By Cliff Orent, ARS Consulting Rosarian and Horticulture Judge

The setting:

There are ten days to go before the ARS Spring National Convention and Rose Show in Denver.  A late spring heat wave had recently arrived in southern California with afternoon temperatures hovering around 105 F and the forecast was for more of the same for the days leading up to the show.

The dilemma:

It’s roughly 1,000 miles to Denver and the estimated driving time is 16 hours.  Gas prices had recently soared to over $4.00 a gallon and my trusted Ford van, while not the worst gas guzzler on the road, isn’t exactly the best in terms of miles per gallon.  It was too late to fly to Denver at a reasonable fare, and it looked like the cost of gas would be close to the cost of an airline so close to the departure date. I had never transported roses that far by van, and to make matters worse, the blooms had gone into their desert summer mode – fewer petals on blooms that open and crisp within hours.

A quick look around confirmed that there would be no hybrid tea blooms, nor any decent minis or minifloras.  With very few exceptions, my species roses had pretty much finished blooming for the season.  In any event, getting the blooms of species roses to local rose shows is tough enough.  But transporting them for 15 hours in the van is another thing completely.

There was the occasional spray on a hybrid musk, some interesting climber blooms and here and there the odd polyantha spray was trying its best to look perky in the heat.  Oddly enough, a few of my seedlings were producing blooms and sprays that might just make it to the show.  But when do I start to cut blooms and at what stage?  This was uncharted territiory for me.

The decision:

Since flying and driving would cost about the same, it made sense to start to cut blooms and then reevaluate a few days before the show.  I could always try to purchase a last minute air ticket if I didn’t have the blooms to justify the long drive.  So the decision was made to start cutting blooms on Friday, a week before my planned departure date.

If you’ve never cut blooms for a rose show when afternoon temperatures are around 105 degrees, you don’t know what you’ve been missing!  Forget everything you’ve learned about cutting blooms when the sugar content is highest, or however you’ve done it in the past.  By 7 a.m. the desert was already heating up to the point where the blooms were starting to lose their edge.  So for the next week I ventured out every morning between 4:30 and 5:00 with flashlight in hand, searching for anything that just might make the grade.  The take during the first few mornings was rather pathetic and by day three the thought of flying was becoming more and more attractive.

But each subsequent morning brought a few more stems to the florist refrigerator, and by Wednesday (two days prior to departure), I decided “nothing ventured, nothing gained” and made the decision to drive.

Do as I say, not as I do: How I transport roses to rose shows

A number of articles have been written on the topic of transporting roses to rose shows using styrofoam boxes, Rubbermaid coolers and the like.  This article is not intended as a review of the contraptions available for transporting roses.  For information on methods developed by serious exhibitors, you might start with the excellent overviews written by Kitty Belendez (see http://scvrs.homestead.com/coolerHT80.html and http://scvrs.homestead.com/FlyingRoses.html, among others.  The purpose of this article is to share another way to get your roses to the shows, albeit a somewhat unorthodox method that has evolved over the past several years and that works for my purposes.  I’m certainly not advocating its use by the experienced exhibitor looking for the safest way to transport blooms for potential use in national or district challenge classes.  But if you’re just beginning to explore the world of rose exhibiting, you might give it a try.
Anyone who has seen me arrive at a rose show knows that I used to bring far more blooms than I could ever manage to enter, leading to disorganization at best and panic at worst.  I had actually managed to bring this bad habit under some degree of control until preparations for the Denver national show were underway, but let me come back to that.

Restaurant dishwasher racks

The mainstay of my system is the restaurant dishwasher rack. These come in various shapes and sizes and can usually be found used at reasonable prices, either in restaurant supply stores or over the internet.  A google search using a combination of the key words “warewashing,” “restaurant” and “rack” will usually yield results.  I’ve found racks with eight or ten compartments to be the easiest to manage, both in terms of weight and flexibility of loading into my van.  These sizes are also useful when walking around looking for blooms to clip prior to a show.  I find that inexpensive plastic bud vases, which can be purchased at floral supply stores, fit nicely into these carriers and are light weight, making it easy to transport the carriers when full.

Eight-compartment carrier

10-compartment carrier

I’ve tried larger carriers that can transport up to 25 stems, but after a while found that they were fairly heavy and bulky and there were fewer options for loading them into the van in a way that maximizes available space.

Eight or 10-compartment carriers provide flexibilitywhen attempting to maximize space in the van

Using a greater number of small carriers also allows you to sort your entries by type, making it easier to quickly scan possible entries at the rose show site.

25-compartment carriers are heavier and bulkier

Restaurant dishwasher racks unloaded at rose show site in the early dawn

Florist refrigerator

While the cost of a florist refrigerator can be prohibitive, I went around to local grocery stores and found one that was about to bring in a new model.  All they wanted for the old unit was for me to have a truck available to haul it away.  So for the cost of renting a truck for the day and help from a few friends, I have a florist refrigerator that, while not exactly new, certainly does the trick.

At first I crammed blooms into the refrigerator in no particular order.

Blooms crammed into florist refrigerator

But over time I came to realize that I was wasting a lot of time sorting and resorting, and now try to organize potential entries by type in carriers inside the refrigerator.

Entries in carriers in refrigerator

One other type of carrier well worth mentioning is that used by many florists to deliver arrangements.  I came across these during a web search and have found mine extremely useful for trans-porting larger entries or those requiring special attention.  I would think that it would be equally if not more useful for arrangers transporting arrangements to shows.  It has two layers of webbing running across the length and width the container, providing an extra measure of support during transport.

Entries in carriers in refrigerator

Florist delivery carrier

A special consideration in windy areas

One final thought on collecting/transporting blooms is for those who live in particularly windy locales.  This area is known as one of the windiest corridors in the country, with the landscape not far from here dotted with windmills intended to harness the wind as a source of renewable energy.  That’s great for the environment, but the wind can present quite a challenge for growing and collecting roses for a show.  The wind has been so strong in the days leading up to some rose shows that it wasn’t possible to cut even one bloom at a time and race back inside without serious damage to the bloom in the process.  In an attempt to overcome this problem, I’ve rigged up a Rubbermaid box and attached it to the back of an electric golf cart that I use for hauling things around the garden.

Rubbermaid box provides protection from the wind

During periods of high wind, I cut a stem and immediately put it into the Rubbermaid box and close the cover.  That allows me to cut several blooms before making a trip back to the house.  And a golf cart certainly isn’t required; the box could be attached to a wagon or other type of cart with the same result.

Box is easily opened and quickly closed after each bloom is put inside

in an eight or ten-compartment carrier.

The long haul to Denver

I had used these methods to transport roses to local shows and to shows within our District as far from home as Albuquerque, which is about 680 miles or roughly 10 hours by van.  These trips were made with the air conditioner at full blast, often while wearing gloves and a jacket to keep warm while the roses remained relatively cool.

But Denver was a new adventure at 1,000 miles or about 16 hours’ drive.  Unable to find anyone willing to drive that distance with me, I ended up making the drive alone.  And not knowing whether the roses would suffer from an overnight stay en route, I made the decision to drive straight through -  something I would definitely not do again.  As it turns out, there are a number of places at high altitudes where the roses could have remained in the van overnight and I could have had a good night’s sleep.   I found that I couldn’t quite make it to Denver non-stop and had to pull off the road about an hour and a half from the rose show site for a few hours’ sleep.  Even that wasn’t really sufficient to allow me to arrive at all rested, and I’m afraid that I was somewhat less than cheerful and polite when trying to find an area in which to set up and prepare my entries.

Due to the early heat wave that hit just before the show and the long distance that the roses would have to travel in the van, I had no idea how many, if any, blooms would make it to the show in sufficiently decent form to be entered.  That resulted in my falling back into the bad habit of taking far too many blooms with me.  But in this case, not knowing at what stage to cut the blooms so that they’d open sufficiently by show time yet not blow prior to arrival, I ended up trying to cut multiple blooms of each variety in the hope that at least some would arrive intact and sufficiently open.  I’m not sure how much I learned from this experience that can be applied to future shows, but I ended up with roughly 25-30% of the blooms in what I felt was passable, if not of blue-ribbon-quality condition just prior to show time.  The result of my efforts?  I was delighted to return home with five

trophies, including Genesis (‘R. marrettii’), Best Climber (‘Delhi White Pearl’), Best Polyantha Spray (‘Happy’), Best Classic Shrub (‘Heavenly Pink’) and, most meaningful to me, Best Seedling with a seedling of Darlow’s Enigma.  Was it worth the effort?  You bet it was!

Darlow’s Enigma x Seedling- Best Seedling 2008 ARS Spring National Rose Show – Denver

There are few topics about roses on which there are more differing points of view than feeding and watering. While growing roses in our low desert climate narrows the field of controversy some, still many a lively conversation will follow the reading of this article. What we will attempt here is to give you the basics of what you need to do in the way of feeding, watering and mulching your roses to get a good result here in the Coachella Valley.

Feeding: Roses are relatively “heavy feeders” and need a regular diet of fertilizer balanced for rose horticulture. The primary nutrients, or NPK, are nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Most formulas also contain secondary nutrients (calcium, magnesium, sulfur) and micronutrients (iron, zinc, manganese, copper, boron, and molybdenum). By law, every fertilizer must have its numerical N-P-K ratio listed on its packaging. This ratio will tell you what you can expect from its formula. You will usually see this expressed as something like 12-12-12 or 6-12-6 or 16-4-2. These numbers represent what percentage of the content of the package is of each nutrient.  A 12-12-12 fertilizer is twice as strong as a 6-6-6 fertilizer. These percentages can be important when figuring how much fertilizer you are getting for your dollar. It will take 2 pounds of 6-6-6 to do the job of one pound of 12-12-12.

N-Nitrogen promotes leaf growth and green foliage. P-Phosphorous encourages root growth and flowering. K-Potassium fosters overall plant health and hardiness to heat, drought and cold. In addition, it acts as a catalyst for nitrogen and phosphorus. In complete fertilizers you will also find the secondary nutrients and  micronutrients. That is why a complete fertilizer is more expensive than a non-complete fertilizer.  The additional nutrients carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are supplied from the atmosphere.

These nutrients are available in both organic (from plant and animal sources) and inorganic forms. Inorganic or synthetic (chemical) fertilizers work quickly. Organic fertilizers work more slowly but benefit the soil as well as the plant. In addition, organic nutrients will continue to benefit the plant long after the inorganic nutrients are exhausted. The choice is yours; however, the current thinking is that both can work together giving you rapid results while building for the future.

Basic Feeding Schedule: Apply commercial fertilizers as directed on the package. The frequency of feeding can vary from brand to brand depending on the concentration of the nutrients. Established roses are usually fed every four weeks with granular fertilizers. If you choose to use a liquid fertilizer you will need to feed about every two weeks. A water soluble fertilizer  will wash down past the root zone faster than a granular because the granular has to dissolve first. A couple of things to always remember: When the granular fertilizer manufacturer says to water before and after fertilizing to prevent fertilizer burn they mean it. When they tell you to rake your fertilizer into the top inch or so of soil they mean it because the potassium portion of the fertilizer has to be in, not on, the soil to be available to the rose. Start feeding after the spring pruning when the plants have one inch of new growth. Continue feeding following package directions  until the weather gets hot, about mid June. Traditional practice was to then stop feeding until the temperatures drop in September and then resume feeding after the fall cut back, continuing until about mid-November. Then feeding stopped while the plants rested until the after-pruning application. However, a number of rose growers have adopted the practice of continuing to feed at half the normal concentration, or even less, during the hot summer months.  Apply fertilizers around the drip-line (outer perimeter) of the plant. The same general timing for when to feed applies to organic fertilizers but check the individual product package for the frequency of feeding.  No discussion of feeding roses would be complete without considering the organic content of your soil and its effect on plant nourishment. Our desert soil is virtually devoid of organic matter and the best way to get it into the soil is when you plant. Organic mulches and compost when applied to the soil surface gradually decompose and add their organic content to your soil.  Composted yard waste, forest humus, peat moss, leaf mold and manures will all become part of the organic makeup of your soil. Soils high in organic matter convert nutrients more easily making them readily available to the plant.  It’s a good idea to perform a soil test before amending your soil at the time of planting and periodically thereafter to determine what is needed in terms of soil amendments.  Simple soil testing kits may be purchased at local garden centers or more sophisticated tests may be found via the internet and require soil samples to be sent out for laboratory testing.

Watering: Water is the ultimate fertilizer. It moves nutrients from the soil into the plant. To determine how much water your roses need, consider the density of organic matter in your soil and your garden’s microclimate.  The more organic matter in your soil, the more moisture it retains and the less time it takes water to reach the plant roots. Mulch on the surface also helps retain moisture. Keep in mind that roses need adequate water but do not like to their feet wet. Here in our valley the soil is porous and water goes rather rapidly down through it. Many water twice a day, particularly during the hotter months — once in the early morning and once in the afternoon, early enough that the plants can dry off before night.  Never allow the soil to become dry further down than an inch or two.

Irrigation choices include drip systems, underground sprinklers, and hand watering. Drip, or low-volume, irrigation is an efficient method that delivers water where intended with little runoff or evaporation. Underground watering systems with conventional above-ground spray heads direct water up onto the foliage, which is effective in removing spider mites that live on the underside of the leaves as well as creating some welcome humidity and cooling in our hot, dry climate. The downside of top watering is that the minerals in our water leave mineral deposit on the foliage.  A mid-way solution is top watering with a sprinkler that sprays out rather than up. It  only gets water on the lower portion of the plant and not on the flowers and foliage near the flowers.

Hand watering, while often enjoyable, is simply unrealistic in our climate. The best way to water roses in containers is with a drip system. At the end of each small line you can install a small sprinkler on a stake in each pot. The little sprinklers spray out eight little streams of water and each sprinkler is adjustable as to amount of flow. These little sprinklers are about a dollar each. The drip system and the yard sprinklers can be put on timers and the roses are all watered automatically. Watering duration varies with the season and temperatures. Typically, when the temperatures are above 85 degrees and the nights are warm, set your timers to water twice a day from six to eight minutes. When the temperatures go below 85 degrees and the nights are cool, set your timers for five minutes twice a day. These times are for an average amount of water delivery and if your sprinklers give a slower or faster delivery of water you should adjust these times accordingly.

Mulching: Mulch is organic matter that promotes moisture retention, suppresses weed growth, and cools the soil when spread under each bush. Mulches can be anything from a natural source that does not contain weed seeds and is not too fresh. Common types of mulches include shredded bark, wood chips, sawdust, straw, alfalfa hay, cocoa bean hulls, pine needles composted leaves, peat moss, and leaf mold. Apply the mulch to the surface of the entire rose planting bed. Use mulch to a depth between two  and four inches. Mulch is important in this hot climate because it conserves water by slowing evaporation, it helps keep the root zone cooler, it helps prevent weeds and it looks good..

These are the basics of watering, feeding and mulching. As you progress through growing roses you will become more sophisticated in your practices, but this will get you going. All things in rose care can be as easy as this or as complicated as you wish to make it.

Deadheading and disbudding are terms that sound alike, but are very different. Dead-heading is an integral part of regular groom-ing and maintenance, while disbudding is an optional choice to create a desired result.

Deadheading:

To “deadhead” refers to removing dead or spent blossoms. This practice promotes repeat blooming by directing the plant’s energy into flower production instead of reproduction (seed).

Deadheading also removes hiding places for insects, discourages disease, improves air circulation and makes way for more sun to reach more deeply into the plant. Regular deadheading throughout the growing season will stimulate faster rebloom, often grow stronger stems, and definitely keep your roses looking more attractive.

To deadhead, cut at an angle below the spent blossom, approximately ¼ ” above an outward facing five-leaflet leaf and swollen bud eye (where the next flower stem will grow) and where the stem is about pencil size or larger for hybrid teas and smaller for smaller flowers. Often the leaf where you have made the cut will turn yellow and fall off – this is normal.

When you are removing a spray, cluster, or cluster of blooms, cut below the entire mass. During the intensely hot summer months in the desert, it is imperative that you leave as much foliage on the bush as possible to avoid sunburn of the canes, and some advocate “finger pruning” or removing only the spent flower bloom and no more for this reason.   However, during the spring and fall growing season your cuts can be deeper down the stems. While deadheading you can adjust the height of various canes by how far down you cut them. You do not necessarily have to cut to the first five leaflet leaf; it can be the second, third etc. five leaflet leaf, depending upon desired shape and balance.

Disbudding:

The practice of disbudding applied to roses can produce some impressive results in the size and quality of the bloom. This is how you get those big lovely long-stemmed roses. When disbudding for one bloom to a stem roses, such as hybrid teas, you remove the side buds that develop at the leaf axels below the main bloom. This is done by rubbing the tiny buds out from of the angle created between the leaf and stem.  I find my thumb works best for getting right in there. The earlier you do this in the development of the side buds the better, for you will leave less of a disbudding scar or black stub. How many buds do I remove? Enough that you will have the desired stem length with no side buds.  In a rose show, a single bloom on a stem will be disqualified if it has side buds, with the exception of old garden roses and shrub roses.

When disbudding roses that bloom in clusters like the floribundas, it is a little different process. You have to look at the stem and see how many buds there are. If there is a central bud and only one or two side buds, remove the side buds and go for a one bloom stem. When presented with many buds and a central bud, remove the central bud and make this stem into a spray (or cluster) of blooms. The central bud would normally bloom first and be faded when the rest of the buds open. A spray, for show purposes, must contain two or more blossoms and three or more blossoms are best.  If trying for a spray for show be sure that the multiple buds have at least three buds of about the same size so they will be open at the same time to give the desired blossom count.

Disbudding of minis and minifloras follows the directions for disbudding hybrid teas for one bloom to a stem. If you are going for a spray of  blossoms, be it on hybrid tea, grandiflora, floribunda, mini or miniflora, follow the directions for cluster blooming roses. Polyantha and small flowered cluster blooming roses are usually not disbudded and disbudding old garden roses varies depending on the type of rose and your preference.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of actually putting roses in the ground we should cover a few points about where to plant. Roses must have sunshine, at least six hours a day of direct sun. Yes, they will need that much or more sun even here in our sunny climate. There are a few roses that can survive with some shade but they seldom reach their full potential. It is a good idea to not back your roses up against a wall where they will get reflected sunlight and direct sunlight, thus doubling their potential for burning. Hybrid teas and other large growing varieties should be planted about four feet apart. Smaller types of rose plants can be planted closer. I would point out that I do not give my roses that much space. I grow them closer together than I am telling you. When they are closer it is harder to get between them for maintenance. The advantage of having them closer is that they help protect each other from our intense heat. Do not plant roses within twelve feet of a tree as the rose will have to compete with the tree for water and nutrients. The tree can block the sunlight and even palm trees, though they do not directly shade a rose, compete for water and food. The roots of some trees (including certain varieties of palm trees) are so pervasive that they can easily choke the life out of a rose bush.  In a battle for existence between a tree and a rose bush the tree will win.  After all, the tree is the big bully on that block.

I must tell you that this is the voice of experience speaking.

Planting a Bare Root Rose

Planting of bare root roses in the ground in our climate requires specific methods to ensure the success of your plant.  Early January is the best time to plant bare root roses here in the Coachella Valley. When ordering your roses schedule them, if possible, to arrive in early January. When the roses arrive open them immediately and submerge them completely in a container of water for at least twenty-four hours and up to three days before planting.  You do this to rehydrate the plants. The roots must be kept moist until the moment they are planted.  Some rose growers advocate adding bleach and/or Superthrive to the water.  Dry roots equal a dead rose. While the plants are soaking it is a good time to take them out of the water one at a time and do some trimming.  Trim off any broken roots and trim the canes by cutting to an outside bud. Remove any broken or crossing canes and remember you are going to have to cover the entire top of the plant with mulch after it is planted.

If you are planting a large type of rose plant, such as a hybrid tea, floribunda, shrub or climber (or any rose that becomes a large plant), you will need to dig a hole about twenty inches wide and at least fifteen inches deep. When planting a smaller type of rose plant such as a miniature or miniflora, the hole can be somewhat smaller. Remember that you always want to dig a fifteen dollar hole for a five dollar plant. No rose will object to having plenty of root space to grow in. Our desert soil contains virtually no organic matter and is usually either blow sand or a mix of sand and gravel that has washed down from the mountains.

Any organic material the rose will ever have to live in will have to be supplied by you. There have been virtually no plants living and dying here over the centuries to provide any amount of organic matter in the desert soil. I usually purchase an outdoor potting soil high in forest humus and peat moss. I take that potting soil and mix it about half and half with some of the existing soil from the planting hole.  mix two or three generous handfuls of super phosphate into the combined soils and mix well.

I then place some of my mix in the bottom of the hole under where the plant will be and then add enough to make a cone shaped mound in the bottom of the hole. The mound should be high enough that when the rose sits on the cone the graft or bud union of the rose will be a couple of inches above soil surface. You can determine proper height by placing a stick or your shovel handle across your planting hole to determine where the soil level will meet your plant. The roots of a bare root rose will fit directly down over the cone of soil mix. The roots  should be spread around the cone of soil. Then fill with your soil mix to about half fill the hole. Water the plant and soil to settle the soil around the roots. Finish filling the hole with your soil mix and water again thoroughly to settle the soil around the roots. Complete the planting by forming a mounded ring of soil about two inches high around the planting hole to hold water and direct it down to the roots of your newly planted rose. Once the plant is in the ground the entire plant should be covered with mulch. The mulch over the canes helps to protect the bare canes from damage from both wind and sun (it keeps them from drying out) and the mulch also slows down the growth of the buds on the canes. The purpose of this is to slow the buds down, so the roots have a chance to develop enough that they can support the buds when they do begin to grow.  If not covered in mulch the buds on the canes will sprout before the roots are able to support that new growth. The sprouts will grow and suck all the life out of the canes and roots and your plant will die. In only a few weeks you will see little white buds begin to poke through the mulch. At this time you can carefully dust the mulch away from the plant or spray it off with the garden hose being careful to not spray or brush too hard. Once your roses have about an inch or so of growth on those new buds you may begin to fertilize them.

Planting a Rose from a Container into the Ground

Planting a rose from a container into the ground can be done almost any time of year.  If you are careful in how you handle the root ball it is really only a matter of substituting the ground for the pot it has been growing in.  Check to be sure the rose has been growing in its container for a long enough time that it has developed roots enough to hold the root ball together when you remove the plant from the container. The planting hole requirements and soil preparation are the same as for planting a bare root plant. I take the new containerized plant to the planting hole and tip the container on its side on the ground. I put my foot on the container, press down lightly and roll the pot back and forth. This loosens the soil from the pot and you can then slip the root ball out of the container.

Carefully lift the root ball by holding the root ball and lower it into the partially filled planting hole. Do not lift by the canes since you might have all of the root ball disintegrate and cause damage and stress to your plant. Check to be sure that the plant is sitting high enough that the bud union on a grafted plant is one or two inches above the soil level (own root roses should be planted at approximately the same level at which it was growing in the pot).  Fill the hole half way with your soil mix and water. Then finish filling the hole and water again well. Form a ring of mounded soil around the edge of the planting hole to hold water and direct the water to your plants roots.

Planting Roses In Containers

First a few words about containers.  Growing roses in containers has some advantages over growing in the ground. In containers you have very good control of how much water and fertilizer each plant is getting. A rose growing in a container can be moved anywhere in the yard to take advantage of any location that suits the individual plant. A disadvantage of container growing is that bigger plants might not reach their maximum potential size. Large roses will need a fifteen gallon container or larger. I do not go above fifteen gallon size because containers bigger than fifteen gallon are simply too heavy for me to handle. I put miniature roses in containers about seven or eight gallons in size. Your containers should have adequate size drainage holes because roses do not like to have their roots standing in water. When planting roses in containers I use pure outdoor potting mix with good forest compost and peat moss content and a handful or two of super phosphate. The reason I use the potting mix alone is because mixing it with yard soil makes the resulting container too heavy to handle.  I prefer to use a round tapered pot for planting. In a few years the amount of soil in the pot will decrease as the organic matter subsides and you will need to pull the plant out and replenish the soil.

The tapered pot, when you replenish the soil in the bottom of the pot and put the root ball on the new soil, the root ball will be smaller in diameter than the top of the pot and that space allows you to replenish the soil around the root ball as well. A straight up and down pot would have no space around the old root ball.

When planting a bare root rose in a container you use the same methods you do when planting in the ground. Put soil in the pot and form a mound in the center to sit the plant on, spread the roots around the mound, fill half way, water in, fill the rest of the way, and water in again leaving an inch or two of the pot above the soil level. When moving a plant from one container to a larger container tip the container on its side, press down on the sides and roll the container back and forth to loosen the root ball.  Then carefully slip the plant out of the old pot. Check the condition of the roots and look for roots that are growing in a circle around the pot. If they are growing in a circle around the pot the plant has become rootbound.  If this is the case, make a few cuts an inch or so into the soil and through the outside roots and work them loose with your fingers. You are now ready to move your plant to its new home. Partially fill the new pot with soil, set your rose in the center, fill soil around the plant and then water.  Don’t forget the super phosphate. I find that in our hot climate the organic mixture in the pots gets consumed rather rapidly and potted roses must have their soil replenished every year or two.

Planting roses in the desert requires an extra step or two, but if you include those steps you will have greater success. When considering the overall cost and the work it takes to plant roses it is silly to take shortcuts. Roses are wonderful plants to grow in our desert climate as they do not get many of the diseases and fungal problems rose growers have to contend with in other parts of the country. Planted correctly and tended with love a rose will provide you with years and years of delight and beauty.

By Hal Reynolds, President
Desert Rose Society
& ARS Consulting Rosarian

by insects and diseases?  Fortunately, those of us lucky enough to live in our little corner of this desert paradise are victimized by fewer insects and diseases than people in most other parts of the country. Yes, we do have bugs, and yes, we do have diseases attacking our roses, but far fewer than in other places. We seldom, if ever, see blackspot, downy mildew, crown gall or rust.  Although we can have powdery mildew, it is not as severe as it is in other places and it is mostly seen in spring before the desert heats up.  We do have aphids, spider mites, leaf cutter bees, thrips and our very own hoplia beetle, but on the other hand we do not have Japanese Beetle, and we seldom, if ever, see rose slug, San Jose scale, midge, cucumber beetle, sawfly, katydid and many other rose pests.

In this article we are covering the most commonly found pests in our area. Overall pest control on roses in our climate is less of a job that in other areas. Two non-insect or disease baddies in parts of our growing area are rabbits and gophers. Most places located in towns are not as bothered by gophers but rabbits can be anywhere. The tiny desert rabbits can be are found anywhere and the big Jack Rabbit is found in the high desert and outlying areas. More versatile in their diet than Bugs Bunny, they do not eat just carrots. If you are wondering “What’s up Doc?” with my munched roses, it could be those “pesky wabbits.” The more pleasant cures for “wabbits” are traps, with relocation and protective fencing. Or you could do as I did one year — just watch them drown in the pool and not offer CPR.

APHIDS: We do have the dreaded aphids (plant lice) and no matter how fastidious and tidy you are you will have these “lice”. They are a fact of life for rose growers. Aphids are small, usually green or black insects that may have wings and are, about 1/8″ long. They suck the plant juices from tender parts of the plant. They excrete honeydew, a sticky substance that attracts ants. They are prolific breeders and multiply rapidly in warm weather.

The question is how can you get rid of them? With a mild infestation you can hand pick them off.  I do this by mashing them between my fingers. There is a YUK!  factor here but not a problem if you wash your hands; it does readily wash off. There is a certain satisfaction in feeling their evil little bodies explode under the powerful force of your mighty digits. Just remember to wash your hands before lunch. If you are too squeamish, or if your infestation is more severe, you might like to try the next earth-friendly way of aphid eradication.

Use your garden hose with a fairly strong stream to wash the little vermin off the plant and onto the ground. Make sure that the water stream is not so strong that it damages the tender growth. Once on the ground they seldom get back on the plants. Aphids have a fast reproduction cycle so you will have to repeat this process every couple of days until the infestation becomes bearable. Aphids hang out under the leaves too so you must be sure you are giving the underside of the leaves a good spraying as well as the tops.

If you have done all the water spraying you can stand and still have an unbearable amount of aphids you may resort to chemical sprays. Start with organic type sprays, such as insecticidal soap, as there is no sense harming the environment if you don’t have to. There are chemical sprays that work, but use them only as a last resort. Check with your local independent nursery for which product is the least harmful to you and the environment. If you are using these chemical sprays, be sure you wear protective clothing, gloves and a proper mask. When you use these chemical solutions you will probably also destroy other insects that kill aphids such as lady bugs, lace wings and aphid wasps.  Some gardeners actually purchase these beneficial insects and release them in their gardens. I find, however, that the effect is short-lived because they soon move on to greener pastures in your neighbor’s buggier garden.

LEAF CUTTER BEES: These honeybee-sized bees are seldom seen but they make perfectly cut semi-circles on the leaf and petal edges. They cut sections out of the rose leaf and petal and use it to line their nests. Now comes the part you really do not want to hear. They are valuable pollinators and need to be protected. Please do not spray for these bees. If you spray for them you will be killing off other beneficial insects and bees. The world is headed for a crisis in the bee populations. We can not afford to lose any more bees.  The world could become a pretty hungry place if we lose all of our bees. Cutter bees are only active for part of the year and, unfortunately, we really should just tolerate them.

SPIDER MITES: The two-spotted spider mite is the most common species found on roses. They are especially prevalent during hot, dry weather and difficult to control if they get established. They feed by sucking sap, primarily from the under side of the leaves and can eventually defoliate your plant. It is important to detect them early.  Early symptoms will be a lightening and speckling of the lower leaves. If you shake the infected foliage over a piece of white paper the spider mites may be seen as small dots. They are so small they are difficult to see on the plant with the naked eye. You will also notice fine webbing and eggs on the underside of the leaves. Old Garden Rose growers be warned: spider mites love the texture of the foliage of Rugosa roses.  A light infestation can be controlled with a forceful spray of water to the underside of the leaves. This can knock them off and spider mites do not like wet places. You will need to repeat this spraying every couple of days for effective control. Insecticidal soaps and oils can be used for the control of spider mites but be sure you spray the lower surfaces and the under side of the leaves. If you find you have to resort to a miticide, check with your local independent nursery for a recommendation for the least harmful yet effective product. Remember to wear protective clothing and masks when spraying chemicals.

HOPLIA BEETLE: This little black beetle about ¼” in size is believed to be a relative of the Japanese  beetle. It spends part of its earlier stages of life in the soil. As of this time there is no approved chemical for the control of this critter. He will appear in the spring when roses start to bloom and is only present for about six weeks. Nasty little creeps like to attack the blossoms of white and very light colored roses and leave them in tatters.  A simple prevention method would be to plant only red and dark colored roses but most of us will not give up our favorite light and pastel beauties for this bug. The approved way to get rid of him is to pick him off, drop him on a flat surface and stomp him to death. The stomping is good exercise and there is that satisfaction that comes with revenge. Otherwise, you could just pick him off and drop him in a container and let him slowly suffocate, and then throw the container in the trash.

CANEBORERS: Caneborers are wasps or bees that nest in the ends of rose canes in the pith of the cane. They can be active from spring through fall. They can be easily spotted by the holes they leave in the ends of cut canes. The borers we find here in the desert do not bore very far into the cane and do not do major damage, but in other parts of the country other borers can do a lethal job on other plants and roses.   You can paint the end of cut canes with waterproof glue to prevent the borers from entering. I do not find this necessary. If I do anything I simply cut the cane below the borer hole and discard it. You will find that they do not go very far down into the cane.

FLOWER THRIPS: Thrips are very active, just barely visible to the naked eye winged insects. They hide in the buds and blooms of roses and damage the petals with their rasping mouthparts. They also seem to prefer lighter colored blooms and do their damage when the blossom is still a bud. This makes it difficult to treat as they hide in the unopened blooms. Orthene has been a good control and the spray will not damage the blooms. Remember to wear protective gear when spraying chemicals.

POWDERY MILDEW: This fungus is one of the most prevalent and serious rose diseases. One of the best preventatives for powdery mildew is to plant powdery mildew resistant varieties of roses. As conditions warm in the spring the dormant fungus becomes active and produces spores which can be blown by the wind to susceptible young growth.  Symptoms are slightly raised blister like areas on the upper leaf surface. Later, all young growth can become distorted and covered with a white powdery substance.

71 degrees and 90% humidity are perfect conditions for spore germination. Temperatures above 90 and free standing water will inhibit germination.  The fungus invades the surface of the plant and feeds on the plant nutrients and grows to produce more fungus and spreads to more plant tissue and produces more fungus to spread to other plants.

Air circulation is important to prevent the spread of the fungus. Closely planted gardens with moderate air movement are ideal for the spread of the disease. The spread of spores usually occurs during daytime when the plants are dryer. Higher humidity at night favors germination and penetration of the fungus. Cool damp nights and warm days favor development of powdery mildew.
Dormant pruning and sanitation of the rose planting area and removal of dead leaves can reduce the chances of re-infection. When roses are rapidly pushing new growth in the spring is the ideal time for powdery mildew to get started.

Fungicidal sprays may be applied at seven to ten day intervals. Fungicides will work best when the disease is just getting started rather than when the disease is well established. There are fungicides that prevent mildew and others that treat the existing mildew and some that claim to work systemically within the plant. Remember that these products have varying degrees of toxicity to you and the environment. Always wear protective gear when spraying. The following applies to anytime you are spraying in the garden. Do not spray when the sun is hot on the plants, when the wind is blowing, or when rain will soon wash your spray off the plant and always wear the appropriate protective gear.

One of the best ways to prevent insects and disease in the rose garden is by good sanitation. Another good practice is spraying water on you roses, as it can wash off aphids, spider mites and other insects. It can also discourage powdery mildew. Although powdery mildew is promoted by high humidity is does not tolerate wet.  In the desert where it is so very dry the roses really like that little refreshing sprits of water when it is so hot. When you go out and splash a little water (more like a good spraying with the hose) on your roses on a hot day you can almost hear them saying “AHHHHHH”!

Having lived in other parts of this country, I can tell you that our insects and diseases are minor compared to other regions. Our roses do not freeze out in the winter, we have a longer bloom seasons, fewer insects and lower humidity helps reduce diseases.  Thus, this little low desert is one of the finest places for rose growers and their pet roses.

ARS Consulting Rosarian Emeritus

No one should fear the craft of rose pruning. Rumors of how difficult and demanding work it is are just that?rumors! With sharp shears in hand, taming and training brings the rose to a handsome shape, turning raw materials into a rejuvenated plant of elegant habit. Being among the most forgiving of plants, roses have the uncanny ability to endure cutting and sawing, making pruning less of a threat and more of an event of developing a healthy plant. Successful rose growers have learned similar, basic pruning techniques, discovering as they go what tricks and shortcuts work best for them.

The purpose of pruning is to remove the inferior, damaged or dead canes, shape the bush and to create a healthy foundation for the new bloom cycle. If you place a pair of pruners or a pair of lopping shears into the hands of three different rosarians, you’re apt to get three different approaches to the pruning process, each telling you with great pride why they have removed what they have removed from their plants. This is where common sense comes in play, and the experienced rosarians may have the upper hand. The severe pruner cuts the plant to three or four short canes. The moderate pruner leaves a few more canes (five to seven), resulting in a larger bush for the garden. Floribundas and grandifloras generally thrive well with this treatment. Light pruning produces an abundance of short-stemmed flowers on large bushes. The method you use should fit your taste in the kind of plants you want and the kind of blooms you expect.

Since we live in a mild climate (usually frost free) leaving a given number of robust bud eyes pointing upward and outward will help shape he plant and ensure an abundant new bloom cycle. Having a plant with three or four viable bud eyes to a cane would be wonderful! Be careful to cut 1/4 inch above the bud and angled at 45 degrees gives the bud a new boost to grow a new stem and a new bloom. KEY: The stem of the new bloom will be no larger than the stem from which it grew. So, select strong stems at least as large as your largest finger. Remove all growth inside the plant giving it a bowl shaped look. As the new growth develops you will see the results of the selection of the stems you saved and the directions you shaped the new growth.

When to Prune – The rule of thumb in most areas is when the last frost has occurred and the rose is ready to emerge from dormancy. Since we do not have frost in the desert and the roses do not go into dormancy, the question is when do you prune? In the desert the winters are mild and summers hot and the best growing season is between October and May. Following an old desert gardener’s suggestions, some 15 years ago, I have revised my pruning, growing and dormancy or resting period of my roses. When you cut a bloom the rose bush is immediately forced to grow a new bloom to reproduce. This is the normal life cycle of a rose bush. Keeping this in mind I developed a growing plan around the following schedule:

September: moderately prune the rose bush, to shape, remove dead canes, open up center, remove spent blooms and select 4 to 7 strong canes with bud eyes facing outward. I begin fertilizing regularly and continue watering. New blooms will develop by the first or middle of November based on the temperature. The plant will provide blooms from November till June- the best rose growing months in the desert. You will enjoy roses for about seven to eight months.

June: stop cutting blooms, which forces roses to reproduce, reduce fertilizer to about 25% of normal and continue watering on a regular schedule. This forces the rose into a summer dormancy when it is not producing new blooms and gives the plant a rest during the hot months. Rose blooms in the summer are small, misshaped and lose their fragrance. Working in the garden in the desert when it is 110 to 120 degrees is not a very productive and enjoyable activity.

Start the cycle over again in September. Try this approach and see how it works for you.

Gold Coast Heritage Roses Group
(e-mail: heritageroses@gmail.com)

I said: “HEY! See you next weekend at the rose show!” You replied: “Rose show? Oh, no! I don’t go to rose shows. I’m not interested.”

Not interested? You’re a member of a rose society, and you’re “not interested” in rose shows? I don’t understand how that can be.

Without waxing poetical, there are two simple reasons why you should “bother” with rose shows. You go to rose shows, or take part in them, either to do good for yourself, or to do good to others. Some of you might go for both of those reasons.

I assume that you joined a rose society because you LIKE roses. You probably grow some roses. Perhaps you even grow a great many roses. You enjoy seeing roses, and being around people who share your interest in roses. You do, of course, find the requisite roses and lovers of roses at our monthly meetings, but that opens only a very small door to a very small sampling of the greater world of roses.

At a rose show, usually for free, you will see, smell, touch, and enjoy roses that, in all probability, you will never see in your neighborhood nursery. At a rose show, you will have the opportunity to pick the brains of the folks who GROW those unfamiliar, tantalizingly lovely roses. With the beauty that a rose show rolls out in front of you I can’t see why ANY lover of roses would NOT want to take advantage of the opportunity to take part, or at LEAST to go to a rose show!

What’s that you say? OH! Some of the roses you see at a rose show won’t do well in your garden? I still don’t understand! Why wouldn’t you still want to see and enjoy them, after someone ELSE did the work? I’m an artist of sorts, but I haven’t the talent to paint like Monet. I ENJOY Monet’s work, though, and I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to attend an exhibit of it (especially if there was no charge for the privilege!). Besides, you’ll find, if you ask some questions, that many of the roses you’ll see at a rose show WILL do well for you. With just a little detective work, you’ll quickly learn which is which.

When the doors open on a rose show, I walk into the room hoping to fall in love. Roses seduce me. I’m as vulnerable to their beauty as a lonely cowgirl on Saturday night . . . so I’ve learned to slow down, take a deep breath and make sure I’m not dancing with the wrong beau. When I see a rose that’s new to me, a rose that fills my eye, and makes my heart flutter ? I take myself sternly in hand, and open the entry tag. I look to see who grew it, and where it was grown. I look at the foliage. (A clever exhibitor can clean mildew away, but the disease usually leaves damage. If you look closely, you’ll spot it. And I ASK! Go to the exhibitors, and ask them about the roses they brought. They don’t mind! In fact, they’re pleased to have been asked. (THEY love roses, too, y’know.) “Does this rose mildew?” “Does it rust?” “Will it handle a cool, coastal climate?” I ask, and if I’m lucky, I may find an ‘Excellenz von Schubert,’ or a ‘Vineyard Song,’ roses that flourish in the conditions my garden offers.

If I’m not lucky, and that handsome cowboy wasn’t the fella for me, no harm done. I can still admire the fit of his jeans and the tip of his hat. After all, it didn’t cost me a thing to be there. I’ve done something good for myself by taking a few hours to visit a rose show.

The matter of Doing Unto Others . . .

I grow quite a few roses that you won’t find at the corner nursery. I’ve helped some of you discover some of those roses, and now you grow them, or others like them. (And, by the way, you’ve learned to grow them very well.) Now, I ask that you repay that debt. Look around your garden, the day or so before the next rose show, and look at your roses. Pick some with the longest stem you can. Wash the foliage off with warm water. Bring your roses to the rose show, and enter them so that others can see them, and enjoy them and maybe even fall a little bit in love.

What’s that you say? Your roses won’t WIN? True they might not. So what? How badly, after all, do you need a piece of inexpensive crystal? It’s fun to win. We’d all rather win at whatever games we play than lose at them but at a rose show, you can’t lose.

How’s that? Right, that’s what I said. YOU CAN’T LOSE at this game. You enter your rose, and the WORST thing that can happen is you make an error, and it’s disqualified. That doesn’t happen often (yes, we’ve been DQ’d, through my own error) but even if it should happen to your entry, the rose is still out there on the exhibition table. People who come to see the show still get to see it, and enjoy it. THAT is what’s important. Not the ribbons, not the trophies, but the sharing of something beautiful. There are roses that Clay and I enter at every opportunity. Some of these roses don’t please the judges. They haven’t won ANYTHING, EVER, (and we don’t expect them to) but we continue to show them. We do this, because these roses invariably catch the eye of people who come to see the show. In showing them even when we don’t win, we lose nothing. In sharing them, we gain immeasurably.

So come to a rose show, whether to help, to enter, or simply to enjoy the beauty of the show.

Oh, yeah if you “fall in love” I want to be the first to hear about it.