Caring
ForYour Roses
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Caring
For Your Roses |
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Creating Your Rose Garden
Old roses will thrive in rich, well-drained soil. Choose an open, well-ventilated area having six hours of preferably morning sunlight daily. For optimum fall/winter planting, prepare beds in the summer with organic matter. During your preparation, remember to keep potted roses watered and be sure they get at least six hours of sunlight daily. This simple care will maintain them until they are planted.
Choosing your Roses (classes of roses)
What will work best for you? Chinas, Noisettes & Teas grow best in Louisiana. Bourbons are also stunning and hardy, and there are many other classes of roses to enhance your garden.
CHINA ROSES pre-date European roses & were the first roses to bloom throughout the year. They are highly disease resistant. In the South, chinas are very hardy and can live very long healthy lives with a minimum of care. They are ideal for the Louisiana garden. (Old Blush, Mutabilis, Archduke Charles, Cramoisi Superieur, Ducher)
Pictured is Cramoisi Superieur
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NOISETTES started in South Carolina & produce highly-scented flowers in pale shades of cream, pink or yellow. Noisettes are usually grown as climbers, pillar roses (staked upright and fanned out at the top like an umbrella), or fanned out on fences or trellises. They are fine choices for ornamental planters. (Celine Forestier, Madame Alfred Carriere)
Pictured is Madame Alfred Carriere
TEA ROSES have larger, fuller flowers than chinas. They are noted for their soft tea-like fragrance, bronzy red new foliage, and bushy shapes. Here in the South, they are disease resistant and bloom profusely, especially in spring and autumn. Tea roses are ancestors of the modern Hybrid Teas. Tea roses make good cut flowers and are excellent landscape plants. When customers mention "the roses my grandmother grew," those roses often prove to be members of this classification.
(Mlle. Franziska Kruger, Mrs. B.R.Cant, Mrs.Dudley Cross, Duchesse de Brabant)
Pictured is Duchesse de Brabant
BOURBON ROSES come from the east coast of Africa around 1817. Their flowers are full and quartered; that is, their very full petals fold into four sections. Bourbons have very bright colors and boast the most intense fragrance of roses. Although they are more susceptible to black spot than most other old roses and are thus not best suited for Louisiana's rainy climate, many gardeners nevertheless choose Bourbons because of their stunning blooms. (Madame Isaac Pereire, Zephirine Drouhin, Souvenir de la Malmaison) Pictured is Zephirine Drouhin
Old European Roses Hybrid Perpetual Roses Early Hybrid Teas
Polyanthas & Floribundas Rugosa Roses
Shrub Roses Hybrid Musk Roses
Species Roses Climbing Roses
Container Roses:
Roses in containers need more frequent feeding and watering than those planted in the ground.
Several inches of mulch applied 2-3 times per year will mean fewer weeds, less water stress, richer soil & healthier plants. Pine needles, leaf mulch, decomposed pine bark or any weed-free material will work.
Roses should get a deep watering of three inches every 7-10 days. Deep watering encourages roses to hold their foliage and bloom better in summer. A plastic rain gauge will help in accurate measurement of water.
Frequent light (surface) watering is discouraged, as it fosters shallow root growth which is unable to support the plant in severe windy weather, causing it to blow over. Also, shallow roots can burn more easily in extremely hot weather. Three inches of mulch will help to protect your plants from heat.
Most commercial rose foods & organic fertilizers produce good results. When in doubt, use less chemical fertilizer. Remember that over-fertilization can burn or even kill your roses. Always water heavily when fertilizing.
Organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion or manure also help to rejuvenate living organisms in the soil. These can be combined with slow-release pellets such as Osmocote to keep container-grown roses at their peak.
We suggest, as a minimum, that you feed your roses once in spring and once in early fall.
For best performance, begin feeding two weeks before the last frost date and continue at 4-6 week intervals until six weeks before the earliest frost date.
A properly planted old rose should give years of basically trouble-free beauty. They can get blackspot, however. Although old roses are disease-resistant, they are rarely completely disease free.
Most of the fungus diseases rarely debilitate them. They may shed leaves but will still bloom.
If you spray, use a mild, broad spectrum fungicide on an as needed basis.
Aphids, thrips and other insect pests rarely affect a healthy rosebush severely, but they can damage & disfigure tender new growth, buds and flowers. Orthene, Malathion or Diazanon should control infestations. Miticide or a vigorous hosing with water, controls spider mites.
A minimum of six hours of sunshine daily and good air circulation help to prevent diseases.
