Now’s the Time to Work on Your Rose Garden
Whether your roses are newly planted or well established, keeping them healthy and blooming through summer’s heat requires time and attention. Pressure from high temperatures, insects and poor cultural practices means you may see fewer, smaller blooms, discolored leaves as well as leaf drop. You can help your roses stay healthy and blooming all summer long by knowing what to look for and how to maintain your roses correctly. This includes deadheading, watering, fertilizing, disease, and insect control. Sounds like a lot, but if done on a regular basis, your roses will do well through the summer season, into fall. The first step is to keep up with removing fading blooms. This is called “deadheading” and it’s important to do for two reasons. Removing fading flowers will prevent the rose plant from wasting energy producing seed hips and will encourage more blooms. Deadheading also helps shape the plant.
Hybrid tea roses produce one bloom per cane. When it’s time to prune, clip the old bloom just above an outward facing 5-leaf set. If there is new growth already coming on, cut above the growth and allow it to grow, form buds and flower. Make the cut at an angle sloping downward toward the center of the bush. Cut back to wood strong enough to support a new bloom. If stems are too small, they won’t flower, or the bloom will sag because the cane is too weak to support the weight.
Floribunda roses bloom in clusters of several flowers on the stem. The individual flowers may bloom at different times. When deadheading these roses, start by removing the individual flowers that are finished blooming, leaving the remaining flowers on the stem. When all the remaining flowers of the cluster have completed blooming, cut the entire cluster off.
Climbing roses tend to bloom in clusters. As petals fade, clip off individual flowers, leaving the remaining buds to open and bloom. One spent, prune the entire cluster down to the first set of 5 leaflets, cutting at an angle.
Even though shrub roses shed blooms on their own, it’s still important to clean them up periodically. Because shrubs only bloom from new growth, trimming them back will produce more branches and increase the potential for more blooms.
Miniature roses should be deadheaded following single-stem procedures.
While you’re pruning, watch for indications of disease or insects. Common rose diseases include black spot, rust or powdery mildew. Insects to watch for this time of year include aphids, spider mites and thrip. Diseases can be treated by removing any obviously bad leaves or with fungicides such as Sulfur or Neem Oil. Now’s the time to clear any weeds and debris that might have accumulated at the base of the rose bush.
Thrips will make their presence known by the streaking discoloration of the rose bud. These and other insects can be managed with Spinosad or Bee Safe 3-in-1, an organic product developed to control fungus, mites, and insects. Releasing lady bugs into the garden also helps control aphids and other insects. If you plan to release ladybugs, don’t use pesticides. Fungicides and insecticides should be applied in the evening, when pollinators are not present, and temperatures are cooler. Roses should be well hydrated prior spraying any pesticide. The best way to water roses is slowly and deeply, at the base of the plant. Watering overhead encourages disease problems.
Now is the time to feed your roses. There are a variety of rose fertilizers available, including liquid, granular, inorganic, and organic. While each formula has its advantages, roses prefer a balanced formula. Organic fertilizers often include a mycorrhizae component, which helps build stronger root system and a more robust plant to soil interface.
When it comes growing roses, it’s important to know what you’re dealing with. What looks like a disease problem may be caused by an insect. Bring us a sample of the problem you’re having. We’ll diagnosis it and come up with recommendations to solve your rose and plant issues.
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