Friday, October 14, 2011

FALL ROSE CARE


Welcome to the World of Rose Gardening or Rose Gardening World.  Take time and smell the roses.  Roses have been around for millions of years which just prove that roses are not difficult to grow. The Rose is also our National Floral Emblem and the state flower of several states.  Here at Rose Gardening World, you’ll find rose articles that will educate you about roses – its history, rose culture, rose profiles and even rose verses all in one place.  So visit Rose Gardening World often. 
 
After the very hot summer, Fall is a welcome relief.  The night air is getting cooler, days are getting shorter and we cram all gardening tasks in all available free time we have on weekdays and more on weekends.

While spring is the traditional season for rose planting, fall is also an excellent time to add roses to the garden.  Fall planting will give your roses a head start to establish their root system before the winter sets in and in the spring with a healthy and established root system in place, your roses will take off faster than those planted in the spring.  If you live in the Northeast Region, I’ll stay with the spring planting.

Browse through the garden catalogs and look for fabulous color of spring bulbs to add to your rose garden. There are spaces between your roses that can accommodate these spring beauties without competing with your roses. By the time the roses come into bloom the spring flowers will be gone. When planting spring bulbs, make sure you sprinkle cayenne pepper to keep the squirrels away. 

Continue weeding. Watch for the chickweed which germinates in the fall. They grow slowly in the winter and then bloom and set seeds in the spring.  Pulling them out now will prevent a new generation of chickweed come spring. 

Start cleaning up the garden now before the weather starts freezing cold . Rid the garden of diseased leaves so fungi cannot overwinter in your rosebeds. Discard them in the trash. Do not add them to your compost pile.  Keep some rose hips for winter interest. Remove spent blooms but keep as much foliage as possible.

After cleaning the rosebeds, put more compost around the bushes and then apply new mulch on the rosebeds. Mulch helps to conserve moisture, suppresses weed growth and helps maintain the soil temperature.

Don’t forget watering. Roses need 2 inches of water every week so if rain does not come you have to put the sprinklers on. Water early in the morning so leaves will be able to dry before nightfall.

If you want perfect blooms and foliage, you have to continue your spray program to control insects and diseases.  Do not apply insecticides until you see some insects. Follow manufacturer’s directions for safety. At this time, you might see some spider mites. Check the underside of leaves and if it feels grainy and the lower leaves lose their color, small webs will appear and the leaves will fall. A good blast of water every two or three day might work. If not, a miticide might be the next remedy. Now if you have an infestation of midge, that’s a different story. Keep pruning the tip of the stems with the midge and spray with Pyola (from Garden Alive).  Pyola contains canola oil and pyrethrins from chrysanthemum plant and it helps a little bit but not completely..

Cut roses to bring indoors. Enjoy the last blooms of the season indoors as well as out in the garden. Never mind that the bushes have lost most of their leaves to blackspot, just enjoy them. If you are giving your roses away, make sure you plant the fragrant varieties. There is no sense planting the roses for their form alone. Fragrant roses are the best. STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES!!! 


Visit my website 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Epsom Salt and Its Role in the Rose Garden

Epsom Salt or Magnesium Sulfate is a chemical compound made up of magn...