Growing Roses

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Read the previous part. ← How I created rose gardens in my garden

Basics of rose farming

In the spring, when there is a stable positive temperature, I take out the seedlings with already swollen buds from the winter quarters, spray them with Epin, a few days later - with Zdorovy Sad and Ekoberin preparations, leave them in a greenhouse and shade them, cover them with spunbond.

In late May or early June (taking into account the weather) with a clod of earth, I plant them on a special bed with very good soil for growing until next spring.

The life and development of these small plants is completely in the hands of the grower. They must be fed, watered, protected from diseases and pests, and also formed a crown, not allowed to bloom. By autumn, a well-ripened seedling is obtained, ready for transplantation next spring to a permanent place. But a young plant of a climbing rose can be immediately planted in the allotted place, but it is necessary to give it the same attention as on a distribution bed. I'm very good at it.

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Many growers can say that fussing with cuttings is not worth the time spent, because you can buy a ready-made grafted rose in the store and immediately enjoy its flowering. And I do not agree with this statement. With what sinking heart do you approach a bush you have grown, say, the Cardinal variety, which intoxicates with its divine aroma and delights in the size of a flower up to 17 cm in diameter, and this is even more than stated in its description.

Or when a beautiful climbing rose of the Baikal variety surprises throughout the summer with its huge tassels, and even before the winter shelter in November they bloom, it’s even a pity to cut them off. This is another argument for the queen of flowers.

And growing roses from cuttings is a fun experience. How can a garden owner who bought a very expensive, modern rose and planted it with the help of a gardener experience the joy and happiness experienced by those who themselves gave birth to a small cuttings with three buds? And all the troubles, time and effort spent are nothing in comparison with the results obtained.

Already in March, in a St. Petersburg apartment, you begin to feel anxiety: how the pets sheltered for the winter feel there. Unstable March weather warms up anxiety. This is what brought us to the Pskov village, to our garden, at the end of the first spring month, and there is still knee-deep snow, we couldn't even make a vent, because there was ice under the snow, the film froze. I had to wait.

I must say that this is a very crucial moment when growing roses - to open them in a timely manner. And for readers to understand my concern, I must tell you about how I cover roses for the winter.

To prevent diseases in November, I sprayed all the roses and the ground under the bushes with a 3% solution of ferrous sulfate. Gradually began to remove foliage from climbing roses and bend them closer to the ground, while pinning them.

Hybrid tea and other groups of roses, according to their belonging, cut off, removed the leaves on the shoots, boldly covered the cuts with garden pitch, and then spud the bushes. Since the previous year was characterized by damp weather, I did not have dry land. Therefore, I mixed the rotted loose manure with the earth and with this mixture I spud the roses, pouring under them in a bucket and more, depending on the size, under the bush.

The day before, my husband and I prepared spruce branches in the forest, laid it under climbing roses, I finally tied them, bent and secured them with arcs made by my husband. Then I covered all the mounds of earth with which I spud the bushes with large shavings (I have been using it for several years) and also covered it with spruce branches. I put an isolon on the spruce branches, on top - a film and fixed it all with several arcs, leaving openings from the ends of the shelter. In this form, she left her roses until spring. The air vents are then closed by falling snow.

The reverse process is also important - the opening of roses in spring. It happens so springtime that you do not have time to free the air vents, as you have to open all the plants. I remove the film and isolon, remove some spruce branches, but not all, so that the roses do not immediately fall under the open sky.

After a few days, I completely remove the spruce branches, collect the shavings for storage. Then I easily loosen the hillocks, sprinkle with fertilizer for roses, ash and embed them in the soil. After that I start trimming. I cut off hybrid tea roses, floribunda and park roses immediately, covering the cuts with garden pitch. But I first untie the climbing roses, raise them a little above the spruce branches and remove all the obviously bad parts of the shoots. I prepare the Bordeaux liquid and spray it with a 1% solution, and then I again throw in the spruce branches so that the shoots do not dry out, become weathered and do not get sunburn.

Since I have a lot of roses, I have to do all this within a few days. You work and rejoice: I was in time, I was not late, my roses are all alive, they are green, the buds are good, which means that soon all of us will enjoy the joy of contemplating their magnificent beauty and aroma. In anticipation of this exciting event, every day in the morning you go to your favorites, meticulously peering at all the changes that have occurred during the day.

And then the most pleasant chores begin. When it finally gets warmer, the roses need to be undone, watered, mulched with a thin layer of rotted manure, so that moisture evaporates less. As the shoots grow, I pinch them after the fourth true leaf to form a beautiful, lush bush and abundant flowering. Until the end of July, I feed the roses several times, alternating organic and mineral fertilizers.

Before watering around the bushes, I sprinkle the ground with ash. To fight diseases during the summer season, I use herbal and biological products. Every week I spray with a solution of the “Healthy Garden” and “Ekoberin” preparations with the addition of “Gumistar” for roses. Sometimes some aphids appear at the ends of the shoots. I take it off with my hands, wash it off with a water shower, apply fitoverm. In my rose gardens, I do not allow weeds to grow, I mercilessly remove them. I raise climbing roses, cut off the side shoots by 1/3, tie them to the supports. Further - everything is in the same order as with other groups of roses.

Blooming roses is always a mesmerizing sight, filling the soul of the grower with joy, the happiness of contemplation. In the morning, when the dew has not yet dried on the buds, petals and leaves, when these droplets shine in the sun like diamonds, I never remember how much work and soul I put in to see this picture. In the daytime, opening up, the flowers grow, transform, hiding the aroma, and in the evening - new changes.

When the first wave of flowering passes, I cut the roses either to the first true leaf, or with two true leaves, and I feed the plants. And soon they again delight with the splendor of flowering.

There is a third wave of flowering, but here I do not cut the flowers, but I cut off the petals so as not to cause unnecessary growth of shoots that will not ripen by winter. For bouquets, I never cut roses, much longer you can admire them in rosaries - lively, juicy. I often see people in my garden who come to see my flowers, I never mind this.

There are not only roses in my garden, but also clematis, peonies, lilies, tulips, daffodils, hazel grouses - imperial and chess, chrysanthemums, phloxes, heucheras, hosts, daylilies, conifers.

I really wanted to create a garden of continuous flowering. Many of my pets were grown from cuttings, many were bought very small, so that I had the opportunity to observe all their periods of development and growth.

And I also believe that it is small plants that take root better and faster and more easily adapt to the microclimate of my garden, get used to and get along with neighboring plants, not competition is established between them, but harmony. Roses do not like competition, so I don’t add many other annuals to them, but only frame them with cineraria with silvery foliage, which creates some splendor.

Sometimes in the literature there are recommendations to plant clematis next to the rose, choose the color scheme and their simultaneous flowering, so that the clematis shoots are located between the shoots of the roses. I agree that in the photograph it is very beautiful, but in practice you encounter problems. Try picking clematis shoots in the fall, when they are brittle, from 3-4 meter thorny rose shoots. This is the first difficulty.

The second is that clematis in relation to the rose is a competitor, even an aggressor. Its root system is more powerful, stronger, and it oppresses the rose. This neighborhood is valid only at a distance. The third difficulty is that in the spring we water clematis with milk of lime, but this does not suit the rose. The alkaline environment will, albeit slightly, still oppress the rose. Still, I feel sorry for the Queen.

I believe that all gardeners should grow these wonderful plants in their gardens. They are not as capricious as it is commonly believed. Grow them with your own hands, investing love and care in this business, and they will thank you with their beauty, aroma, splendor of flowering, and give you joy. These thorny roses will soften your character and develop the most delicate feelings in your soul.