Monday, August 24, 2009

Organic Rose Gardenng-Grow The Best Roses

Instead of envying your neighbor’s rose garden, you too can grow healthy plants with magnificent blooms, rich in color and sweet fragrance. Most people think that growing organic roses takes too much time and effort but in truth, you can have a gorgeous garden with little help simply by knowing how. Roses have been the number one flower throughout the world’s existence, grown naturally without modern day chemicals. If you love roses and want to do what you can to promote a healthy environment, you can simply by getting involved with rose planting naturally.

The three things that have always been important for planting roses are healthy soil, the sun, and lots of water. For soil and water, organic rose gardening needs rich soil and deep watering. Since roses produce roots deep in the ground, water has to be deep as well. Using rich soil and giving your roses plenty of water will ensure your garden is healthy and the flowers on your roses beautiful.

You will find that a part of organic rose gardening is a unique process called photosynthesis, which means that the leaves change due to water and energy from the sun. As mentioned, soil is a critical part of organic gardening due to microorganisms such as fungus, worms, bacteria, and nematodes actually help roses. These microorganisms help to break down dead leaves, stems, and other parts of the plant, which creates rich, healthy soil. If you add commercial chemicals to the soil for rose gardening, these microorganisms are killed and ultimately, the roses suffer.

You will also find that rose bushes can become accustomed to chemicals so if you start your garden using commercial products and then try to switch to organic growing, the roses would have a difficult time adjusting. Most people think that organic rose gardening is expensive but in truth, it is more affordable than using chemicals so if you want gorgeous blooms with amazing fragrance, stay away from chemicals.

As mentioned earlier, one of the key elements of organic rose gardening has to do with the soil. One of the best ways for proper rose bush care is to create rich soil is by using compost. You can create your own compost pile simply by throwing all your waste into an area of the yard away from the home. This would include food scraps, grass clippings, dog waste, and literally anything that would decay. As the compost pile gets larger, it would need to be turned, which helps with the overall decay process, heating things up so when used, the soil would be highly nutritious.

Another important aspect of organic rose gardening has to do with insects. While some are bad, others such as ladybugs and wasps are actually beneficial. Therefore, if you were to use harsh chemicals on the roses, you would kill bugs the garden needs. In addition, grubs and worms that can do significant damage to a rose garden can be controlled naturally by allowing birds, snakes, lizards, and frogs to roam free. Again, chemicals would kill these creatures whereas organic products would not.

Organic rose gardening is not complicated or expensive, as you might imagine. Just remember that whenever your are planting your roses to use rich soil, water the roses deep, give the roses bushes plenty of sunshine, and use only natural products or remedies. As the rose bushes grow, you will see large, colorful blooms that would make you the talk of the town. In fact, growing roses organically will provide you with plants that live longer than roses treated with chemicals.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Transplanting Roses so you Have Strong and Healthy Plants

Instead of stressing about moving roses from one location to another, we want to show you some simple steps that would make the process easy and successful. Moving your roses is always a bit scary but if you find yourself in a position of needing to move the plants, perhaps to get better sunlight or because of moving to a new home, do not stress.

Regardless, you want to make sure you choose a place for the roses where they will get six to seven hours of direct sunlight and about five hours of indirect sunlight every day. That way with proper good rose bush care, the bushes would grow strong and produce large, fragrant blooms to enjoy.

One of the first considerations when transplanting roses or rose planting is the soil. In addition to making the hole where the bush would be moved to large enough for the root ball, you also want to make sure the soil is rich in nutrients needed by roses. Then for the healthiest bushes, adding a little bit of compost or bone meal to the bottom of the new hole would be ideal. Next, the day prior to moving the roses, make sure you water them extremely well and once the bush is pulled out of the ground on the day you move it, soak burlap or a cloth with water, wrapping it around the root ball to keep it moist. Otherwise, exposure of the root ball would cause damage or the entire plant to die.

With the root ball wet and the soil at the new location prepared, you are ready to start transplanting roses. Now, there is a chance that all the plants would make the move without any problem but if you were to lose one or two, do not panic in that this is expected. With the hole ready for the size of the root ball, you have a much better chance of ending up with large, colorful, and fragrant blooms.

As far as pruning, usually, transplanting roses would not involve any type of pruning until later on. To keep pruning needs to a minimum, just be sure the root ball you dig up is kept intact. From there, the bush would be set into the ground carefully. Now, the exception is that if you were to notice a bush showing signs of damage or any portion of the plant starting to die, pruning might be required but we suggest this be minimal.

As you set the rose bushes into the soil, make sure the top of the bushes have adequate support so blooms can grow big and strong. If for any reason,
the plant starts to look wilted or weak after being moved, you may need to cut the top portion back. Then, when placing the bud union in the ground when transplanting roses, always keep it about two inches above the rim of the hole. Over the following week as the bushes are watered, the soil will naturally start to settle and along with the soil, the bud union would fall into place. At that time, push soil around the plant’s base, covering the roots and giving the rose bush support at the bottom.

While the best time of year for transplanting roses is when the bush is dormant, if you are moving from one home to another, you may not have luxury of waiting for dormancy. The reason this is so helpful is that when rose bushes are dormant, they are in a state of rest, meaning they are not growing. Therefore, transplanting roses at this time keeps the plant from going into shock or even dying.

Therefore, if possible, try to move your roses when they are dormant, giving you strong, healthy bushes. As long as the bushes have adequate sunlight, good soil, the proper size hole, good water, and support, the process of transplanting roses should not be overly difficult.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Beautiful Climbing Rose Bushes

Add a climbing rose to your rose garden collection. The climbing rose is not really a vine and is also referred to as a rambler, trailing rose and everblooming rose. Keep in mind when rose planting, that they do not naturally grow in a vine-like method. They look beautiful creeping over an arbor or entryway to a garden. With just a little help the climbing rose can be minipulated to grow over a fence, arbor or gazebo.

The grower can loosely attach the plant to a structure or wind it through the structure. With a little imagination, you can create a beautiful effect on a garden wall, fence, over a gate or almost anywhere you decide. Climbing rose trees that are trained to grow laterally rather then vertically often produce more blooms.

Vertically trained climbing roses will produce short spurs along their main stem or canes which will produce blooms. The climbing rose will need that same type of care as other roses in your garden. Climbing roses need about six to seven hours of direct unfiltered sunlight a day. Despite the fact you may have been led to believe they can grow in the shade.

When planning to grow climbing roses in your garden, take into consideration the height or length that these types of roses will grow to. Some species of climbing roses can grow to be around thirty feet in height. A few varieties have grown just to seven feet tall. Pick a structure to attach your rose to that is strong enough for it.

The rate at which your rose will grow is dependant upon the type of weather in your vicinity. Your rose choice is another variable when it comes to how it will produce. Some types of climbing roses will produce beautiful roses all year round. Then there are those that may only produce flowers in the spring.

One big difference between climbing roses and other types of rose plants is that they require very little pruning. Most importantly, the climbing rose should not be pruned during the first two years. If climbing roses are pruned every year like other rose plants, the opposite will happen to the climbers; they will produce fewer blooms.

When caring for your roses, you can get away with pruning their climbing roses every three or four years. Take care to cut back mainly at the base of the plant just the branches that don't seem to be thriving. By doing so you should see a spurt in new branches and blossoms. The new, more supple branches are more flexible and can be coaxed in and out of the fence or structure you are affixing the climber to.

You have to give your rose some time to become the arbor or vine you are looking for. This type of rose takes some time to get rooted and grounded before you begin to see an abundance of blossoms. But, when they do become established, the fragrance and the beauty of their colors are well worth the wait.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Tips For Rose Bush Care and Maintenance

Roses are really one of the simplest flowers to grow and will make your yard the envy of the neighborhood. There are so many varieties to choose from. There are three main things to keep in mind when it comes to rose bush care. First, is rose bush choice, second, is how much water and fertilizer, and finally, apprpriate pruning. I would suggest getting a guide such as The Ultimate Book of Roses. It is a well written guide and very easy to understand with lots of tips on growing fabulous blooms.

The type of rose bush you select is of utmost importance. For successfull rose bush gardening choose one that will thrive in your location. Some types can be problematic due to their tendancy towards disease and fungus. But there are several types that are generally quite hardy and need very little rose bush care. If you are just staking out a rose garden make sure they are well spaced for maximum growth potential. They will require at least 5 hours of sunshine so plant them in an area you know will accommodate that need.

The appropriate amount of watering and feeding is a necessary ingredient for good rose bush care. An early morning soaking at the root base is the best prescription for ultimate bloom potential. When a rose bush has just been planted it is advisable to water it everyday for the first two weeks. Once a week watering is good unless you see that it seems to be drying out quickly. Enable to keep the ground around your roses wet and weed free surround the bush with some type of mulch.

Feed and fertilize once a month from Spring through the first frost in the Fall. Find a good rose food at your local nursery with which to feed your roses. For best results, do NOT fertilize during the winter.

The biggest mistake most growers make in their effort to give good rose bush care is pruning. Just prune off the dead flowers or limbs. To boost growth and blooms, count up from the branch three nodes (the small reddish growth lines) and cut there. Prune back your plants in January or February to promote maximum spring growth.

Again, The Ulitmate Book of Roses has delightful descriptions with beautiful photographs of the different rose varieties as well as much more information.