I became a rose gardener by talking too much.
I declared within earshot of a lifelong rose grower and hybridizer that roses were difficult, picky, and hard to care for, and I wasn’t going to plant any in my yard.
My rose-growing friend mildly remarked that I was misinformed and wagered that if I would plant some of his hybrid roses, unnamed and still in the development stage, they would change my mistaken notions about roses.
“In fact, they will grow and bloom so fast,” he said with a twinkle, “you’ll have to jump back out of their way after you’ve put them in the ground!”
I had talked myself into a corner, so I reluctantly agreed to try the experiment.
I expected 6 or 8 bushes, but to my horror, I received a big carton containing not 6, not 16, but 42 bare roots rose plants!
Years before, on the theory that hardy tame and wild perennials will survive an immense amount of indifference and neglect, we had planted our yard with such sturdy things as:
- Laurel
- Lilacs
- Scotch broom
- ivy
- Oregon grape
I had also allowed many native plants and shrubs to remain in the shade of the big fir trees.
They formed an attractive garden that required little attention. This was the nearest to a no-maintenance yard we could devise.
No suitable sunny spot remained for a rose bed except the center of a lawn area which was surrounded by a circular driveway.
Friend husband muttered that roses are too a lot of trouble, and if I was going to plant them, I could darn well take care of them and wash his hands of the whole affair.
In parting, he reminded me that we were soon to leave on an extended vacation—and who was going to mind the roses?
The time of year was March.
Good Way To Lay Out A Rose Bed
Spurred by coming spring and snide remarks from the better half, I armed myself with steel tape, stakes, string, a paper bag partly- filled with flour and a spade.
First, I measured the lawn area north to south and east to west, determining the center, and here I set my master stake.
Loosely tying a long string to the stake, I roughed out a small center circle about 4′ feet in diameter, which could accommodate 6 hybrid tea roses to be planted about 2′ feet apart.
Then I measured the lawnmower and allowed space for a grassy path around the center circle.
Then I plotted a cultivated ring that would accommodate 12 hybrid teas on the inner side and 24 floribundas on the outside.
Lazy as ever, I was determined to make my rose care as easy as possible.
The design of the beds would allow me to reach all the roses without stepping into the cultivated areas – I could weed, spray, water, and pick blooms without getting off the grass.
Little entry paths were left at the four compass points.
For marking the areas to be spaded, I cut a small hole in the bottom corner of the bag of flour and walked around with it tied to my taut’ string.
The flour made a nice plain white line on the grass as a guide for spading.
How To Plant Roses?
Breaking up the sod of the old lawn and preparing the soil for planting Rose was the only tough job.
If anyone, especially a middle-aged person who sits all day at a computer or iPad, and wishes to become a rose gardener, they should draft some help for the spading.
Once the soil was prepared, planting was easy.
- The bare root roses were removed from their carton, sorted to type, and broken roots and excess canes were snipped off with pruning shears.
- They were placed in a tub of water while each individual spot was prepared.
- For each plant, a hole was dug wide enough to accommodate the roots when spread out and deep enough so that when filled, the bud union of the bush was just above soil level.
- A piece of 1”x 2” wood about 2’ feet long made a good measuring stick for spacing.
- A bit of well-rotted manure was mixed with the soil in the bottom of each hole, and a small mound was made in the middle.
- Rose roots tend to point downward and outward, so the little mound helps to keep the plant upright and makes the hole easier to fill firmly around the bases.
- When the plants were in place, the holes were partially filled, the earth firmed by walking it down, water was added, and the hole then filled to ground level, with the earth billed up a bit around the bud union.
- With canes pruned very short, only 6” to 8” inches long, the plants were hardly visible when planting was completed—it took 2 days to prepare the beds and plant 42 roses.
About two weeks later, we left on vacation, and the roses were on their own for 3 weeks.
April is a season of rain in our locality, with temperatures in the 50°- to 60° Fahrenheit degree range, fluctuating a bit on either side.
Eleven Weeks From Dormant Bushes To Blooms!
After the plants were in, I must admit they didn’t look like much, and I had some moments of doubt about what I would find when I returned home at the end of April.
I need not have worried. By May first, young leaves and tiny buds on new growth one to 1 ½’ feet high were showing on most plants, and by the first week in June, I had roses in bloom – 11 weeks from planting to flowering!
I began to dust the plants as soon as I returned from vacation.
I should have begun to dust earlier, as aphids thrive in our warm damp climate, but no great harm came to my plants because of my neglect.
I dusted rather than sprayed during the rainy season, probably because dust is visible and therefore rewarding to the duster.
However, as the sun shone, I saw some curled dry leaves.
After a series of wrong diagnoses, I found that the sulfur in my dust mix was burning the foliage.
So with summer, I switched to a spray combined with a liquid fish fertilizer which can be mixed and applied with a sprayer attached to the hose.
A quart jar of concentrated mixture makes 15 gallons of spray—plenty for one application to my rose garden.
My heavy-handed dusting had no permanent ill effects.
All the previous dusting and spraying sounds like lots of work, but it isn’t.
A few minutes in the evening once a week with a good hand duster or the same amount of time in the morning devoted to spraying sufficed for 42 plants.
Once a week was recommended to me, but when I missed, my roses kept growing, supporting the bugs with admirable fortitude, although thrips tended to hop out of the cut flowers.
Occasionally I saw a concentration of aphids on a particular bush and would give it a quick swish with the dusting gun between times.
This was when I grew to appreciate my rose bed plan.
If I was in a hurry, I could walk around the roses in street clothes and high heels without sinking into the cultivated area or getting tangled up in the thorns.
The First Roses Of Summer
The first blooms were rewarding indeed, and no wonder, for I learned later that I had been experimenting with 3 prize-winning varieties.
The big bicolor in the center of my garden was ‘Coronado,’ bearing big bright buds of red and gold which softened into enormous full blooms of rose-red touched with light yellow.
The big ruffled petals and large leaves looked very handsome in a brass bowl or Mexican jug of brown glass and gave forth a teasing fragrance.
The inner side of my ring-shaped bed contained a dozen of ‘Memoriam,’ a light pink hybrid tea rose whose blooms are beautifully formed with many thick petals.
This rose makes lovely arrangements because it lasts so long and does not rush into full bloom.
Picked when partly open with the outer petals pinky white and the center glowing like a pink pearl, it will last 5 days to a week in the house.
This rose was happy in a silver container and a yellow pottery pitcher.
Because I didn’t know side buds should be pinched off for larger blooms and long stems, I had some short-stemmed blooms.
These I arranged in an old silver condiment set whose graduated bottle heights were perfect for an effective display.
The outer circle of my rose bed was occupied by ‘Golden Slippers,’ a floribunda of brilliant orange which blooms continuously and profusely in clusters almost all summer.
Because of its unusual color looks lovely in copper, brass, or bronze.
But it looks best of all in a tightly planted bed where its bloom clusters make a bright spot all season.
‘Golden Slippers’ is self-cleaning—the petals of each spent flower drop simultaneously.
One Rose Leads To Another
Since these were gift roses, I had no choice in the color arrangement in the planting.
If I expand my rose garden, I would like to have a deep red rose in the center, either a tall-growing Grandiflora such as ‘Cherry Glow’ or ‘Ebony,’ or a red tree rose.
Then ‘Coronado,’ a rosy bi-color, then a pastel such as ‘Peace,’ then ‘Memoriam,’ so that the garden would blend from deep red to light pink.
I would use ‘Golden Slippers’ for a brilliant edging along the parking strips or against my stone fence.
Or if I found the energy to spade up another bed for roses, I would plant a blend of orange and yellow hybrid teas such as ‘Mojave,’ `Sutter’s Gold’ and `McGredy’s Yellow’ with ‘Cover Girl’ in the center and surround them all with my 24 orange beauties, ‘Golden Slippers.’
Fortunately, all roses are lovely together, so it is hard to make a mistake with the colors.
After we were well into summer, it was necessary to water the roses occasionally, especially since my soil is thin and underlain with rock.
The hose at low pressure worked very well—so would a bubbler or soaker, as long as the water goes into the soil and not on the rose foliage.
The turf along the edges of the beds acts as a baffle, so little water escapes from my garden.
I have sometimes unavoidably wet the foliage, which is said to contribute to the spread of mildew, but my roses didn’t seem to suffer. After all, rain falls on them.
As the summer continued, so did the roses, and so did the bugs.
On alert inspection, I found bugs all over everything, even the wild hazel, and the laurel, so I concluded that bugs are likely to be found chewing on anything that grows.
I continued to spray on occasion, and the roses continued to perform well, disregarding the critters that escaped me in the main.
When autumn arrived, and the rose leaves began to yellow and drop off, I cut the canes back to about 24″ inches, mulched the bed with leaves and grass clippings, and let winter come.
I Succeeded Without Advice
I found that the roses were awake and growing before me due to a mild winter in the spring, so I let them grow. Experts tell me I should have pruned them, and the experts are probably right.
Anyway, I went away again in April, and they continued to thrive while I was gone.
I cleaned, weeded, and started to dust the beds as soon as possible.
By June, I had roses beautiful beyond belief.
Being more of a reader than a gardener, I did a little research on roses.
I liked best the author who advised, “Here are the recommendations, but if you want to try something different with roses, go ahead.”
I agree.
And should you fail to tend them, don’t panic—my rose-growing friend was right—if I can grow them, anybody can, and they’re nice to have around!
46057 – by Margaret Wood