my yard (and we generally have low humidity). I also practice shovel pruning. If the rose is a disease-ridden mess, out it goes. I grow roses for my own enjoyment and their beauty. I don't have time to baby them. Some roses do better than others in our climate. I want the ones that do well in my yard.
I clean up debris from my roses and place it in the green bin. It does not go in my compost pile. I also keep a good 3 to 4 inches of organic mulch around my roses to stop weeds in their tracks and keep my roses roots cool in summer and warm in winter. It also helps to keep my soil moist so I can water less. The mulch will eventually break down and help improve the soil in my yard. The soil in my yard left something to be desired when I first moved here. After several years, it has greatly improved due to using compost and mulch (not rubber mulch!) that eventually breaks down and improve the soil.
I attract the “good bugs” such as lady bird beetles, lacewings, etc., by planting pollinator plants in my garden. Flowering native plants such as yarrow (Achillea), California buckwheats (Eriogonum), seaside daisy (Erigeron), sticky monkey-flowers (Mimulus), tidy tips (Layia platyglossa), etc., attract the “good bugs” that will eat the “bad bugs.” Native plants are great choices. They are beautiful and they are drought tolerant. These plants also attract birds to my yard. They too will eat the “bad bugs” and they are quite amusing to watch.
If you have the space for new roses, there is still time to purchase them and get them into the ground or a large pot. I like ordering roses online from several different sources. I find a greater variety online and end up with terrific plants. Also, the people who work at these nurseries tend to know the plants they sell and can make useful recommendations about what will or won't work in my garden.
When the new growth on your roses is about 2 to 3 inches long, you can start fertilizing. I recommend a good organic rose fertilizer. It will contain micro elements that will help to improve your soil and your plant. Synthetic fertilizers do not. In reality, as I have written before, your plant doesn't care what you buy, organic or inorganic. However, organic fertilizers won't burn your plants or add salts to your soil (synthetic fertilizers are made of various salts — not the kind of salt you eat). Organic fertilizer will help to build your soil over time. As your soil improves, you will be able to use less fertilizer but have the same result.
When you apply fertilizer, make sure the soil is moist. Water before and after your application. You can also spray your roses with seaweed (kelp) fertilizer. Roses love it. It may smell for a day or two but I have smelled much worse when it comes to fertilizers.
Again, test your soil before you fertilize. Don't fertilize just to fertilize. You are wasting your hard-earned money (which you could be spending on plants!). More is not better! I have had great results with just compost and a good layer of organic mulch (not rubber mulch).
Next month…we should be seeing some beautiful spring blooms! If you can, take some time to enjoy all of the new and beautiful spring growth in your yard.
Until next time . . . "Friends are the roses of life. . . pick them carefully and avoid the thorns!" - Unknown
- Author: Rosie D
It is finally time to start pruning your roses! In last month's column, I talked about pruning safety: wearing gloves, sleeves that cover your arms to protect them from thorns, wearing eye protection, etc. I also wrote about preparing your bypass pruners by sharpening them and keeping them clean. For some roses, I use either a pruning knife or loppers to remove canes. I use the loppers or a pruning knife if the canes are too thick for my pruners. Also, if you want to move a rose from one spot in the garden to another, now is the best time — when they are pruned and dormant.
You are going to prune your canes to an outward facing bud. What is an outward facing bud? Buds are formed in the “axial” where the leaf meets the cane. If you look closely, you will see a little bump underneath the leaf. About one-quarter inch above that is where you are going to cut. Prune to an outside facing bud (not one facing the inside of the bush). That bud will produce a flowering cane.
Cut out old and scarred canes. Cut out spindly canes. Cut out one or both canes that are crossing each other. Those canes can rub against each other, and diseases can then infect both canes. The center of the plant should not be crowded with canes, but open and airy. Again, dispose of the leaves and debris in the green bin.
When pruning, make sure the cane's pith is white and not dark. The pith is the center part of the cane. It should look like the inside of an apple. If it is dark, keep cutting the cane back until the pith is white. You may have to cut the cane all the way back to the soil or graft. That is OK. Those dark centers indicate that the cane is in decline or diseased. Removing it should spur new growth for your rose.
Climbers and rambling roses are pruned differently. What is a climbing rose and what is a rambling rose? A rambling rose blooms once in the spring. A climbing rose will continue to bloom throughout the spring and summer into the fall. Start to prune climbing and rambling roses only after you have had them for a couple of years. This allows them time to form nice arching canes. These are called the main canes. Keep about 4 to 6 of those nice arching main canes and prune any old, crossing, diseased canes from the bush. Those arching canes will have lateral canes that come out from them. Cut those lateral canes to about 3 to 5 axials (where the leaves come out). Those lateral canes are the ones that will be producing flowers in the spring.
Climber and rambling rose canes should be tied to a structure such as an arbor as close to a 45-degree angle as you can get, without breaking the cane. That angle will stimulate lateral growth and blooms. Tie them loosely. You don't want the tie to girdle the cane.
Now is the time to clean up around your rose bush. Make sure you have removed all of the leaves off of the stems and dispose of them properly. Removing the leaves helps prevent over-wintering spores of a fungal disease to re-infect the rose.
Rambling roses are climbing roses that bloom only once in the spring/early summer (but oh, what a display!). Prune them lightly after they have finished blooming. If you prune them later, you will be pruning off next year's flowers.
When your roses start to put out new growth and that growth is about 2 inches long, it is time to fertilize. I use a good organic rose fertilizer, or alfalfa meal (not alfalfa pellets), and compost. Sometimes our alkaline soil doesn't allow the rose bush to utilize the iron in the soil. This causes the rose leaves to look whitish instead of green. That means that your rose needs extra iron. There are lots of good iron plant supplements (not the kind you take!) in the marketplace. You may need to feed that iron supplement to the rose, if the leaves overall are a light, whitish green. Check your soil with a good soil test to see if this is necessary. Don't add fertilizer and supplements just to add them. More is NOT better for the rose, and it can be bad for the environment as well. Just use what your rose needs.
I also mulch around my roses. Put a good 3-inch layer of mulch around the drip line of the rose and not next to the canes. That will help to save water and keep your roses cooler in the summer. You will also have to weed less! A bonus! That mulch will eventually break down and enrich your soil. Another bonus!
Assess the irrigation system to make sure it is in good working order. If you follow the steps above, in about 8 to 10 weeks you will be rewarded with beautiful blooms.
Rose of the Month — Flamingo Dancer
Earlier in the article, I showed you a climbing rose that had been pruned. Here is what it looks like in the spring. This rose, called Flamingo Dancer, is one gorgeous rose that tolerates our soil and weather conditions beautifully. It also makes a lot of hips in the fall (great for tea if you don't use insecticides). Because it's a semi-double flower rose, the bees find it irresistible. It's great for our pollinators! Flamingo Dancer was bred by Burling Leong, who has her own nursery in Visalia, Calif. Burling has bred several amazing roses. Her nursery is a beautiful place to visit. She worked for many, many years for the famous rose breeder Ralph Moore (whose nursery was also in Visalia).
Until next time . . . Life is not always going to be roses and rainbows. You are going to have uncomfortable moments. It's what we do with those moments that is going to count and determine our destiny. - Lana
- Author: Help Desk Team
The answer is YES! And it is easy!
If you prune, your rose flower bushes will
• Be larger
• Have more flowers
• Will be more balanced and fuller
• And the health of your plant improved!
Most roses need to be pruned only once a year. All types of rose bushes benefit from pruning and if roses are not pruned regularly, they deteriorate in appearance and flowers will become smaller.
When to Prune?
Most roses should be pruned when they are dormant. In this area of California, roses are generally dormant between December and February and anytime in that time frame is fine.
Objective
The pruning objective is to work toward an open, airy, well-shaped and balanced V-shape cane structure.
What you will need
• A pair of sharp, clean pruning shears
• A pair of clean long-handled lopping shears
• Thick gauntlet gloves to protect your hands from the thorns
• A small hand saw for larger cuts
• Alcohol and a cloth for cleaning your tools
How to approach the task
These pruning practices pertain to all garden roses regardless of type:
• Use your loppers to cut off the top one third to one half of the plant to better see its structure.
• Clear the area underneath the plant from all leaf and other organic debris to expose the crown/canes and sucker origins.
• Make your pruning cuts with your shears at a 45 degree angle about 1⁄4” above an outward facing bud. The angle should slope away from the bud. A cut made at this point will heal rapidly and water will drain away from the bud.
• Remove all dead, broken or damaged canes down to the crown.
• Undesirable canes have discolored pith or hollow centers indicating disease, insect or weather damage.
• Remove any crossing canes keeping the best looking ones.
• Remove spindly canes (smaller in diameter than the size of a pencil).
• Remove any suckers. These are extra vigorous shoots arising from rootstock below the bud union.
• Suckers should be removed completely, not just clipped off where they emerge from the soil. This can be done by moving the soil away from the trunk until you can see where the sucker is connected to the trunk. Grab ahold of the sucker close to the trunk and pull downward to break it off.
• Choose 3–6 strong, healthy, outside canes per plant to keep and leave 3–5 buds on each cane.
• Remove EVERY leaf from the newly pruned bush as diseases and insects tend to over winter in old leaves.
• Consider applying an insecticidal soap or horticultural oil after pruning and while roses are dormant. Soaps and oils smother overwintering scales and insect eggs and are least harmful to beneficial insects. A good time to apply is when no rain or fog is expected within a day.
• Shape your rose bushes as they grow. Keep the branches balanced and the centers open for airflow.
General pruning techniques for various types of roses
Hybrid Tea, Grandiflora, and Floribundas Roses
• Cut back between one third and one half of the previous year's growth on all the canes you plan to keep (4 to 7 canes). The average pruning height for Floribundas and Hybrid Teas is between 12 and 18 inches, but taller growing Hybrids and most Grandifloras may be left at 2 feet. For most hybrids this means leaving between 5 to 10 buds per cane.
Miniatures Roses
• Miniature roses are 6 to 12 inches high, with tiny blooms and foliage. Miniature roses do not need special pruning. Just cut out dead growth and remove the hips.
Rambler Roses
• Old-fashioned Rambler roses have clusters of flowers, each usually less than 2 inches across. They often produce canes 10 to 15 feet long in one season. Rambler roses produce best on one-year-old wood, so this year's choice blooms will come on last year's growth. Prune immediately after flowering. Remove some of the large old canes. Tie new canes to a support for the next year.
Climbing Roses
• Large-flowering climbing roses have flowers more than 2 inches across, borne on wood that is 2 or more years old. Canes are larger and sturdier than those of Ramblers. Many flower just once in June, but some, called ever-blooming climbers, flower more or less continuously. Often this group is pruned in the autumn, any time before cold weather sets in. First cut out dead and diseased canes. After this, remove 1 or 2 of the oldest canes each season to make room for the new canes. The laterals, or side shoots, are shortened 3 to 6 inches after flowering. If the plant is strong, keep 5 to 8 main canes, which should be tied to the trellis, fence, wall, or other support. If it is not strong, leave fewer canes.
Link for rose pruning video: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=16947
See this UCIPM site for more information on rose care:
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/rose.html
Help Desk of UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (PDS)
- Prepared by: Terry Lewis
Tasks
- New roses of many varieties are featured in magazines and articles - or view them online. Look for those you like, select ones that are suitable for your area, and buy them bare root. Consider the aesthetic qualities of roses as well as size when placing them in the landscape.
- Soak bare root plants for two to four hours in a bucket of water to rehydrate roots before planting.
Pruning
- Prune existing roses to remove diseased and damaged wood, regulate size and shape, and improve bloom quality.
- Use clean, sharp tools to avoid splitting or crushing canes and branches, cut one-quarter inch above a bud or leaf joint and make cuts at a 45° angle to the branch.
- Leave three to five canes in a vase-shaped configuration when pruning hybrid teas, grandifloras or floribundas.
- Remove leaves from roses to force dormancy, if this task has not already been done.
Fertilizing
- Roses have a long growing and blooming season here, so a regular feeding schedule is important. Usual fertilizing months for established plants are February and September.
- At planting time, apply a rose fertilizer to new plants.
Planting
- This is the time to move and transplant roses. Prepare a hole two feet wide and deep enough to keep the graft above ground level.
- Make a mound of soil in the middle of the hole. Spread the roots as much as possible and place the rose on the mound. Add soil until the hole is about two-thirds full then fill it with water and let it soak in. Finish filling the hole and water again. Use the regular soil and tamp down to remove any air pockets.
- Fertilize with a rose planting product and follow label instructions. Remember to water regularly if there has not been any rain.
- Dress beds with organic material and mulch to control weeds.
- Keep mulch back from the base of the rose plant.
- Water if rainfall is less than normal.
Enjoy now
- Survey the completion of the first task of the new year, pruning roses, and look forward to the first spring rose in April.
Things to ponder
- Roses grow to different heights depending on the variety - from the lower landscape/shrub roses and floribundas to the taller hybrid tea and grandifloras. Keep this in mind when placing roses in your garden.