Now that the weather is consistently below 90 degrees F, you can start to fertilize your roses again, if necessary. Don't fertilize just to fertilize. Get your soil tested (if you haven't already) to find out if you need any additional minerals to make the ingredients in your fertilizer available to the root systems of your plant. If your soil test shows your soil is adequate, no need to fertilize.
If you do need to fertilize, make sure your roses are thoroughly watered the day before applying any fertilizer. Especially if you use a non-organic fertilizer, as it will burn the plant. After applying the fertilizer, water again.
You can alternate your fertilizer with fish emulsion if you wish. Use a fertilizer that has a greater percentage of (P) phosphate in relation to (N) nitrogen and (K) potassium. This will help to create stronger root systems and resistance to stress.
If you grow roses in pots (like me!) use half the recommended dose of fertilizer but apply it every two weeks. You can alternate between liquid fertilizer and dry fertilizer until 30 days before the "first frost date." Normally, for Fresno, that is right around Dec. 1. In our mountain areas of the county, that is (usually) about the middle of November.
You can go ahead and lightly prune your roses once the high temps are consistently below 90 degree F. This is not the "big prune" that you will do in a couple of months. Deadhead any spent blooms down to about the third leaflet below the bloom. A leaflet is where those 5 or 7 leaves come away from the cane. If you can, prune to an outfacing bud. Cut about one-quarter inch above the bud. Make sure you wipe your pruners with a alcohol wipe. That will help to stop the spread of diseases. You can take off any dead leaves but again, be careful to not expose the canes to too much sun. The sun can still burn your plants this time of year.
Keep inspecting your irrigation system to make sure it is functioning properly. Your plants in pots will need to be watered more frequently than the ones in the ground. Make sure you have mulched your roses to help them retain moisture. Three to four inches of mulch is recommended around the drip line of the plant.
Check your roses for spider mites and thrips. They love the type of weather conditions we are having. A good blast from the hose (especially under the leaves) will help to get rid of them. I am still getting some minor damage from grasshoppers on my roses. They have been prolific this year. I have found all sorts of baby ones! They love to chew on certain varieties that I grow. If you can get over the ick factor, hand pick them off the rose bush when you see them. Again, if you can get over the ick factor, you can cut them in half with your clippers. It also seems that since I have some California native plants next to my roses, the baby grasshoppers seem to have a preference for them over my roses. California native plants bring all sorts of beneficial insects to your garden, so I highly recommend planting them.
New roses and Rose of the Year
Now is the time to start to think if you want to add any new roses into your garden. Soon the catalogs and mail order nurseries will have the new varieties for 2024. If you decide to add, order early!
Look at which roses are just not doing well in your garden or ones that you may not like. Sometime roses are prettier in the catalog than in the real-life growing conditions of your garden. I generally give a rose three years to perform well in my garden. If it doesn't, then out it goes. Yes, this is difficult. You can give the rose away to someone who will love it or put it in the compost heap. A rose should make you happy and thankful that you have it in your garden. If not, there are literally 18,000 other roses out there that you might enjoy. Don't be afraid to check them out at your local nursery, a rose catalog, on-line rose nursery, etc. You can always look up a rose on Help Me Find Roses to see the reviews, pictures and how it might do in your yard. You can use the search engine on Help Me Find to look up antique roses, climbers, purple roses, etc.
The American Rose Society has announced their 2023 Rose of the Year. The members of the American Rose Society throughout the country (me included!), rate roses each year as to how well they do in their garden. Are they drought tolerant, have little to no diseases, attract a lot of pests, grow well in their garden conditions, etc. This year the awards went to the following roses: Celestial Night, Sweet Spirit and Petite Peach.
The color of Celestial Night is considered mauve. It is a floribunda rose developed by Weeks Roses (located in the central valley!). It was hybridized by Christian Bedard and introduced in 2019. It received an overall garden rating of 8.7 out of 10.
The choice for the Fragrance Award went to Sweet Spirit. Sweet Spirit is a red blend grandiflora from Meilland (in France but you can get the rose here). It also has an overall garden rating of 8.5.
There is also a "no spray" division of roses as well. The 2024 winner is Petite Peach discovered by Teresa Byington. It is quite disease resistant. It is a orange-pink to apricot miniature rose and a sport of the rose Petite Pink. It is very floriferous and will be introduced through High Country Roses. It is rated as an excellent garden rose.
Until next time . . . "As delicate as flower, as tender as rose petals, choosing to be tender and kind in a harsh environment is not weakness, it's courage." Luffina Lourduraj