Roses not just for vases and Valentine’s
It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, so there will be a lot of roses being bought, sold and given.
They are certainly not the only flowers produced for February 14 – lilies and tulips, orchids and carnations and even sunflowers now come high on the list – but roses are still number one for indoor flowers in the season of love...
And outdoors, given the opportunity, the right care and the roots, many roses will produce blooms for months outdoors – whatever the weather.
Treat them with consideration, keep them tidy and you’ll encourage new, clean foliage; continue to deadhead all the spent or damaged blooms by either snapping off the head about 2cm below the flower head or snipping off the complete flower truss, using secateurs, and you’ll encourage even more and later blooms. But despite all the best efforts with watering and feeding, pruning and pampering, there are still many dangers awaiting the unwary grower.
Diseases such as blackspot, and perhaps rose rust, will show their spotty symptoms on mature leaves, leaving affected foliage yellow and weak.
To minimise the infection, pick off any affected foliage and dispose of the leaves somewhere away from your compost heap. Best bag the leaves and take them to the tip.
And to take the battle to the enemy, spray affected roses with a proprietary fungicide as soon as new foliage starts to grow. It aims to kill off any existing infection and protect new growth from these two rose diseases – and it also fights powdery mildew and any sap-sucking aphids which can seriously weaken roses.
Good pruning also has a big effect on the quality and health of roses, but different roses need different treatment; make sure you do the right thing at the right time.
Early spring is a good time to tidy up all roses – removing dead and damaged stems and tying in new, whippy growth on ramblers.