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Rose Chat Note 1 January 24th
Rose Chat Notes 2 are not finished yet.
Rose Chat Note 2 February 28th
VG: I am looking for a rose groundcover.
Tenrank: I am not into ground roses so I really don't know.
I only have hedge roses and Hybrid Tea Roses.
JimW: How and when do you prune?
Raven: I have a rose bush that grows up to my bedroom window, and
I like to see it there in the window. Do I have to cut it way back?
Tenrank: If your bushes do not get winter kill you can cut them back to
12 or 15 inches high.
Tenrank: I use dirt from my vegetable garden to cover my roses for
winter, that way I am using good dirt, and do not get bad dirt mixed
in with my good dirt in my rose garden.
Raven: I dug up a climber, and transplanted it within a couple of hours
It is dead looking, do you think it will make it?
It is still green at the bottom, I watered it and put horse dried
horse manure on it. I also put Osmocote on it.
mars: I have an old fashioned shrub rose that I planted last year and
it is getting a very long center shoot, should I cut it way back?
Tenrank: My shrub roses are very tough and I cut them back every
spring.
Linde: What do you do about fertilizing ?
Tenrank: I fertilize my roses 3 times each summer. First of June,
Then again around June 20th and again about the first of
August. I use Scotts rose food which I get Kmart in the fall
when they are trying to get rid of it.
Tenrank: I never fertilize too close to the end of summer because
you do not want to encourage new growth before the fall frosts
start to set in.
VG: If you fertilize in June, do you think about 6 weeks earlier for this
area (Virgina zone 7) would be about right?
Linde: What about fertilizing with compost.
Tenrank: I use compost on everything. I spread compost on the ground
after I uncover them in the spring.
Linde: I never have enough compost.
Raven: Is the best way to make compost with a barrel composter that
you turn?
VG: I have tried those Raven, and they work much better than the
open compost bins.
Linde: I have 2 4'x4' wire bins. I put all my kitchen scraps and
shredded leaves in it.
Tenrank: I have 3 compost bins, and a big pile of leaves back in the
woods rotting all winter.
mars: I keep 4, 4'x4' bins going with compost. Mine are made from
pallets. Kitchen scapes, garden trash, leaves and chicken
coop cleanings, and horse manure go in mine.
Tenrank: I have a chipper shreader and everything goes into the
compost pile or the compost bin. I built my bins out of cedar.
Linde: I don't have a chipper shreder, but I use a mulching mower to
chop up my leaves.
mars: I do the same thing Linde. I mow my leaves in the fall with the
bagger push mower.
We all discussed the benefits of compost to our gardens.
Tenrank: I lay my climbing rose on the ground and cover it with mounds
of leaves about 4 feet deep in the fall. By Spring it is about 4
inches.
Raven: What are the steps in making compost?
VG: Green and brown layers Raven, but you also need to keep the pile
moist.
mars: I have compost information from Rodale on a disk. I will send it
to you if you would like. Anyone wanting this information
Email me , make the subject Compost Info Request.
Raven: I have a rose bush planted close to my house, should it be
moved?
Linde: I had some roses next to a wall, and I found out they need good
circulation of air.
Raven: Mine bloomed like mad though.
VG: I have a rose that is supposed to be a red climber, but now it is
more of a wild fragrant rose. Pruning is confusing me.
I've pruned in winter and it didn't do anything, and have not
pruned at all and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
Should I prune after it has bloomed, and if so, how much?
Tenrank: The bad thing about planting roses next to a building is you
get too much hot and cold in the spring when the sun gets warmer,
then it freezes at night. That severe temperature change over the
course of several weeks will kill rose bushes. That doesn't happen
when roses are farther from the building in the rose garden.
Raven: I usually prune in the spring before the sap comes up into the
plant. And that big rose did great.
mars: When you cut a rose from a bush, how far down on the stem
should you cut it to encourage new blooms?
Tenrank: Cut blooms down to the the first 5 leaf stem.
VG: I am unsure of how much and when to prune.
Tenrank: Apparently that bush does not like to be pruned VG, do what
the bush likes.
Tenrank: Cut off all spent blooms as soon as they loose their petals.
Linde: Dead heading seems to encourage new blooms.
Tenrank: I always deadhead my bushes. Sometimes I do it when the
bloom looses it's first few petals. I have a hedgerose that is self-
cleaning so I don't have to deadhead it.
Linde: Is there a way to reseach and find out what kind of a rose I have
if I do not know the name of it.
Tenrank: You could show me a picture, but will have to tell me about
the plant and the growing habits. It will be fun to try to figure it
out.
Linde: They are young plants.
Closing Comment from Tenrank: I find roses do better in a raised
garden than in a garden at ground level. You can control the
moisture better in a raised garden.
We are going to try to do a rose chat once a month.
Next rose chat will be Feb. 29th 2000
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