I must be turning into a proper Brit - I am tackling the delicate task of pruning roses. Roses are in a world of their own at the nursery, and this is a fantastic opportunity to learn the proper techniques to cultivate the thorny beauties.
- There are two major classes of roses: old English and hybrid tea. The old English shrubs are excellent for planting in a flower garden with well-filled foliage and aromatic blossoms. The latter are those seen in supermarket cut bouquets. They are cultivated for straight, thornless stems and bright flowers but lack the pungent fragrance of the garden varieties.
- When shopping for a rose bush, look for a circular bowl shape. The branches should be curving upward and outward with very little foliage in the centre. As it grows, the branches will have space to fill out while still allowing air to flow through the centre of the plant, reducing the risk of many diseases. At the end of the season, prune back to bowl shape, removing centre branches.
- There are three main problems to look for when taking care of a rose bush: stem rot, black leaf, and rust. Stem rot occurs where a branch has been cut or broken off - the living tissue starts to turn black and decay. When trimming, it's best to cut the branch about 3-4 cm below the end of the living tissue to avoid contaminating the clippers with the disease and transferring to other plants. Black leaf is just as it sounds, and rust is a brown fungus that eats leaves and appears on the backside as rust-coloured spots.
- When flowers are starting to wilt, dry out, or simply cease to look attractive, they should be trimmed off. The best place to cut is above the first protrusion with five leaves, and the stem should be trimmed diagonally at a 45 degree angle. This "five leaf" rule ensures that the stem capable of producing new growth is not cut away. Obviously, if the stem supporting the flower is connected to other buds, just the single flower head should be cut away, and then the main stem can be cut correctly when all the buds have blossomed.
- This spring was very warm in Suffolk, which caused the rose bushes here to bloom two months early! Many are coming into their second flowering in the next few weeks.
- Most roses do not like a lot of water, so too much rain can make them a bit unhappy.
Roses have vicious thorns, so as I'm learning how to maintain them properly I'm also becoming wary of their spiky branches. I was stabbed twice today - enough to draw blood - so I'm aiming to gain fewer scars tomorrow.
The love of dirt is among the earliest of passions, as it is the latest. Mud-pies gratify one of our first and best instincts. So long as we are dirty, we are pure. - Charles Dudley Warner
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