Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County

Flowers

Working with Roses: There’s a Rhythm to It!

Early Spring in TLG-Rose Garden 2021

When most gardeners are impatiently waiting for the average last frost date, rose gardeners at the Learning Garden (TLG) are starting their annual chores. Roses require the most attention from mid- to late February through April, making the ‘rhythm’ of working with them different from gardening with other plants.

Early season rose garden activities:

  1. We prune our roses when they begin to show signs of new growth—typically when the forsythia blooms. Remove any dead, damaged, or crossing canes; clear out the centers for good air circulation; and cut most roses back by about one third. Check out the short video on Early Spring Pruning of Roses at the end of this post.
  2. Next, we clear debris from beneath the plants and weed the beds.
  3. We transplant any roses that need moving so that they will “wake up” in their new homes.
  4. We also plant new roses from late March to mid- April.
  5. In mid-April we fertilize our roses. In the Learning Rose Garden, we use a slow-acting, organic fertilizer that can take weeks to become available to the roses. We sometimes supplement this first feeding with a liquid or faster-acting fertilizer to give the roses a quick boost.
  6. If you choose to use fungicides to prevent black spot from establishing in your garden, it is important to start early! We start spraying fungicides in April.

Watering is important!
During these spring months, we make sure our roses get enough water.  Adequate water is necessary for new and transplanted roses, as well as for soaking in fertilizer.  April showers are a definite plus in a rose garden! For maximum sustained growth, roses require at least one inch of water per week.

TLG-Rose Garden in bloom, 2020

The payoff?
By May, when other gardeners are busy, we are keeping our eyes on the rain gauge and watching the roses beginning to bloom!

 

 

Article by Judy Deutsch, Buncombe County Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer and Certified Consulting Rosarian

For more information:
Check out this video on this site: Great Roses for Western North Carolina
Here is a short video on Early Spring Pruning of Roses by the University of Maryland.

Gardening Video: Great Roses for Western North Carolina

Gardening in the Mountain presents:
Great Roses for WNC—Roses from The Learning Garden

Presenter: Judy Deutsch, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer

In 2018, the first roses were planted in the Learning Rose Garden.  This garden is part of a group of gardens on the Buncombe County Cooperative Extension campus known collectively as The Learning Garden.  Today, the Learning Rose Garden has 51 different roses, representing over 20 varieties.

One objective of this garden was to determine which roses, particularly new roses, grow well in Western North Carolina.  In this program, Judy covers some basics of rose care and selection but focuses on 14 roses that have performed particularly well in the garden.   Color, size, fragrance, disease resistance, and vase-life are factors considered in selection.  This talk has something for everyone, no matter if your garden is large or small, if you want one rose or a bed of roses.  You will also learn where you can obtain these and other roses not available at your local nurseries.

To access this video on the Buncombe County Master Gardener website, click on the link below:

Great Roses for Western North Carolina

Or go to www.buncombemastergardener.org, click on the ‘Gardening Videos’ tab at the top of the page and select the video from the list provided.

Wildflowers Part IV: Using Wildflowers in Your Garden

Including wildflowers in the home garden adds beauty, brings surprise, attracts pollinators, and creates a natural looking, informal landscape. If you select a location to match their natural growing conditions— sun/shade, wet/dry, open area/woodland, and elevation—wildflowers easily co-exist with typical garden plantings and require little maintenance.

Wildflower Garden

Where to get wildflowers
Start wildflowers from purchased seeds, or divisions, stem or root cuttings from friends. It is often illegal to dig wildflowers from the wild because of concerns about depleting natural populations! Purchase plants only from reputable nurseries that do not collect stock from the wild and label their plants “100% nursery propagated.”

Choosing wildflowers for your garden
Some wildflowers are fairly easy to establish. These include showy perennials such as:

Tickseed Sunflower (Coreopsis)

 

Coral Bells (Heuchera)
Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristada)
Bee Balm (Monarda)
Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata)

Many of these are available at local and mail-order nurseries, but not all species will be native to our area and many will be hybridized, or cultivars selected because they are unusual or showier.

If you enjoy including self-seeding plants in your garden, some shorter-lived Coreopsis and Rudbeckia species, as well as columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), blazing star (Liatris spicate), cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis), and bird’s foot violet (Viola pedata) will persist and often spread in your garden through reseeding.

Low-growing wildflowers can make attractive groundcovers, too. Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) has tiny white flowers followed by bright red berries that stand out against evergreen leaves.

Partridge Berry (Mitchella repens)

Other wildflowers, like lady slipper orchids, are much more difficult to propagate and/or transplant and are best admired in their natural habitats!

Article written by Beth Leonard, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

Learn more

Mellichamp, Larry (2014). Native Plants of the Southeast: A Comprehensive Guide to the Best 460 Species for the Garden. Timber Press.

 Search the Buncombe County Extension Master Gardener website for these wildflowers highlighted in earlier blogs:

  • Bee balm
  • Butterfly weed
  • Columbine
  • Coreopsis
  • Dwarf crested iris
  • Echinacea
  • Goldenrod
  • Joe Pye weed
  • Rudbeckia
  • Solomon’s seal

If you’re interested in encouraging wildlife in your garden: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/landscaping-for-wildlife-with-native-plants

Contact Us

Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

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