If a rose is unprotected it can heave out of the ground with the roller coaster of thawing and freezing temperatures. This is why timing is crucial as to when to take off the winter protection. A tip is to wait for the fruit trees to bud out. Spring pruning can then begin as the growing buds begin to swell and appear on the cane. For Zones 1-7 this is usually in April. For now, spring seems so far way, like a dream! Meanwhile, enjoy the decorative rose hips that come along in the fall season!
0 Comments
Before you begin, it is best to clean the ground around the base of the rose of dead leaves and weeds. Pests and disease can over winter in the dead leaves and pose a threat to the new growth of the rose the following spring.
So to begin: 1. Put your choice of mulch around the base of the plant up to 12” on the bush. Good mulches are: oak leaves, bark, pine straw, wood chips, soil pep. 2. Do not take the soil around the rose to pile up onto it. You may take soil from another part of the yard, or use a denser mulch such as compost. It is also appropriate to use a mixture of both soil and soil pep, or compost. 3. Remember that snow is also a great winter protection. If you get a lot of snow then you may not need to add protection; if you do not, then you need to add some. 4. If you decide to use oak leaves (maple leaves get too mushy when wet), you may build a cage out of chicken wire to put around the rose and then fill with leaves up to two feet tall. Or you may cover your complete garden with leaves. If you get a lot of wind, they may not stick around! 5. If you live in the mountains in Utah, the temperatures get a lot colder. A solid curtain of fabric, or concrete blanket can be put around the roses, or on top of them, if you first cut the canes down to 10-12” so the curtain does not break them. 6. Potted roses should be put in the garage or basement, even if unheated. The temperature should be 20-40 degrees. Water thoroughly when you first bring them in. Spray with a fungicide. Keep moist just lightly; watering once a month is enough, one or two cups of water is enough. Raise off the floor. They should be placed on an inside wall, and not in a drafty area. 7. Tree roses can be burlapped; wrap burlap around a pruned rose (no long canes) with twine, fill with leaves, and tie at the top. To find your Cold Hardiness Zone, go to https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov and enter your zipcode. Protect the following roses if you live in Zone 6 or lower (or colder): hybrid tea, floribunda, grandiflora, miniature, miniflora, climbers, tree roses, potted roses and roses that are going into winter unhealthy. A weakened rose may not survive the winter without protection. Newly planted roses or one year old plants need protection. For all the roses just mentioned, mulch up to 12” at the base of the plant. The roses that are winter hardy and need no protection are Own Root, Buck, EZElegant and OGR, or old garden roses.
Where a rose is planted also determines if it needs protection. For example, a rose will need more protection if it is located in a low spot in your yard or garden, or if it is in a place where it will get lots of wind. Wind dries out roses.. Roses planted next to the house may not need protection. As you survey your roses and their various locations, you will be the one to judge if they need protection or not. Well, winter has come! How and when do we winterize our roses? This is the question on everyone’s minds. The following points are how we prepare our roses for winter: 1. Stop fertilizing six weeks prior to the first frost in your area. You can look this up on Google or in the Farmer’s Almanac. 2. Do not use slow release fertilizer from late summer on. 3. Stop deadheading roses for the six weeks prior to the first frost. Leaving spent roses on the bush over winter actually feeds the rose.4. If you follow a spray schedule, continue spraying until the first frost. This applies to both organic and synthetic sprays. If you have had issues with disease or pests, one last spray will help the rose to be healthy heading into winter. 5. Keep watering as necessary. 6. Wait to do fall pruning of long canes until after the rose shuts down. This would mean two nights of temperatures in the mid 20’s. If this has not happened yet in your area, it very well might this next week. 7. Apply winterization after two nights of 20 degrees. If this is applied too soon, it may cause fungus diseases to activate again. The reason to winterize, which may surprise some, is to keep the soil from going cold to warm and back and forth. Keeping the roots stabilized is the point. And 8. IF you have had problems with gophers, moles, voles, mice, etc., now is the time to treat the surrounding soil, tunnels, holes, etc with a pesticide. Motomco (purchased on Gemplers.com), or castor oil are two recommendations to help with this.
Spider Mites are not insects but minute arachnid relatives of spiders that live on the underside of rose foliage. The first sign of spider mites will be a lightening of the lowest foliage as the mites suck the sap from the leaves and other tender parts and can eventually defoliate the plant. You may also see many little webs (webbing) and eggs on the underside of the leaves. You can check for spider mites with a sheet of white paper. Shake damaged leaves over the paper in the sun. If tiny, rusty dots start to move, you have spider mites. Controlling spider mites with chemicals can be used, but there are two alternative methods. The first choice is to select rose cultivars that have good spider mite resistance. Second, you can use a water wand with a rose-head attachment (like a showerhead) to wash off the underside of the rose foliage every one or two days until there is no problem. It works, so be sure to try it for at least a couple of weeks before selecting spider mite chemicals, which are the third option. There are several miticides available, some more effective than others. Miticides that do not kill the spider mite eggs must be sprayed at frequent intervals for three weeks to eliminate the mature and hatching mites. Eggs will hatch in two to three days at 75 degrees and above. Insecticidal soap and insecticidal oils also work for the control of spider mites. Remove the affected foliage before spraying and direct the spray material to the underside of the foliage. Mites can become resistant to a chemical, and it may be necessary to change miticides from time totime. Spraying before winter protection is advisable as mites winter over in sheltered spots in the garden. Because insecticides used for other rose pests also kill the natural enemies of spider mites, diminish the use of broad-spectrum insecticides and only spray insecticides when necessary. The annual Utah Rose Society rose show offers rose lovers the opportunity to display their home-grown roses to the public. In the Rose Show Schedule you will find 4 Divisions of competition that will allow you to be creative in the way that you show your roses. Division I is “Special Challenge & Collection Classes” and contains 13 classes
The following posts continue with other Divisions in the annual Rose Show. Grooming the Rose
Participants of the Rose Show may show up at the Sugar House Garden Center as early as 7:00 a.m. You will have until 10:00 a.m. to prepare and groom your roses. What do you do during this time? First, you find the vases that you need, provided by the Utah Rose Society. You cannot use just any vase; it has to be a curtain size. When you arrive, someone will show you where to get your vases. There will be a staging area with tables set up, outside the front door. There you will gather the vases, put water and a rose in each vase. You may want to bring a watering can with you to fill the vases. Now you begin to groom your rose. The leaflets need to been cleaned of any residue of chemicals, or water spots. A soft damp cloth or wet nylon stocking works well for this. The bloom petals can be brushed gently if they have dust or debris on them. A soft make-up brush works well for this. If a part of a leaflet has a brown edge to it, gently trim off the brown edge with a pair of deckled scissors, again very gently. Next, you will need to decide exactly high tall you want your rose to stand out of the vase. A judge was once overheard saying that the stem should be seven times the height of the bloom. This will put the rose at eye level of most judges, so they do not have to bend down to see your beautiful rose. So cut your stem accordingly and put the rose gently back into the vase. Now you will need to put a wedge in at the top of the vase to hold the rose stem in place. Any material may be used to support the rose except for clear plastic wrap. Good ideas are foil and floral oasis. Attach the identification tag (which you have already filled out) with a rubber band to the neck of the vase. Place the tag on the side of the vase where the judges can get the best view of your rose. (it is easiest to do this just before you place the rose in the vase). Lastly, place your rose on the Placement Table inside the front door and the committee will place your rose entry on the appropriate table to be judged. At this time, you can relax!! You did it!! You placed your rose in the Rose Show! At 12 noon all the participants are allowed back in to see their roses and how they performed. You can also enjoy all the many beautiful roses entered by your friends. Transporting the Rose Depending on how far from the Rose Show location you live, will determine the manner in which you transport your roses. And there are many ways to do this. It is a personal preference, but whichever way you choose, you will want to transport them carefully so they will not fall, or bump into each other. They need to stay cool, and out of the hot sun’s rays. It goes without saying that the roses must stay in water. So, find a system that works for you. Depending on how many roses you are planning to show, a cardboard box with dividers could be helpful. A six-pack cardboard carrying case, used for soda bottles, works well too. If the rose blooms are large then possibly only three roses would fit in a six-pack carrying container. You do not want the blooms bumping into each other. Use vases you already have, or use soda or water bottles. Place your box or boxes securely on the floor or back of the minivan or SUV. You do not want them to move around during travel. Exhibition Roses For rose shows, there is such a bloom that is called “exhibition stage”. Think of the perfect high centered rose. This is exhibition stage for a Hybrid Tea, and this is what the judges are looking for. The rose should be one-half to two-thirds open, with a high center and petals unfurling in a circle. Exhibition stages are the same for Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, Miniatures, and a few single Floribundas. Many Floribundas look better as a spray, which means that there are several blooms on one stem, and the blooms are more open. The spray will do well in the show if the blooms are symmetrical and balanced. You can also enter roses that are fully open with the stamens showing. So when cutting your roses for the show, either the night before or the morning of, consider the stage of the bloom, and how much it will open before it is judged (which will be 10:00a.m.-12 noon on Saturday.). It is a judgment call; you know your roses and how long they stay nice in a vase in your home. That knowledge can help you with this decision. Example of a rose that will not work at a Rose Show is Mardi Gras. It looks great in the garden, and the color pops against the green foliage. But when cut and put in a vase, it wilts within an hour or two. So it is not a good specimen for the rose show. |