Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County

roses

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.

Are Knock Out roses really the easiest roses to grow?

Knock Out Roses

Actually, Knock Out roses are akin to hit movies — they are showing everywhere, there are many “sequels” and they are even spawning merchandise capitalizing on their name. Resistant to black spot, these roses have a long blooming season, without the need for deadheading. They are relatively heat and cold tolerant, making them admirable performers in much of the United States. That said, they are shrub roses, not a new species, and benefit from the same care as other shrub roses, such as proper planting, fertilizing and annual pruning.

The first Knock Out rose, bred by William Radler, received an All American Rose Selection award in 2000. A whole family of other Knock Out roses — a double red, pink single, pink double, as well as Blushing, Rainbow and Sunny varieties now join the cherry–red, single-flowered original. These may differ in some ways besides flower form and color. The yellow Sunny Knock Out, for example, is the only fragrant Knock Out rose, and may get a little taller than its relatives.

Although Knock Out roses are black-spot resistant, Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service researchers report them susceptible to less familiar rose diseases, such as rose Cercospora leaf spot, which causes leaf yellowing and premature leaf drop. With the arrival of rose rosette disease to North Carolina, many Knock Outs have succumbed, perhaps because they are used in many home landscapes, as well as in mass plantings, making it easier for mites to spread this viral disease.

If the Knock Outs have given you courage to grow roses, branch out and make your landscape your own! If you want low maintenance, look for other varieties that do well without extra care. These include many older rose varieties, such as the small rose “The Fairy,” shrub roses, such as “Care-free Beauty” and even large climbers, such as “New Dawn.”

Give any rose at least six hours of sun in soil with a pH of at least 5.5; don’t overdo lime. Fertilize with balanced fertilizer from early spring to August. Keep watered and mulched. Prune your roses in early spring, removing dead, diseased or crossing shoots.

Article written by Debbie Green, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.

For more information about rose care see:

http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/roses-for-north-carolina/

For more information about rose rosette disease:

http://ncsupdicblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/rose-rosette-hits-close-to-home.html

Contact Us

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

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