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Rose Tips by Al Karsten |
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Tips Before you apply winter mulch be sure to remove all diseased rose leaves from the rose bushes and leaves in the soil around the bushes. If there is a lot of black spot and mildew present, cut back the canes to about two feet from the ground. You do not want to carry over the spores for next year's new growth. If you have only a few rose bushes, pick off all the leaves - the bad and the good. If your roses are several feet tall, you may cut them back to waist high. To prune for next year's blooms, this should be done after April 15th. Loss of rose bushes from freezing is possible when temperature get below 10ºF. Apply fallen leaves (ground-up is better), hay, compost, pine needles or a mound of dirt built up 8 to 10 inches. I prefer to apply ground-up leaves around each rose bush, then apply a couple gallons of dirt or compost on top of the leaves. This prevents blowing of the leaves during the winter winds. The dirt should NOT be taken from the rose bed to apply on top of the leaves as you could expose the rose roots. This process is necessary to prevent heaving from the freezing and thawing. I do not use the rose cones for winter protection on my roses, although many rosarians do. If we have a mild winter, roses will start premature growth under the cones. Before mulching the roses, they should be watered with at least one inch of water for each rose bush if recent rainfall has been insufficient. Also, water the roses on above freezing days about every six weeks if snow or moisture are lacking. Water in early January and again early in March. Rose bushes die from dehydration. New Rose Beds Once you have decided where the new bed will be located, use a garden hose, rope or other material to mark the outline of the bed. The size and shape depend on the space available. You can be very creative in your design - kidney shaped, oval, rectangular or whatever suits your taste. Unless the bed can be reached from two sides, it is best to limit the width to no more than five feet. Then you can reach in among your plants to care for them properly when fertilizing in the soil or spraying. When you have outlined the rose bed, a garden tiller is the best way to break up the soil. A shovel is OK but will require more digging. Rose roots penetrate deeply into the soil so it is necessary to prepare the soil much more deeply than you would for other types of plants. A well prepared bed for roses should be excavated to a depth of 18 to 24 inches. It is necessary to decide whether special drainage is required in order to keep water from standing in the bed when we have excessive rain. Start putting your grass clippings on the new bed. In other words, start your compost at your new bed site. Apply the fallen leaves to your new bed as well. The pile of grass and leaves should be 4 to 5 feet high. Apply a bag or two of cow manure and a bag of 13-13-13 granular fertilizer. Add a few gallons of soil to your compost. It is important that the compost material be turned with a garden fork or an aerating tool occasionally - until it is frozen. The long winter months give you plenty of time to peruse the rose catalogues and select the varieties to be planted. I recommend that you ask for a No. 1 rose when ordering bare-root roses or potted roses from the nursery. A No. 1 1/2 or a No. 2 bush will never equal a No. 1 in quantity or quality of flowers.
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