Spring in the Rose Garden

Time to Get Those Roses Growing! by Diane Brueckman

Every spring is a fresh date. In the St. Louis area that beginning in the is April 15th. While our plants garden. Problems are waking up we can get a start don’t seem so daunting when on the weeds we missed last fall. the plants are small and Just remember getting weeds leafless. Getting an early start out before they go to seed saves makes the whole year easier. work later on. The rose bush It is time to finish pruning your that was in the wrong place, climbers and shrubs. Hardy perhaps it grew bigger than it roses, which include all the was supposed to or its spot was Knock Out® roses and the too shady, can be moved now Easy Elegance® roses will to a new location. As long as love having a bit of a trim. the soil can be worked you can Rugosa roses and many of move the bush. Water it in well the Old Garden Roses (OGR) and cover it with mulch just as also fall into the hardy rose you would when planting a barecategory. The shrub roses Artfully pruned climbers at Missouri Botanical Garden. root rose. that don’t get deadheaded as If you ordered bare-root roses frequently, at least in my garden, need to be opened up by taking from a catalog they should arrive before the end of April. Bareout the crossing canes and very old canes that will not produce as root roses need to be planted while it is still cool. When the plants much bloom as we would like. Be sure when you start pruning arrive open the package immediately and inspect the plants for those OGRs that they are the rebloomers. Roses that only bloom broken canes and roots. Trim off any damage and soak the roses once bloom on old wood and if you prune them before they bloom overnight in water with a little bleach to kill any mold that might be you will cut off the blooms before they open. The once-blooming on the plants. Dig a large hole and mound some soil in the middle. roses get pruned after they bloom. Mix about 1 cup of an organic fertilizer into the soil. Spread the The Knock Out roses have an unfair reputation for being more roots over the soil then fill half way with soil and water. I like to susceptible to rose rosette disease (RRD) than other roses, mostly use the water the roses were soaking in. Cover the new bush as if because they are not pruned every year, especially in commercial you were winter protecting it. In about 2 weeks you can remove and public landscapes. When you trim back the canes by 1/3 the mulch. I always wait until I finish uncovering the rest of my you are cutting off overwintering mites that carry the RRD virus. roses. Pruning is not a guarantee that your rose will not get RRD but it is one of the recommended prevention techniques and keeps your plants looking their best. Climbers can become very unwieldly if not trimmed every year. I like to trim them in late winter before the foliage opens and clouds the issue. It is best to cut the main canes that are diseased or damaged back to the bud union and leave the healthiest canes intact and tie them to their support. A good climber will have anywhere from 3 to 6 main canes (canes that come directly from the bud-union or if not a budded bush from the crown of the plant). A diagram for pruning shrub roses.A tip for those who have a very vigorous climber, I start by cutting back the lateral canes coming off the main canes first. This is not the final pruning on the laterals just a trim to open up the bush. You will have less trouble with wild thorny canes fighting your efforts. Once you have determined which canes are staying you can cut Diane Brueckman is a retired rosarian the laterals back to 4 to 6 leaf buds. Tie the canes to their support with Missouri Botanical Garden, stressing them to encourage the lateral canes to produce blooms all and currently owns Rosey Acres in along the main cane. Baldwin, Illinois. You can reach her at (618) 785-3011 or droseyacres@ Do not uncover your more temperamental roses, the Hybrid Teas, egyptian.net. Grandifloras and most Floribundas until after the last average frost