Easy Care Roses

by John Christianson CPH. Christianson's Nursery & Greenhouse / www.christiansonsnursery.com

Recent emhasis on easy care roses has greatly expanded the selection of varieties available to the public. However, choosing a proven easy care rose for your garden does not mean you do not need to continue with good gardening practices. The best prevention for rose diseases and the best hope for the production of beautiful flowers is still found in giving roses what they need for healthy growth. A healthy rose is less susceptible to diseases. Using a good plant food in the spring and keeping to a regular watering schedule from June through September will prevent the stress that allows rose bushes to succumb to disease. Organic sources such as alfalfa meal and blood meal offer slow release nutrients over several months. Apply in April and July for full season feedings. Slow release synthetic fertilizers such as Osmocote and the blended, organic and synthetic, Terosa can be applied just once...the easiest of all. The third important task is cleaning up rose leaves and flowers at the end of the season. Cleanup is easy and can be done while doing routine garden chores in the fall. Just make sure the debris is burned or put in the garbage. It should not be added to your compost pile. However, aside from good rose care, there still remain certain groups of roses that are easier care and, within these groups there are particular roses that are easier than their counterparts.

The breeding efforts for disease resistance and hardiness with flowers throughout the season have primarily been within the class of MODERN SHRUB ROSES. These efforts have produced truly exceptional varieties. Most are heavily blooming plants, spreading wider than tall. They are grown from cuttings (not grafts) so in an extremely cold winter, plants will recover from die back by re-emerging from below the ground. The newest of these super low care roses includes the 'Knock Out' series in pink and red varieties, the 'Flower Carpet' series in pink, red, yellow and white and the variety 'Home Run' (red). The 'Easy Elegance' series includes over twenty-five varieties in all colors and has greatly expanded the range of low maintenance roses.

RUGOSA ROSES are also known for their easy care. Many look like the wild roses that grow along Northwest country lanes and hedgerows. They have pleated leaves that unfold in early spring and they all offer colorful, edible fruits called 'hips' at the end of the season. Hips from these roses make colorful seasonal arrangements for the holidays. Rugosas have a tolerance for dry conditions and will actually show stress if sprayed with garden chemicals. In recent years the selection has included lower growing varieties that are more restrained than Rugosa's more robust ancestors. The 'Pavement Series' from Germany offers many varieties that stay below four feet tall and work well in smaller gardens. All varieties make good hedges and are the rose of choice if hungry deer are a problem.

HYBRID TEA ROSES, those plants producing a high centered single bloom on long stems, are both the most popular and are known to require the highest maintenance of the rose classes. But, within this class, there are easier care varieties meeting the number one criterion for low maintenance, disease resistance. Four of the very best are 'Olympiad' (red), 'Keepsake' (pink), 'Just Joey' (orange blend) and 'Voodoo' (orange).

FLORABUNDA ROSES are the second most popular group of roses. They are, in general, shorter plants characterized by clusters of flowers at the top of each stem. This group tends toward lower maintenance as a whole. Favorites within this group are 'Sun Flare' (yellow), 'Playboy' (orange and red) and 'Sexy Rexy' (pink). Because of the sheer volume of flowers over nearly half the year, extra feeding is important to sustain the abundance of blossoms.

So, if roses are in your garden plans, it is easy to see that you can include varieties requiring basically the same amount of care as any other blooming plant in your garden. Careful choices will reward you with flowers all season. Wouldn't it be wonderful if other plants, such a rhododendrons and azaleas, could do the same?

by John Christianson, CPH
Christianson's Nursery & Greenhouse
15806 Best Road Mount Vernon, WA. 98273
360-466-3821, www.christiansonsnursery.com

7/07