Gardening: June: Month of the rose, the queen of the garden
There are very long books written about roses. One of the reasons there are very long books about roses is that roses are not, unless you’re really lucky, easy to grow. There is nothing carefree about roses.
One of the best books is “Roses” by James Underwood Crockett and the editors of Time-Life Books. At Amazon.com, there is one new edition available for $28.99 and 17 used copies “from $0.01.” If you don’t have one, make your move now!
With only 600 words available in this column each week, hard choices must be made. So leaving types, classification, nomenclature to one side, I would like to focus on some very limited topics — first of all, pruning.
As your rose bush grows, then blooms, you may or may not cut the flower. If you do, you’ll choose where to cut depending on the length of stem you want. If you don’t cut and the flower withers on the stem, you then must decide how far back to prune if you want additional bloom.
Note that the bush has put out both three-leaved shoots and five-leaved shoots. Trace back from the withered flower, past all of the three-leaved shoots, to that spot directly above the place where the first five-leaved shoot leaves the main stem. Inside that notch is where the next bloom is waiting — cut right above that spot and the flower will emerge.
Check those places where you cut blooms for indoors. Make sure you cut back far enough — no flower will emerge from above a three-leaved shoot. This may sound complicated at first, but it really isn’t — counting to five is not rocket science! Once you’re used to it, you’ll do it without even thinking about it.
The second topic worthy of consideration is the many diseases to which roses are prone — these include black spot, powdery mildew, Botrytis blight, rust, cankers, crown gall, wilt and viruses. If newcomers want to stop reading now, that would be understandable — it is exactly this aspect of rose-growing that discourages many gardeners. Such diseases can be managed, but prevention is the first step.
And here on the Island, because of our almost constant high humidity, we’re really under the gun. Moisture breeds disease and there’s no way to avoid moisture when the humidity is in the 90s, as it tends to be all summer long. Good housekeeping is key. Keep plants free of weeds, fallen leaves and other debris. Spray regularly. If you aren’t willing to spray regularly, you probably should give up on the idea of growing roses.
A good sprayer, one that you actually like to use, is your best friend where roses are concerned. I ordered a new one last week, electric, with a recharger, and I’ll keep you posted on how it works out. I read at least 50 different descriptions, trying to decide which type would work well with my body — water is heavy. Five gallons in a back pack? A fanny pack? Three gallons in a shoulder pack? It was like, “Where do you want to hurt?” I finally settled on a five-gallon, cart-like thing that you can sort of pull along. It hasn’t arrived yet, but I’m waiting with great expectations.
When considering spraying, remember that you need not restrict yourself to spraying with a single solution. It’s perfectly acceptable, measuring per each set of instructions, to put fertilizer, insect repellent and an anti-fungal mixture in the same five- or three-gallon container.
Next week, I’ll try to cover treatments for some of the above diseases.
