Most of you are probably wondering why I suddenly diverged from writing about writing, books, history and those types of things to gardening. The fact is, I love gardening almost as much as writing, so I thought I'd share some of the information I've gathered over the years. There is also the odd circumstance that my rose gardening and researching roses led me to set some of my mysteries (
A Rose Before Dying,
Smuggled Rose, and
The Necklace, to name a few) in the period when rose gardening really started coming into its own (early years of the 19th century).
Although we are firmly in the middle of summer, it will only be a few weeks before the weather starts cooling off. That means, now is a good time to line up and even order plants or seeds you want to plant in the fall.
Which brings me to the real subject of this blog: Fall Rose Planting. :) You knew I'd get there, one way or the other, right?
Fall is a Great
Time to Order Roses
Fall
is a wonderful time to order and plant roses.
As the weather cools, you can start thinking about what new roses you’d
like to see blooming in the spring. By
ordering--and planting--in the fall, you give your roses a chance to “dig in”
and get settled over the winter in their new location. When spring arrives, they will be ready to
put on a wonderful show for you.
In
North Carolina, fall planting has an additional benefit in that we often start
getting a great deal more rainfall. This
rain and the cooler weather will help your roses put down good roots to support
extra blooms when the weather warms up in March and April.
If
you’re considering taking this advice, there is a new category of “Earth Kind
Roses” that Texas A&M University has been using to designate roses which
stand up to insects, widely varying soil conditions, and minimal care. The program has been used to find roses which
can be used in areas, such as between roadways, where they will have to survive
with very little cosseting.
A few
of the roses identified as EarthKind follow.
They span a range of rose classifications and there are sure to be some
which would do very well in your garden.
Belinda’s Dream: Shrub rose with
medium pink, very double flowers. ARS rating
of 8.4
Caldwell Pink: Polyantha rose
with lilac pink flowers, height up to 4’.
Else Poulsen: Floribunda, medium
pink, semi-double with 10 petals. ARS
rating of 8.1.
Katy Road Pink: Also called Carefree Beauty, Shrub rose with medium
pink blooms of 15-20 petals. ARS rating
of 8.7.
Knock Out: Shrub with blooms
that are a red blend, single flowers.
ARS rating of 8.6.
Marie Daly: Polyantha rose in
medium pink with an ARS rating of 7.6.
Mutabilis: Hybrid China rose
with single flowers (5 petals) that start out pale yellow and age through pink
to deep rose. ARS rating of 8.9.
Perle d’Or: Polyantha rose
with double flowers that are a yellow blend.
ARS rating of 8.4.
Sea Foam: Shrub rose with
white flowers which are double ARS
rating of 8.1.
The Fairy: Polyantha rose
with light pink, double blooms. It has
some (slight) fragrance. ARS rating of
8.7.
The
list of EarthKind roses has been expanding recently to include the following
roses, as well:
Cecile Brunner: Polyantha with
double, light pink flowers. ARS rating
of 8.4.
Comtesse du Cayla: Hybrid China rose
with semi-double blooms that are an orange and pink blend. [Picture on the left.] ARS rating of 7.0.
Duchesse de
Brabant:
Tea rose with light pink flowers consisting of approximately 45
petals. ARS rating of 8.6.
Marchesa Boccella: Hybrid Perpetual
rose with light pink blooms that are very fragrant. ARS rating of 9.1.
Marie Pavie: Polyantha rose
with white flowers which are double. ARS
rating of 8.9.
Mrs. Dudley Cross: Tea rose with double flowers in a yellow and
pink blend. ARS rating of 8.3. In North Carolina, this rose can grow into a
very large and well-formed bush, about 6’ by 6’.
Reve d’Or: Noisette
rose (that in my personal experience can very well take over a small building
in one season). The blooms are pale
yellow and double. [Picture on the right.] It has an ARS rating
of 9.4.
Souvenir de St. Anne’s: Bourbon rose with light pink, fragrant blooms.
Spice: China rose
classified as an Old Garden Rose. Spice
is blush pink and is very fragrant. It
grows from 3 to 5’ in height.
Roses Unlimited is a great source for "Earth Kind" roses, so I hope you'll check them out.
Planting Roses
Planting roses in the fall is
really not much different from planting in the spring, except you do want to
ensure you use a good, thick coat of mulch.
Select a site which has both good
air circulation and at least six hours of sunshine. There are a few roses, such as Rambling Rector which will grow into
trees and can withstand some shade, but they are the exception and even
they will do better with more sunshine!
Make sure you prepare your beds
while you wait for your roses to be delivered.
It is never too soon to prepare a bed since having good soil is a key
element to healthy roses. If you can,
get the Agriculture Extension Office to test some soil samples to make sure you
use the proper amendments. Good drainage is critical. No roses like to stand in water. If you have clay or slow-draining soil, you
can add organic matter and gypsum to help condition the soil.
When you get your roses, be sure
to water them well. Dig a hole twice as
deep and twice as wide as the container in which they are growing. Plant your roses at the same depth in the
ground as they were in their container.
After you dig the hole, mix the
soil you removed fifty/fifty with organic matter and soil conditioners, such as
alfalfa meal or cottonseed meal and gypsum.
You can also use the fine, bark-like soil conditioners to break up clay
soil.
Trim back any broken or damaged
stems, but leave healthy leaves if you plant before November.
Top dress with three to four
inches of mulch to allow for good drainage, moisture retention, and weed
control.
Once your roses are planted, don’t
forget to water them (unless the winter rains have already begun, in which case
you can sit back and relax). Water
deeply at least once a week; two to three inches of water is recommended. Try not to get the leaves wet when you water,
particularly in the fall as the cooler nights can promote diseases such as
black spot.
You will not need to fertilize
your roses in the fall, that task can wait until spring.
Duchesse de Brabant, a Tea rose and one
of the EarthKind roses that do well in the North Carolina area. “No
spraying required!” [Picture on the left.]
Interestingly enough, Duchesse de Brabant was one of Teddy
Roosevelt’s favorite roses, and he frequently wore a bloom from this wonderful
rose in his lapel.
My editor at Highland Press emailed me about a sweet Regency romance anthology they are putting together and she asked if I could dash off a novella for it. I have a terrible track record with novellas and "dashing things" off, but I did agree so I've been working very hard to get 20,000 words written and edited. I'm now working on the ending, which is always the hardest part for me. The story is tentatively (and not very creatively) called "The Thief" and will once more feature the cursed emerald necklace, the Peckham Necklace, and another member of the Archer family.
