The Raising of Roses

A man in his forties, armed with a bouquet of roses, is wanted for a mid-afternoon robbery last week of a Royal bank branch in Calgary. He escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash. Maclean’s, 14 June 2010

From ancient Crete to Cleopatra, onward through the unfortunately named Wars of the Roses to Shakespeare’s sonnets and more recently Canada’s ‘Explorer’ series, the romance of the rose may have been thorny but constant. Less constant are cultural claims. The enormous (and justifiable) popularity of British gardening tomes conceals more than one thorn for gardeners in more vigorous climes. In a country where the ground does not freeze solid for months at a time and precipitation is almost always adequate, gardening is bound to differ. Then there is the North American problem: the continent is bigger, much bigger – and overly fond of generic, one-size-fits-all instruction labels. So how to tell if these sources are to be relied upon? You probably will not until you are an experienced gardener, exchanging a black thumb for a green one. Yet raising roses is no rocket science. Choose a spot to plant roses where they will receive a few hours sun each day, preferably up to midday. Exposure to hot afternoon sun will shorten the life of the blooms. Avoid locations close to trees, as most roses, except for ramblers, dislike competition from roots. A good loam, well drained with generous amounts of composted manure is recommended. In the days of horse deliveries, rose gardeners would rush to collect horse droppings. Nowadays many expert rosarians suggest composted sheep manure.

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Remove from the pot and position each bush 18-inches to two feet apart. Sprinkle a handful of bone meal at the bottom of the hole, then spread the roots and plant with the bud union three-inches below the surface of the garden in most of Canada and the northern United States. This bud union is the swelling where the variety meets the rootstock. Select the three strongest canes and cut away the rest. Keep well watered but avoid splashing the foliage to avoid encouraging mildew and black spot. The latter, the curse of rose gardeners, may be reduced by planting resistant varieties. Also pick up and dispose of all leaves and trimmings in the garbage, never the compost heap. Aphids are another inevitable problem but succumb to insecticidal soap. Apply late in the evening to avoid harming beneficial predators such as ladybugs. Watch for these pests when the first daffodil leaves appear. As the blooms fade, ‘dead head’ to remove the spent flowers. When the entire stem is finished, cut hard back to two or three leaves from the base to encourage fresh growth. In late September or October, however, leave the seed hips to form and prepare the rose for its winter rest. In northern climes, ‘earthing up’ is recommended for hybrid teas, floribundas and grandifloras. As the ground freezes, prune the canes back to two feet and surround them with plastic ‘rose collars,’ available earlier at garden centres. Excellent substitutes are ten-inch plastic planting pots with their bottoms cut out and holes punched in the sides. Fill with composted manure, which can be spread as mulch the following spring at the same time as forsythias bloom. Shrub roses, such as the famous Canadian ‘Explorer’ series, require earthing up for their first winter but not after. These very hardy roses do not require grafting, so have no bud union at their base. The classic tree rose is a problem in areas with harsh winters. The usual recommendation is to dig a two-foot deep trench in late fall, lay the trees in it and cover with soil for the winter. This is enough to discourage even the keenest rose-loving gardener. Roses are hungry feeders. Make the first fertilizer applications when first uncovering in spring and continue until Peegee hydrangeas commence blooming in midsummer. Commercial slow-release fertilizers are the choice of many gardeners; others prefer organic sources of nutrients. I never promised you a rose garden, so went the words to a popular song back in long past days. Neither will we. But follow the above and it will take you well onto that garden pat that leads to such. Not the one though that in medieval times lead to the ‘Rose Garden’ or a house of ill repute.