HOW TO PROTECT ROSES AGAINST A NORTHERN WINTER
Q You have given us excellent advice about our Virginia Creepers in the past, and I am turning to you again to verify two contradicting directions we heard. My husband bought me two beautiful rose bushes for Mother’s Day — one yellow and one red. We have always lost our roses in the winter and I am inquiring about the correct way of preparing them for the season. One friend told us just to trim it back and cover with dry leaves and a pot. However, my husband learned to cut it back to the roots and cover it with dirt. I would love to save them as they are beautiful. Would you kindly tell me what is the best way to preserve them for an Edmonton winter?
A I replied to the reader via email in October, but here is my reply for future reference. I am assuming we are talking about hybrid tea roses. Here is a checklist to follow to prepare your roses for the best chance of surviving the winter:
By mid-August you should stop all fertilizing. If you continue to fertilize you will encourage new growth that will not be tough enough to survive the winter. The extra fertilizer also stimulates root growth, which can also be damaged by the cold.
In late fall, after the leaves have died, pick off any remaining leaves on the stems and pick up any dead leaves from the ground. There are some fungal spores and other diseases that can overwinter on dead leaves. You will reduce your disease problems in the spring with some good sanitation practices during the fall.
Do not prune in late summer, as pruning simply encourages new growth. Wait until the spring to prune, after the plant starts to show signs of life, when you can determine which branches have survived and which did not make it and need to be removed.
Water the plants well — especially before the ground freezes. Roses can suffer from dehydration as much as the cold in the winter.
Just before the ground has frozen, mound soil to cover the graft union of the rose.
Once the ground has frozen, use a cardboard box roughly oneand-a-half times as wide and tall as the rose. Place the box over the rose and fill the box with dried leaves or an insulating material, such as Styrofoam chips, fibreglass insulation, etc. Secure the box to the ground by weighing it down with bricks or stones. Close the top of the box.
If they are climbing roses, the best way to overwinter delicate climbing roses is to bury them in the ground. Dig a trench next to the rose equal to the length of the rose above the ground.
The trench should be approximately 25 centimetres deep.
Bend the rose over carefully, lay it into the trench and cover it with soil. You can even add a layer of dried leaves or straw over top of the covered trench for added insulation value. Q We live on an acreage surrounded by natural trees, including white and black poplar, willows and a variety of birch. Unfortunately many of the birch have died off, due to the dry summers we have had. The last two summers the trees seem to be ‘bleeding.’ They are losing sap from their leaves — enough that the plants underneath look shiny. Over time everything is very sticky, and the sap collects enough to turn black on the leaves below. It is happening everywhere in the yard, not just underneath the willows. We do not water,
as it is a large yard, and we used a natural fertilizer on the grass in the early summer. Is there anything we can do, or is it just part of what happens after repeated dry weather?
A Have you had a close look at the trees? Next season you should look for any signs of aphids or spider mite webbing. When a birch (or any other tree) has an aphid infestation it can appear to be dripping sap from its leaves. This ‘sap’ is actually an excretion from the insect and is called honeydew. It will drip onto other leaves or plants under the affected tree, creating the shiny look you have described. Treating a number of large trees is something best left to an arborist.