GET YEAR OFF TO THE RIGHT START
Pruning, planting, deep cleaning prepares for growing season ahead
The dawning of a new year prompts many of us to make dramatic pledges and resolutions. If you are growing roses, make the pledge to grow your roses well.
Here are the actions to take in January to promote healthy growth and minimize disease in your rose garden this year. And remember: What you do for your roses benefits you in blooms.
Rose pruning
Pruning revitalizes our roses: It encourages the growth of more blooms and opens the plant to light and air circulation to minimize disease. Pruning our roses is not difficult, and it is enjoyable
when you know how to do it. Follow these five simple steps:
Use the right tools: You will need a sharp pair of bypass pruners, gauntlet gloves, a sharp pair of long-handled loppers and a pruning saw.
Examine the rose from the bud union up. You are going to keep healthy canes and cut out old, damaged, spindly canes. Unproductive canes are sawed out at the base of the bush in order to
encourage and open room for the rose to grow new productive canes (basal breaks) from the bud union.
Don’t prune severely: In San Diego, we generally cut about one-third off the height of hybrid teas and one-fourth off the height of f loribundas, polyanthas, shrubs, miniatures and minif loras. On climbers, we cut out main canes that are unproductive and damaged. The remaining canes are trained to grow horizontally, which encourages lateral growth. The blooms on climbers grow off these lateral stems.
Prune above an outwardfacing bud eye: You will notice a small reddish bump or swelling where a leaf is or was attached to a cane. This is called a bud eye. When you prune, make your cuts
1⁄ inch above an outward
4 facing bud eye. This will prompt the rosebush to grow outward, which keeps the center of the rosebush open to air and light.
Strip off and dispose of every remaining leaf on the bush so the rose can start the year with fresh foliage.
Planting
Welcome new roses to their new home by planting them properly, which will give them a good start and the best opportunity to grow vigorously and bloom prolifically through the year. Follow these five easy steps:
Location, location, location: Choose a spot that gets at least 5 to 6 hours of sun each day. Do not plant roses under or too close to trees. Make sure you know how large your rose will be at maturity, and space accordingly.
Preparing the rose hole: Dig a hole about 12 to 18 inches deep and 2 feet wide. Your soil needs to have good drainage. In soils with poor drainage, consider growing in raised beds or growing in containers.
If you are planting a new rose in a hole where you have removed another rose, make sure all the old roots are removed and replace
about one-half to two-thirds of the soil with a rose planting mix purchased from the nursery.
Preparing your rose: Most roses received in the mail will arrive bare root. Unpack the rose from the sawdust or newspaper. Examine and cut only the broken roots. Cut out only damaged or very spindly canes. Hydrate the entire bare root rose (canes and roots) in a bucket of water for at least 24 hours.
Some nurseries pot up their rose plants for sale. If there is already new leaf growth on the canes, leave the plant in the container until it grows a firm rootball. I like to buy my bare root roses as soon as they become available at the nursery so I can bring them home to soak them first before planting them in the ground.
Plant the rose: Build up the soil you dug out of the hole by mixing in a pur
chased compost or wellrotted homemade compost. In San Diego, we plant the rose so that the bud union is above ground level. Form a raised mound in the middle of your planting hole, and place the plant on top of the mound so that the bud union is several inches above the ground level. Add the amended soil back into the hole and tamp lightly with your hands. Create a basin around the planting hole and water well to satu
rate the plant. Do not allow the soil, or the mulch you will add in February, to cover the bud union or the canes.
Care after planting: Sometimes, Mother Nature will provide us with water in January. If there are no rains, make sure your newly planted rose is well-irrigated.
Deep cleaning
Clean up all canes, clippings and all leaves and
petals in the garden in order to rid the garden of last year’s fungal disease and over-wintering pests. A clean slate is always a great start to a new year.
Your January tasks are now complete. February tasks will include adding amendments to the soil and mulching the garden.