Many of us, me included, will sometimes plant a rose in a area that it is not suited for.  The problem areas range from too wet to too shaded and everything in between.  When this happens we have a choice to make.  Let the rose stay in the wrong location and just be satisfied with its less than stellar performance or move it to a new location where it will thrive. 

 

Now I realize that moving it is a no brainier but what if you move it to another bad location?  Here are a few thing that you should conceder before replanting the bush. 

1: One of the most often made mistakes made is to plant roses where they do not get enough sun.  Trust me, if a rose bush does not get at least 6 hours of sun a day it is not performing up to its potential.  Until recently it was hard to determine if a spot in the garden was getting enough sun.  Now we have Sun Sticks which you place in the location you plan to plant in and they tell you if that location gets enough sun for what ever it is that you are planting from shade loving Hostas to Sun loving Roses.  The only draw back to the Sun Sticks is that they need to be used when trees are fully leafed out if they are the source of your shade.  

 

2:  Next on the list of most commonly made mistakes is over crowding.  Roses do not like to be crowded by other vegetation.  I have seen people plant tomatoes next to their roses with horrible results.  The tomatoes draw all kinds of vermin to the area plus tomatoes are moisture hogs which when in conflict with a rose bush the tomatoes will always when the water war.  As a rule you should plant Roses where nothing else touches them.  Yes many people plant roses in mixed beds with other vegetation but those roses never preform to their optimal potential.  How far apart to plant the roses from other plants can be determined by a little research on the web or a phone call to us here at Roses inc.  One caution that you should observe is that if the catalog or Internet source says that the bush gets 3'X3' you should allow at least 4"x4".  In other words add at least 1 foot to the height and width measurements for roses grown here in Oklahoma.  

 

3:  Poorly drained soil is right up here at the top of bad places to plant a rose bush.  The normal culprit here is soil with a high concentration of clay.  If your soil is high in clay you will need to amend a large area or build a raised bed.  It does little good to just amend the hole with good soil because the hole will just fill up with water after a hard rain.  The clay around the hole serves as a reservoir that will drown the roses roots.  Rose soil should be kept moist, not wet.  There are other options you can use to eliminate  poor drainage and we would be happy to discuss them with you if you would give us a call here at Roses inc. Tulsa. 

 

4:  Other locations to stay away from are roof driplines, tree roots, ivy roots, overhead sprinklers, vegetables, and very sandy soil.

 

Now that we have chosen an acceptable place to move the rose to, follow these procedures. 

 

1:  Do not move the bush until we have had a hard freeze and the bush is dormant.

 

2: Prune the bush hard.  See photo above.

 

3:  Dig the hole where you are going to plant the bush.  Never let the roots dry out or freeze.

 

4:  Dig the bush up by making a circle at least 18" from the main cane completely around the bush by pressing the shovel straight down to the full depth of the shovel blade.  By making the circle you should have severed all of the lateral roots.  Now punching the shovel down once again in the slot you formed when you made the circle but this time put the shovel in at a 45 degree angle and lift the root ball.  It may be necessary to make this  lifting dig at multiple places around the plant.

 

5:  Take the bush to the new location keeping as much soil on the rootball as possible.  Make sure the hole is the correct depth by placing the rose in the hole.  Once you have made the hole the correct depth you finish the job like you are planting a potted rose.  Be sure to use Fert-i-lome root stimulator in the planting water.  By Spring the roots will be well established and the rose will grow and bloom to its full potential in it's new location.

Spraying in Winter

 

I know you thought you were done with the spraying of the roses until spring but how about humoring me one more time and give them a good spraying of Dormant Oil to clean up any left over insects or disease.  Pick a pretty day sometime toward the end of this month or the first or second week of January and give them enough spray to drip off the leaves. Be sure to cover both the tops and bottoms of the leaves as well as the canes. Then just for grins spray the ground around the bushes.  Next years insect and disease control will be made much easier if you take the time to do this winter spray. 

 

Winter protection

 

I plan to winter my roses with nothing other than the mulch on the ground for winter protection.  I quit cutting them back in September and they are all on the road to dormancy.  If you feel better by doing more it is OK.  The Tulsa Rose Society has a lot of good tips for protecting overwintered roses.

  If it snows do not try to remove it from the rose bushes.  You will do much more damage removing it than will be done by just letting it melt away.  Besides that snow is a good insulator and I always hope that we will have a good snow prior to any really cold weather.

 

Watering Roses in Winter

 

Supplemental water is less necessary in the winter because the plant is dormant.  I do recommend that you make sure that the ground remains moist.

 

Pruning for Winter

 

If your roses are not in the way I would suggest leaving them alone until Spring.  If you must trim them at all be sure to wait until they are dormant to do so.  Winter prepartorial pruning is more for those folks who live in the colder climates where the ground freezes to a foot or more.  When this happens the bush can be rocked by the wind and the roots loosened in the frozen ground.  Here where we seldom see that deep freeze it is really not necessary to do a pre winter prune.  An advantage to leaving the bush tall comes from the protection the top of the plant provides to the bud union/crown and roots. 

 

Gopher Protection

 

I have spent several minutes over the past couple of days baiting gophers and voles.  If you have the tell tale signs of them in your yard, you need to kill them before vegetation becomes scarce and Rose roots are the best thing on the menu.  If you have questions about identifying gophers and voles or the best method to dispatch them just give me a call or drop by Roses inc. and we will lead you through the process.