If you take a trip to the nursery this week, you will be dazzled by the brand-new roses being offered for the first time in 2008.
Maybe you have already been mesmerized by the color catalogs. But if can you resist impulse purchasing, wait a minute and think your choices through. You will be rewarded if you plan your selections carefully.
Here are a few suggestions to help you make the wise decisions that will guarantee more care-free rose gardening this year.
Most gardeners are trying to minimize the use of toxic chemicals on their roses out of concern for the environment and personal health. If you share that objective, three critical steps can help you achieve it.
First, select rose varieties that are vigorous and relatively disease resistant. (More about that in a minute.) Second, develop and maintain a program for watering, fertilizing and mulching throughout the year. These efforts promote strong, healthy growth in
your roses. Third, remove spent flowers and groom plants weekly through the growing season, snipping off any diseased or defective growth.
Such watchful care keeps you alert to emerging problems that can be dealt with in a simple, non-toxic manner.
To choose the right roses for your garden, first decide where you are going to place them.Then you will know how much space you have. There is nothing more time consuming than trying to keep a climber under control if it is planted where a Polyantha would have been more suitable.
Read up on the roses that attract you. Note their size when fully grown and whether their growth habit is upright or sprawling.
You might want to consider some of the roses identified as Earth Kind by Texas A&M University. After research and testing, the university’s department of horticultural sciences has designated a number of roses as Earth Kind (
http://earthkindroses.tamu.edu), indicating that they are disease- and insect-resistant in Texas landscapes. More will be added to the list as they are studied.
The roses currently designated as Earth Kind are: ‘Belinda’s Dream,’ a soft pink Hybrid Tea; ‘Caldwell Pink,’ a lilac pink Polyantha; ‘Carefree Beauty,’ a pale-rose shrub; ‘Climbing Pinkie,’ a rose-pink climbing Polyantha; ‘Ducher,’ a pure white China rose; ‘Duchesse de Brabant,’ a rose-pink Tea rose; ‘Else Poulsen,’ a bright rose-pink
Floribunda; ‘Georgetown Tea,’ a pink-blend Tea rose; ‘Knock Out,’ a cherry-red shrub rose; and ‘Marie Daly,’ a medium-pink Polyantha.
All of these roses grow well in Napa County and can be carefree if they receive
crucial basic care—namely, proper choice of planting site, bed preparation,
fertilization and maintenance.
You can glean other good choices from the American Rose Society’s
Handbook for Selecting Roses, a publication sent to members (
www.ars.org). The booklet rates the performance of 3,000 roses in commerce in the U.S. New
introductions often have not been given a rating because they have not been observed long enough. A rating above 8.8 signals an outstanding rose, one that has performed consistently over time.
A few of the all-time best performers are: ‘R. banksiae banksiae,’ a white
double species rose (9.2); ‘Rêve d’Or,’ a medium yellow Noisette (9.3); ‘Marie Pavie,’ a white double Polyantha (8.9); ‘Irish Elegance,’ an orange-blend Hybrid Tea (8.9); ‘Royal Sunset,’ an apricot-blend, large-flowered climber (8.8); ‘Clair Matin,’ a medium-pink, large-flowered climber (8.8); ‘Dortmund,’ a medium-red hybrid kordesii (9.1); and ‘Jean
Kenneally,’ an apricot-blend miniature (9.1). All of these roses grow beautifully in Napa County.
David Austin roses are very popular with gardeners today. Some of the newer offerings are also the most beautiful and disease resistant. Good choices include ‘Golden Celebration,’ a golden-yellow, scented, four-foot shrub with cupped flowers; ‘Alnwick Castle,’ with soft pink cupped flowers on a neat, healthy shrub; ‘William Shakespeare 2000,’ with dark crimson, deeply cupped flowers on a tight shrub; and ‘The Mayflower,’ with medium rose-pink flowers on a very disease-resistant shrub.
If you just cannot resist some of the new unrated roses, go ahead. Buy them. But, consider planting them in containers and watching them for a year to see how they perform in your garden. If they don’t make the grade, you can try something else
next year without having to re-do your entire garden.
If you would like to brush up on your rose pruning skills, join Napa County Master Gardeners for a free public workshop on Saturday, January 19, in Calistoga. “Rose Pruning: Tools & Techniques” will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Mount St. Helena Golf Course, Tucker Building, 1435 North Oak Street, Gate 5, off Grant Street. We will review tools and good pruning techniques and practice in the garden. Bring your pruners. To reserve your place call: 707-253-4221 or register on line: http://cenapa.ucdavis.edu, Events Page.