January and Roses

Seed and gardening catalogs are showing up in my mailbox and now is definitely the time to consider ordering plants for your spring and summer garden. Most of you know I love roses and this month is order time!

Rose Selection As I mentioned, January is a good time of year to begin selecting and ordering roses, particularly if you purchase them from a mail order vendor. There are a great many new varieties, but I will list a few new ones from David Austin, which look like they may be good for our area, and mention an entire class of roses which are often overlooked and yet are extremely hardy and disease resistant. Rugosa Roses Rugosa roses are sometimes referred to as Japanese roses.  They are fragrant and come in a variety of colors and forms from single, 5-petal flowers to lush double blooms.  They grow well in sandy soil, as well as heavier soils, and do not need spraying.  They have leathery or crinkly leaves and do not seem to get the diseases other roses in our area are so prone to catching, including black spot.  Of all the roses rated by the American Rose Society (ARS), the roses in the Rugosa class have more varieties rated over 9.0 than any other class of rose. For the most part, Rugosa roses stay relatively short and need little care, including very minimal pruning.  There has been an increase in interest in Rugosa roses lately since they do require so little care, they bloom all summer, and are fragrant.  Even Jackson & Perkins has begun selling more Rugosa because of their easy-care qualities. Rugosas generally come in colors ranging from white through pink to deep red. Here are a few varieties which are well worth looking for. v  Hansa - very fragrant and repeats from spring through to frost.  Double blooms in violet-red.  Grows to about 6’ tall. v  Purple Pavement - very fragrant and repeats from spring through to frost.  Double blooms in purplish-red.  Grows to about 3’ tall and makes an excellent hedge. v  Snow Pavement - very fragrant and repeats from spring through to frost.  Double blooms in white touched with pink.  Grows to about 3’ tall and makes an excellent hedge. v  Thérèse Bugnet - One of the classic Rugosa roses.  Double, fragrant blossoms in medium-pink.  Blooms all summer and has wonderful, attractive red canes with completely healthy foliage.  Grows to be about 4’ tall. v  Rugosa Magnifica -Very fragrant blooms in deep mauve.  Blooms all summer and grows to be about 5’ tall. v  Rosa rugosa rubra - Single (5-petals), very fragrant blossoms in deep mauve.  Blooms all summer.  Can grow up to 6’ tall and is extremely hardy. v  Blanc Double de Coubert - One of the best white roses.  Large, semi-double blooms in pure white.  Very, very fragrant.  Blooms all summer.  Great for a hedge.  Can grow up to 5’ tall. v  Agnes - Primrose color and very fragrant.  Blooms all summer. v  Topaz Jewel - Yellow blossoms with a moderate fragrance.  Blooms all summer. v  Robusta - Crimson blossoms with a moderate fragrance.  Blooms all summer. v  Jens Munk - Pink blossoms with only a slight fragrance, but a very healthy and well-mannered rose.  v  Dr. Eckener - Pink and yellow blend rose with a very strong fragrance. v  Wild Spice - A single, white blossom with a wonderful spicy fragrance.  It blooms continually, all summer.  I got this rose from Jackson & Perkins and couldn’t be more pleased.  It is stays low growing (about 4’) and doesn’t need pruning or spraying.  These are just a few varieties.  If you have room this year, I would definitely give Rugosas a try, particularly if you live near the ocean. David Austin Roses Of course, as always with David Austin roses, you may find that many of them grow much, much taller than advertised, due to our warm climate, so take that under advisement.  I’m mentioning David Austin roses because they do have a very good record for disease resistance. The following roses may make nice additions to your garden. v  Carding Mill - Pink, apricot, yellow blend, very double roses with a strong myrrh fragrance.  Height 4’ x 3.5’. v  Grace - Apricot blossoms with good fragrance.  Height 4’ tall. v  Hyde Hall - Rich, medium pink, very double flowers with a light fragrance.  This is listed as very healthy, but very large, up to 6’, so I expect you could grow it as a small climber here in NC. v  St. Alban - Rich yellow rose with a good fragrance.  This will grow up to 8’ tall as a climber. v  The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild - Peony-like, very large roses in pinkish lilac.  Rose fragrance and a height listed as 5’. v  Wisley - Large blossoms in deep pink with a strong fragrance.  Height 4’. A Few Smaller Varieties of Austin Shrubs Here are a few of the smaller varieties of Austin’s roses, for gardeners with smaller gardens.  They are all around 3’ tall.  None are taller.  Because of the moderate size, they would also do well in pots and since many are also very fragrant, they are excellent on patios or near sitting areas. v  Alnwick Castle - Soft pink with good fragrance. v  Ambridge Rose - Apricot pink with a good rose and myrrh fragrance. v  Anne Boleyn - Soft, warm pink with a light fragrance. v  Charlotte - Soft yellow with a light Tea Rose fragrance. v  Comtes de Champagne - Yellow that fades to pale yellow; the blossoms open to form an open cup.  Good fragrance. v  Cordelia - Medium pink, semi-double flowers with a very slight fragrance. v  Fair Bianca - Pure white rose with a rich rose fragrance. v  Ludlow Castle - Apricot-blush color with a Tea Rose fragrance. v  Mary Magdalene - Very soft apricot-pink coloring with rich fragrance. v  Miss Alice - Very soft pink coloring with a rose fragrance. v  Molineux - Clear yellow coloring; this rose has won a lot of awards and is a beautiful small bush.  Slight Tea Rose fragrance.  v  Noble Antony - Rich, deep magenta-pink blossoms with good disease resistance.  Very fragrant. I have had extremely good experiences with this rose and love it. v  Portmeirion - Medium sized flowers in clear, rich deep pink with a strong rose fragrance. v  Sophy’s Rose - Light red flowers on a very healthy bush.  Light Tea Rose fragrance. v  St. Cecilia - Beautiful soft apricot-pink that age to white with a lovely fragrance. v  Tamora - Rich apricot flowers with good fragrance. v  The Prince - Deep crimson with a rich fragrance. v  Wildeve - Very healthy rose with soft pink blossoms.  Medium fragrance. Happy planting! Amy Corwin is the author of more than six historical romances and mysteries. Her latest contemporary mystery, Whacked! was just released in hardcover and is available wherever books are sold.  As you might expect, she has also written a historical mystery where the clues are roses. A Rose Before Dying is available from Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, as well as for Apple iTunes fans.

Growing Roses Organically

Organic Rose Gardening

Bucking Conventional Wisdom and Doing the Impossible

A lot of folks have expressed an interest in converting their garden over to a more organic approach to user fewer pesticides or other chemicals.  I’ve been doing this for some time now and have learned a few lessons--the hard and very expensive way--so I thought it might be worthwhile to share.

My main focus here is on roses, but most of the hints are also useful to all kinds of gardens, including vegetable gardens.

Why grow roses organically?  There are a lot of reasons.  My own included the following:

• Our well, which supplies the water we drink, is right dead center in the garden.  I don’t particularly want to drink the stuff folks spray on roses.
• We are an official National Wildlife Federation Habitat which means we provide food, water and shelter for birds and small animals.  I don’t want to endanger the wildlife nesting in our roses by spraying them right in the middle of breeding and nesting season (spring/early summer).
• I travel for work so I’m frequently gone for a week at a time and don’t have a lot of time to spend spraying.
• Our dogs have been known to eat our roses.  In the fall, they eat the hips they can reach.  I’d rather not poison them, if I can help it.
• We occasionally eat the roses and hips.  Rose hip jelly tastes a lot like apple jelly and is a good source of vitamin C.  I also like sugared rose petals on yellow cake, or rose petals sprinkled in a salad made of fresh spinach leaves, mandarin oranges, toasted almonds, spring onions and a red wine vinaigrette dressing. Mmmmm, tasty.

So now that you know a few excuses (other than I’m lazy and don’t feel like spraying) let’s discuss how to actually accomplish this and still have a fairly nice garden.  This is possible, despite black spot and our hot, humid summers in the south-eastern-most tip of North Carolina, but it does take a little compromise.

Step 1:  Buy Liz Druitt’s book, The Organic Rose Garden.  It is written for southern gardeners and is one of the best resources I’ve found on organic rose gardening.  It is a superb little book.

Step 2:  Your roses will need a really good home if they are to survive organically.  This means lots of water, a decent bed rich with organics, plenty of mulch, at least six hours of sunshine a day, and no root competition. 

The number one reason why organic rose gardens fail is that the roses are simply not given a good home.  They are struggling in the shade of some huge tree, competing for water and food, and don’t get enough sun.  If you correct this situation, a lot of roses (and other sun loving plants like veggies) can be grown organically and will shrug off black spot as if it is nothing.

Step 3:  Don’t plan on growing a lot of Hybrid Teas.  You are lucky to be living today when we have David Austin’s beautiful English (shrub) roses which are remontant (reblooming) and can easily take the place of the Hybrid Tea roses.  There are also the Old Garden Roses, some of which cannot be sprayed or they will not do well.

There is a list of roses at the end of this article which I have successfully grown organically in this area.

Now for the nitty-gritty...

Going organic doesn’t necessarily mean not spraying at all.  If you have roses that suffer black spot, you can reduce it using organic methods.

Black Spot

Organic methods will not provide a cure for black spot, so get over the idea.

What you can do is try to prevent it, or reduce it.

Here are the basic steps to take to reduce black spot.

• Remove all leaf litter from the roses in the winter (this should include infected leaves which dropped last summer.)
• Spray with a dormant oil.  Yes.  This is considered “legal” if you are doing organic gardening.
• Provide a thick layer of mulch.
• During the growing season, pluck badly infected leaves off the roses to remove the source(s) of infection.
• Provide enough water.  Water, water, water. Make sure the water is on the ground, not on the rose’s leaves if you water in the evening.
• Spray with a mixture of 1Tbsp Baking Soda per gallon of water, plus horticultural oil.  In the summer, you can spray with just the 1Tbsp Baking Soda per gallon of water, but do it in the morning.  This mixture will kill new spores, which will help prevent infection, but won’t kill existing infection.
• Keep the bed heavily mulched.  We use pine straw.  Anything, including grass clipping, will work.  Just note that if you add grass clipping, you will need to add a source of nitrogen because decomposition will temporarily rob your roses of nitrogen while the clippings decay.

Planting

·         Dig a hole twice as wide and twice as deep as the container of the plant you are planting.  For most roses, dig a hole 36 inches wide and 20 inches deep. 

·         Mix the dirt as follows

This “recipe” is built around our soil which is gray clay, acidic, and lacks almost all nutrients.  We basically have to build the soil.  I prefer to create the bed with this stuff in December/January, let it sit for a month or two, and then plant roses in it during February.

o   1/3 - 1/2 of the top dirt dug from the hole (move the bottom-most dirt aside)

o   Several cups of Gypsum

o   1-2 cups of Lime (I need this, you may not, depending upon the acidity of your soil)

o   1/2 cup Epson Salts

o   3-4 cups of Cotton Seed Meal (Alfalfa Meal is better, but occasionally hard to get)

o   1 bag of soil amendment (looks like finely shredded bark)

o   1 bag of mushroom compost

o   2 cups sharp sand

You can add any other soil conditioners you need. Ones I like to include occasionally are: Kelp Meal, Bone Meal, Blood Meal, etc.  If you have a source for horse manure, marry them or at least get heavily involved so that you can get a constant supply.  If all else fails, pay the guy to deliver in the fall and spring.  Or start raising dwarf horses.

Now that you are ready...

Once you have prepared your beds for your roses and are ready to take the plunge, you will need to purchase some roses, or at least acquire some which stand a good chance of survival.

Personally, I prefer own-root roses, so I buy almost exclusively from two sources: Roses Unlimited and Chamblee’s.  Chamblee’s in particular is my first choice since they are about half the price of everyone else.

I’ve never had a rose from either of these sources die on me.  They are sent in large pots and the roses are always in good shape.

Here are varieties I have had very good success with and seem to have very little problem with disease.  I have focuses mostly on remontant varieties, rather than listing the once blooming Old Garden Roses.

Bourbons

Souvenir de la Malmaison

This rose stays short-3’ tall, never needs to be trimmed, blooms constantly, and has exquisite blooms in pale pink.  Very fragrant. It is particularly disease-resistant.

Noisettes

Reve d’Ohr

This is a HUGE rose, so be warned.  It is a good climber.  It will take over any support unless you keep it trimmed back.  Beautiful pale, buffy yellow flowers.  Blooms constantly. Very disease-resistant.

Tea

Marie Van Houtte

Very large shrub (6’x6’) with beautiful creamy white flowers that age to pink.  Blooms constantly. Very disease-resistant.

Duchesse de Brabant

This rose stays fairly compact-4’ tall, never needs to be trimmed, blooms constantly, and has exquisite blooms in medium pink.  The flowers are shaped rather like a tulip. Very disease resistant. This was one of Teddy Roosevelt’s favorite roses and he often wore one on his lapel.

English

Wise Portia

Small, tidy bush.  Stays about 3’ tall and never needs to be trimmed.  Gorgeous deep magenta flowers.  Blooms constantly.  This is a wonderful rose paired with Souvenir de la Malmaison.

Lilian Austin

Coral blend, loosely double flowers.  Blooms constantly.  The form stays short, but it “weeps”.  If you have the room for it to sprawl, it is lovely left as a loose fountain shape.  Otherwise, you can trim back the flexible shoots.

Wife of Bath

This rose stays short-3’ tall, never needs to be trimmed, blooms constantly, and has exquisite blooms in pale pink.  Very fragrant.  It is very similar to Souvenir de la Malmaison, except the flowers are smaller.

Noble Antony

Small, tidy bush.  Stays about 3’ tall and never needs to be trimmed.  Gorgeous magenta-red flowers.  Blooms constantly. 

St. Swithun

Pale pink globular flowers.  Blooms constantly.  The form stays medium height, but it “weeps”.  If you have the room for it to sprawl, it is lovely left as a loose fountain shape.  Otherwise, you can trim back the flexible shoots.

Climber

Dortmund

Single blooms in fire-engine red with a white center.  Glossy green leaves.  Large clusters of blooms.  Blooms continuously. Extremely disease-resistant.

And of course, the Gallica as well as many others of the Old Garden Rose classes do not require spraying and are resistant to black spot.  My favorite Gallica is currently sold as ‘Sissinghurst Castle’ and looks exactly like a crumpled piece of deep magenta-purple velvet.

Good luck and I hope you have success with your rose garden in the coming year.

And of course, I have to mention that in my Regency mystery,  A Rose Before Dying, Ariadne grows all her roses organically.