{ GARDEN }

ROSE CARE TIPS FOR THE WINTER GARDEN

BY Bill and Elaine Ornelas
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Winter is such a good time to be a rosarian! It is a time of fresh starts, with pruning existing rose bushes and buying and planting new ones. If you follow good rose care practices now, you will see the result of your efforts when spring arrives and the blooms on your plants reward you with abundance.

Tropical Lightning
Tropical Lightning
Carding Mill
Carding Mill

Pruning roses is as much an art as it is a science. But it is not difficult once you understand the botanical effects of pruning on the rose plant. Pruning in winter encourages the rose plant to renew its growth pattern and urges the plant to produce new canes from the base. New growth flourishes and blooms are generated from basal canes. Pruning also gives you a chance to clean out old, diseased, or unproductive canes and spruce up the plant for a spring bloom. Preparation for pruning should include the cleaning and sharpening of pruning tools and the acquisition of substantial, elbow-length gauntlet gloves.

There are many categories of roses, and each type may require a different pruning method. Modern roses (such as hybrid teas and grandifloras, floribundas, shrubs, and climbers) each thrive better if pruned in a particular pattern. Basically, there are common actions for most of them in pruning.

Sexy Rexy
Sexy Rexy
Proper winter pruning encourages growth | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Proper winter pruning encourages growth | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

• Step back and take a critical look at the bush. Are there dead and dying canes that need to be removed? Is it balanced from side to side? Are there small, twiggy canes? How tall should the final plant be?

• Start by removing any dead or dying canes and twiggy growth.

• Open up the center of the bush by removing excess canes in the middle to allow for better circulation and growth.

• Determine the height of the final plant after pruning.

• Prune the healthy canes. There is a structure just where the leaf meets the cane called the bud eye. Prune by cutting one-quarter inch above the outward-facing bud eye at a 45-degree angle. New growth will originate from this bud eye.

• Remove all leaves from the rose plant.

• Clean up all leaves and other debris from the ground surrounding the rose plant to prevent disease.

• Spray the plants and surrounding ground with a dormant spray after pruning to help keep fungal growth at bay.

This method is useful for hybrid tea roses, from which we prune one-third of the bush. For floribunda roses, which produce masses of blooms, some of the twiggy stems may need to be kept. Climbers are quite different. It is best not to radically prune them but to keep some of the old, twiggy growth for new bloom production. Climbers can be a real challenge to manage due to the production of long canes. They are best trained around a trellis or arch or along a fence. If you need more guidance, there are many pruning videos on YouTube.

Ring of Fire
Ring of Fire
Alakazam
Alakazam

Now is also a good time to critically evaluate your rose plants. Ask yourself if each plant is more prone to disease than your other rose plants. Is it thriving and blooming to your expectations? Could it possibly perform better in a different—perhaps sunnier—location? If it is diseased or dying, the best choice may be to purchase a replacement plant. There are so many beautiful roses in local nurseries and in online catalogs, it is sometimes hard to choose just one!

When you have chosen a rose plant, become familiar with the rose type. Standard hybrid teas and floribundas usually result in a plant that is 4 to 8 feet tall, miniatures are 1 to 2 feet wide, and climbers will scramble all over a trellis or fence. It is important to choose the correct area for planting. Roses require at least 6 hours of sun each day. For a standard size rose bush, dig a hole at least one and one-half times as wide as the root base and 12 to 18 inches deep. Roses perform best in well-draining soil composed of two-thirds potting and one-third native soils. Fertilizers, such as super phosphate or bone meal, can be added to the bottom of the planting hole for improved nourishment before planting.

Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Cherry Parfait
Cherry Parfait

Mail-order roses will come as bare root roses and can be soaked in water overnight before planting. Create a mound of soil in the middle of the hole and place the rose on the mound. The upper part of the rose is known to be a well-performing (blooming) rose and the lower part under the ground (rootstock) produces a good root system. Roses are usually grafted to rootstock. As the soil is placed around the roots, ensure that the soil remains a few inches below the union of the rootstock and the blooming part of the rose. Tamp the soil down over the roots. Water the rose well after planting.

Now that your new rose bush is planted with good soil, in a sunny location, and watered, you need to consider when and how to fertilize to ensure the rose continues to thrive. Starting mid-February in San Diego, begin to feed your roses a well-balanced fertilizer. Organic fertilizers (bone meal, seaweed extract, fish fertilizer, and alfalfa) are good for the environment, improve soil structure, and support beneficial microbes. They can be used with inorganic fertilizers, which may be more convenient to use but do not improve the soil as well as organic fertilizers do. Roses should be fertilized every 2 to 4 weeks. After the first feeding in February, adding 3 inches of mulch on top of the soil will ensure that moisture is retained to help roses tolerate drastic weather changes. Roses should not be in dry or soggy wet soil. The mulch keeps fungus spores from rising up onto the leaves of the roses, and it will break down and contribute to the structure of the soil.

Growing and sharing roses is a rewarding hobby. We hope everyone has a chance to add roses to their garden palette.

Roses thrive when planted in good soil, a sunny location, and 
properly watered | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Roses thrive when planted in good soil, a sunny location, and properly watered | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Bill and Elaine Ornelas are consulting rosarians for the San Diego Rose Society, an excellent local source for “all things roses”. The San Diego Rose Society offers monthly programs, an information-packed monthly newsletter, and consulting rosarians who can answer your questions about growing roses. For more information, visit sandiegorosesociety.com