As I said earlier those of you who have your Roses sheltered from the west Sun have been able to see roses most of the Summer.  Even though that may be true you have noticed that the blooms were fewer and smaller.  That is all about to change.  We are just ahead of one of the best blooms of the season and now is the time for us to make sure the roses are prepared to put on that show that only roses can do.

I know that it has been to hot for a lot of you to be in the garden and the dead heading has been neglected for a month or more.  To prepare our bushes for the best show possible we must dead head and remove any dead canes from the bushes.  Some bushes are referred to as self cleaning which means for the most part the blooms drop without setting hips.  Remember that the setting of hips is the goal of each bush and once that has happened the bushes do not have the need to set a lot of flowers.  That is why you must remove any hips that are presently on the bushes.  Once you have dead headed and removed any dead canes or hips you find along with undersized blooms it is time to provide the roses with the necessary nutrients to produce big colorful blooms and foliage.  It has rained most of today on my garden so watering of the roses will not be necessary. If your roses have not gotten a good rain they must be watered and given time to rehydrate their foliage.  This can be accomplished by a heavy watering one day followed by feeding the next.  Fertilizing dry roses can and will burn them.  If you haven't been using Roses inc. Special Rose food now is a prefect time to begin.  This special blend, designed by yours truly, has everything in it to provide your roses with the growth and health they need to be the best ever.  The dead heading and feeding should take place in the next week or so.  Do not feed until immediately after the dead heading is complete.  We want all the nourishment to go toward feeding healthy canes and blooms. 

Now that the dead has been removed it is  a good time to apply a good mix of insecticide and fungicide.  The lush growth that is about to take place beacons the pest and "we don't want no stinking pest".  That's it.  Keep them watered and keep the pest at bay and ready your camera for a brilliant fall show.

 

Rose rosette disease

Rose Rosette disease is at epidemic levels here in Tulsa and surrounding counties.  It is very important that you inspect your bushes on a regular basis to find the disease and destroy the bush before the virus spreads.  It is suspected that the virus can be spread by a mite and all indications are that it is readily spread when you prune an infected bush and move to the next without disinfecting you pruners.  The only way to rid yourself of the problem is to destroy the bush. Removing the affected canes does not eliminate the virus.

The majority of the roses I have found during my monthly visits and calls for help with "funny looking leaves" have been Knock Out roses.  In fact of the 35 or 40 roses I have found with Rosette disease only about 2% have been something other than a Knock Out and in many cases the other variety with the disease was planted next to or in close proximity to a diseased Knock Out. As a rule I never dead head Knock Out roses.  I prune them in the spring, disinfecting my tools between each bush.   That said, I have been to locations where the Rosarian in residence has pruned or dead headed the Knock Outs without disinfecting between bushes and now have up to 50% of the bushes with the virus.   The virus does ultimately kill the bushes but not before spreading rampant through the rose garden.

I have found myself and read multiple accounts of Knock Outs with the rosette virus that I called the company that introduced the Knock Outs and left some information about my findings and asked to be called back to discuss the problems further.  I never received a call back.

Years ago rosette virus was being spread all over the United states when producers were using untested multiflora root stock as the root stock for many of their varieties.  The multiflora rose is known to be able to carry Rose Rosette without it being fatal to that species. The push to eradicate the virus was started and all multiflora stock was quarantined until it was free of the virus.  The remaining stock was said to be indexed and available for use. 

There are hundreds of thousands of Knock Out Rose bushes planted in the United States.  This is the 10th year of their distribution and as they have become more prevalent in the landscape many of them are exhibiting varying levels of disease.  I am not telling anyone that they should not have Knock Out roses in their garden I am just suggesting that you inspect them carefully and often for signs of Rose Rosette and destroy them at once should they be infested.

As always should you have questions or concerns do not hesitate to call me here at Roses inc. Tulsa.

Ok, now I am bragging.  Above is my new automatic irrigation system for my Buck Rose garden.  Water flows through PVC pipe to a soaker circle around each rose.  Soaker hose does not stop up like regular drip irrigation and by having it only at the rose I won't be feeding and watering unwanted vegetation. (Nut Sedge)  I wanted you all to see it before I covered it up with 4 inches of mulch.  The black container in the foreground houses one of three zone valves that water each zone of 40 roses one zone at a time.