Here are some things that we can implement to insure that our roses remain gorgeous and strong until the cooler seasons arrive.

Take care, that your roses are properly watered. Always water your rose bushes at the roots. Don’t pour water over the top of your rose plants to prevent fungus from occurring.
Watering from the roots will insure that your roses will be fully hydrated.

On days that the temperature is at 90F or more you should always water your rose bed. Pot grown roses might require watering once early in the morning and again late in the afternoon.
Apply a fungicide weekly to prevent diseases brought on by humidity, cut away canes and foliage as soon as you notice ant infections.

Put fertilizer in small amounts three times a week. Avoid putting too much as you may burn your plants.

The application of organics should be done weekly until the last week of August.

Spider mite season is July and August. Spider mites flourish in heat and humidity. Spray the leaves and buds of your roses with water to move those pests off your plants.

For your canes to grow properly you need to maintain your rose bushes. Do not fall behind on these tasks.

Begin cutting back your roses in the second half of August and they will give you magnificent blooms in the autumn.

Remove any branches and stems that are moving towards the center of the plant. This will allow more room for air to circulate removing humidity from your bush preventing spider mites from breeding and fungus forming.

If you are participating in one of the fall rose exhibits, you will have to cautiously plan the time that you will prune your canes to provide the necessary time for recycling to happen.

Begin your deep watering program

In early May, heavy rains could still be left over from April. If that’s so, then adjust your watering schedule accordingly. Otherwise, maintaining the correct moisture level is an absolute necessity.

Although Roses don’t need as much water as other plants do, they prefer a root soaking rather than watering their blooms and leaves. Of course, over-watering can cause mildew and related fungal diseases to appear so be careful.

Start your deadheading program

Deadheading your rose plants results in an extended blooming season. Simply cut back a few branches with outward-facing buds that have more than five leaflets.

This is also a good time to enhance the overall appearance of your bushes by removing any faded blooms.

May is the start of the organics season

Once your roses have produced their first flush, it’s time to apply the organics. Organics, including blood, fish, alfalfa, and cottonseed meal are an excellent food source for roses as is seaweed and wood ashes. Rinse seaweed in fresh water before using.

This is also the right time to start working on your soil amendments by applying compost and manure, shredded leaves, and grass clippings freely and abundantly.

Summer Pest Control Issues

Insects and diseases will be trying to get off to a good start this time of year as well. You can nip them in the bud, no pun intended, by recognizing and counteracting the effects of these common rose threats.

Aphids

These green or brown-colored insects form small colonies and suck the fluids from your roses. While their presence is often fatal to your roses, treatment is simple and effective. Just spray them with a mild soapy water solution.

Black Spot

This fungal disease can be recognized by the black spots that appear on the foliage. This condition is caused by incorrect watering. First prune away the affected foliage and discard the clippings in a trash can. Do not leave them on the ground around your roses. Next, start soaking your roses at the roots rather than watering from overhead.

Canker

This fungal disease causes the canes to turn black or brown before dying. Canker usually forms while the rose bush is under winter protection. Prune back affected canes to below the canker spots and discard the canes in a trash can.

Midge

These are maggots which bore into your roses and cause the buds to turn black. Prune out and discard the affected buds in a trash can.

Rust

This fungus disease can only be treated with a commercial fungicide. Symptoms include an orange-color powder which gives the disease its name. Rust is usually the result of mild, wet winters which allow the fungus to thrive when it would normally be killed.

Spider Mites

Initial infestation becomes evident when the foliage starts to turn a dull red color. As the infestation increases you will begin to notice small webs. Treatment is as easy as spritz the mites, as well as the affected areas, with plain water.

A good pruner is one tool that you will use almost daily. There are two types of pruners on the market. One is called an “anvil” pruner, and the other is called a “bypass” pruner. An anvil pruner has blades that meet on top of each other. Bypass pruners have blades that pass each other like scissors do. Always use bypass pruners so you don’t crush your canes and stems.

Loppers

When your rose garden starts to mature there will come times when this will be an indispensable tool for cutting back old, thick canes that are too much for a set of pruning shears. If you are just starting your rose garden, save your money as you won’t need this for a few years.

Long-Handled Shovel

Choose a lightweight model with a strong handle. Shovels with fiberglass throats are good choices. Spend a few extra dollars and get one with a padded handle as it will save you lots of blisters as the years go by.

Wheelbarrow

Avoid the temptation to buy the cute garden “carts”. Trust me on this, you are going to need a real wheelbarrow. As your gardening addiction, I mean hobby, takes off there will be no end to the things that you will be hauling in and out of your garden. Some of those things will be very heavy and you’ll be glad that you have a real wheelbarrow to help you.

Gloves

“You can complain because a rose has thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have a rose.” – Tom Wilson (American cartoonist)

The rose garden is no place for thin, wimpy gloves. Unless you enjoy feeling the thorns pierce your skin, opt for leather work gloves with those big, fold-down cuffs.

Kneeling Pads

Some people prefer the big 8″x15″ water-resistant pads with handles, while others prefer strap-on knee pads. The knee pads are more convenient because they move when you move, but the one-size fits all knee cups may not work for you. In that case, the pad will suit you fine.

Short Garden Digging Fork

Indispensible for turning and loosening soil in small patches. Choose a good quality model with steel forks and a sturdy handle.

Watering Wand

Great for watering potted roses and for giving your other roses a good root soaking. Choose a model with a quick shutoff valve on the wand itself, and a quick release fitting for the end that plugs into the hose. Spend the money to get a model with brass fittings instead of plastic. It will last years longer.

Garden Rake

These are the rakes with the sharp steel teeth that you use for leveling and smoothing beds. Choose one with a sturdy handle and steel tines.

Leaf Rake

You’ll use this a lot for cleaning up clippings, leaves and other garden debris. You may want to buy both a “regular” size rake, and one of the smaller “child size” rakes if you need to pull debris from tight quarters.

As this guide has already stated, there are a great deal of things that can be done to help prevent diseases and pests from damaging your roses. It all seems like so much to do for flowers that only have a life span of about 6-10 days. Of course a healthy bed of roses will constantly produce new buds so that you will rarely even notice anyway.

There is also the problem of wilting and drooping roses once they are placed in vases when they are given as gifts. Roses look so beautiful in any room that they sit in. They add an elegance that is unsurpassed by any other flower.

As beautiful as roses are, they do have a certain vulnerability that is common for every flower. They are prone to sag, droop and wilt after a few days exposure to a vase. Anybody would like to preserve that beauty for as long as possible and think that its hopeless, but I will show you how you can save your roses if this happens to you.

1. Take your roses from the vase.
2. Separate the roses, but keep them emerged in Luke warm water as you do it.
3. Make a fresh cut on the stem, again while it remains in the water because you don’t want to get air into the stem.
4. Take each flower, one by one and roll them in newspaper and close the paper with a rubber band to keep it from unrolling.
5. Put each rose while still wrapped in the newspaper in a sink or tub filled with water and let them soak for several hours while still separate.
6. Once they have soaked, unwrap them carefully, and place them in a vase of fresh warm water.
7. If you want to preserve the health of your roses, put some 7up in the water to help prevent any bacteria that can clog up the stem.

Extra tip: Roses droop for one of two reasons. Either they had been cut too early when put into the vase, or they may have been out of water too long before putting them into the vase.

If you live in an area that is prone to harsh winters, you will likely find it relatively easy to find good, cold climate roses at your local garden center. It is necessary to plant cold climate roses in areas that are prone to winters because planting anything else would be a waste of your time as they couldn’t survive properly during the winter frost.

Cold climate roses are great for many reasons. They are very low maintenance flowers, especially good for the novice. Cold climate roses also have their very own protection set up against diseases and bacteria that can plague any flower. Here a brief list of cold climate roses. Naturally, there are many more, but to list them all would make up the entirety of this guide.

The cold climate roses are as follows:

• Rugosas
• Griffith Buck
• Modern Roses
• Centrifolias
• Species Roses
• Gallica
• Alba
• Shrub Roses

These are just some of the cold climate roses that will thrive during the harsh winters of some localities. If you live in an area that is prone to harsh winters, you may want to see if your local garden center has any of these to start with.

The same goes for roses. It is in the spring that people begin planting or replenishing their rose gardens. For those bushes that are already established, spring is the time to see new buds and blooms trying to be born.

If you are interested in helping your roses get an even bigger boost in the spring, you may want to try this special tonic that is used to give your roses a strong boost of all of the nutrients that your roses need in order for them to grow strong, healthy and produce a lot of buds. Try this recipe for the greatest spring start to your roses.

1. Be certain to apply in the early spring after you have removed any of the necessary winter protection that you put up.

Here is a list of the ingredients that you will need to make this mixture. You should mix them in a 5 gallon tub or bucket.

• 2 cups of alfalfa meal
• 2 cups of Epsom salt
• 2 cups of fish meal
• 2 cups of gypsum
• 2 cups of greensand
• 1 cup of bone meal

2. You will first have to pull back the mulch that has been placed around your rose bush.

3. You will next, want to work one cup of this tonic into the top inch of soil if you have a smaller bush.

4. You will do best to use a trowel or a hand cultivator for larger bushes. (that would be bushes that are 6 feet or taller) For these sizes, you will need to use three or four cups.

5. Now you will have to replace the mulch and water your roses very well.

Tip #1: You can do this again in the middle of June if you want to keep your roses blooming. Just scratch 2 cups of the mixture into the soil.

Tip #2: You should wear a dust mask while you are mixing your ingredients for the tonic.

Aphids and Spider Mites

Aphids are a greenish brown insect that suck the juices from roses, and can eventually cause your roses to dry out. To effectively treat them, simply blast your roses with soapy water.

Black Spots

Black spots are a fungal disease that causes the canes to turn black or brown in spots on the foliage. To remedy this, simply prune the affected areas and throw out the clippings. Do not water the head to prevent this from happening again.

Canker

A canker is another fungal disease that causes the canes to turn black or brown. All you have to do is prune the canes just below the canker in the early spring.

Midge

A midge is a tiny maggot that causes the rose’s buds to blacken from the damage. If you want to fix this problem, prune the affected area and then destroy it.

Rust

Rust is a disease that creates an orange powder in the center of the rose. It is caused by wet and calm winter weather. Putting in some spider mites can help with this because they hate the water. You should consult your local garden center about the best insecticide to use in order to get rid of the spider mites. Once you have chosen the insecticide, spray every 7-10 days until it is under control.

Powder Mildew

You can put an end to powder mildew by making a mixture of 1 gallon of water

2 TBSP of baking soda
1 TBSP of Murphy’s Oil Soap

Spray over the roses in the morning every two weeks until the overall temperature around the roses reaches 80 degrees.

1. The easiest way to prevent diseases from inhabiting your roses is to buy roses that are low maintenance like shrubs and landscape roses.

2. Planting your roses properly in areas that have a lot of sun (at least 6 hours in the morning), air circulation and good compost for faster draining can prevent many problems later.

3. Keeping different types of flowers and plants in with your roses will help to provide your roses with a better and more balanced ecosystem to live in.

4. Fertilize your plants in the proper manner. Roses need their food too! (see section on fertilizing for the best methods)

5. Watering your roses correctly and in the morning is a good way to keep fungal diseases from hitting your roses. (see section on watering for the best techniques)

6. A two inch layer of mulch at the base of your roses is a good way to keep soil born diseases at bay.

Pruning your roses is basically the act of getting rid of dead and damaged pieces, and teaching the new growth to grow in the correct outward facing direction. That just means that you are training them to grow facing the outside of the shrub or bush. This gives your roses the correct amount of circulating air to thrive in.

Here is a list of the proper techniques to guide through the pruning process.

• Soak your pruning shears in equal parts of water and bleach. This will help to protect your roses from diseases and insects.

• Pruning in the early spring, just after the snow melts is best. However you want to do it before any new growth appears. The best time would be when the buds are swelled, or red.

• Hand shears are the best tool for pruning the smaller branches. (about 4 ½ inches thick) Loppers are best for the branches that are thicker or the thickness of a pencil. This will make it easier. You should use a heavy pair of rose gloves to avoid the thorns.

• You want to get rid of the winter protection that you set up like cones, burlap, and mounded soil.

• You want to get rid of the dead wood first. (That would be the black wood that is black inside as well as out).

• Next, you wan to get rid of the thinner wood, which is the stems that are thinner than a pencil.

• Cut all of the branches that cross or overlap one another because these are often diseased or will become so.

• Keep the remaining five healthy branches. These are often dark green. You will want to make your roses fluted or vases shaped, with an open center, and keep them from touching or overlapping each other.

• Cut your healthy canes to be about one to four feet long, or whatever size that you prefer.

• Cut you roses properly so that they stay healthy. Cut so that the bud is facing outside of the bush and at a 45 degree angle that slopes inward so that you can keep promoting the outward growth.

• You should use bypass pruners that work like scissors and not the anvil types because the anvils crush the stems and make the roses more available to diseases.

Taking proper care of your roses can seem like a very taxing, and time consuming thing to do, but the results of such care far more than make up for it. Unfortunately, roses are the most difficult flower to manage and keep healthy; however, all good things require high maintenance.

There are many small things that have to be done to keep your roses looking their best, but all of those small things add up to one very large one. Here are some great tips for the regular upkeep of your roses.

You should prune your roses in the early spring. Or at least once the others start budding because the buds will eventually become new branches later.

You should cut the dead and damaged branches first. Next, you should cut all but five of the leftover healthy branches. They should end up at about the thickness of a pencil.

Cut the bushes by approximately one third or one half, depending on how tall you want them. Cutting above the outward facing buds, Which is the buds that is on the outside of the rose bush because this will help the bud to grow upward; which will make the center of the bud open up for better air circulation and shape.

You should always sharpen your hand shears before pruning, and prune the climbing roses with caution. The branches have a tendency to overlap and you wouldn’t want to prune the wrong branches.

Mulching is necessary because it helps to keep your maintenance down a bit. Mulching requires your roses to need a lot less watering, weeding and helps prevent diseases. The best mulches are organic ones like wood chips, pine needles, and grass clippings.

Protect your roses during the winter months by adding a few extra inches of soil to the base of your roses. This should provide the extra needed heat in the winter.

You should avoid the white plastic cones when doing your winter protection because they trap too much heat during the winter thaw. They are also quite unattractive.

You should feed your roses water often, but lightly. When you water your roses, avoid directly watering the foliage because it will cause fungal diseases. You should water the roses at the roots.

Keep the area around your roses cleared to prevent them from getting locked in an area that doesn’t provide enough circulation.

Most types of roses have to be fertilized frequently to keep them growing at a fast pace. You should fertilize with a fertilizer that is slow to release like fish emulsion or Osmocote at planting time. Be certain to follow the instructions properly from the label.

Avoid over fertilizing during the winter because by trying to promote new growth in the winter will make your roses more available to freeze damage.

Important Tip: You should never fertilize plants that are heat or water stressed. Water stressed plants that grow under a lot of heat will cause leaf and bud burn.

You want a steady temperature of approximately 70-80 degrees because your plants will get the most nutrients that are available to the plants. During the growing season, you can give the plants a water soluble fertilizer every two weeks.

Like people, roses need more water during the hotter weather than during the colder ones. Heat makes the soil dry faster and the roses get “thirstier”.

Keep in mind that even during the rainier times, roses still need to be watered with fresh water because rain alone cannot provide the right amount of moisture for your roses.

You want to water your roses in a manner that goes deep enough into the surrounding soil so that it reaches the roots. Try going approximately 45cm deep.

You do not want to water the petals directly or the canes because it can cause fungal disease in your roses.

To help you lower the risk of your roses getting diseases, mulch is a nice way to keep the soil moist, without allowing all of the fungal problems that too much moisture can cause.

Watering your roses in the morning also helps to dry the dew off of the leaves.

Once your roses are fully established, you should water them once a week. You should do it twice a week if its in the hotter months.