Greetings!
You may think it odd that a November newsletter would cover mostly planting roses but here is why. Roses are best planted in the fall of the year. I know that is contrary to what you have heard in the past. Seldom are roses available for fall planting but that has everything to do with the cost of production and ignores the fact that roses planted in the fall of the year here in Oklahoma get a BIG head start on those planted the following Spring. Planting fall roses is no different than planting them anytime throughout the year, but because they do not have to face our grueling summer temperatures in just 3 months as Spring planted roses do, they can put all of their energy into getting roots established. Our normal winters here are such that if you put about 4" of pine mulch on the ground around the roses the ground around them may never freeze any deeper than an inch or so. That fact means that although the top of the bush is dormant the roots continue to grow throughout the winter.
So, what are you waiting for? Here at roses inc we have over 300 varieties of roses, most are in bloom, that you can pick from. We go to a lot of effort to care for the roses through the hot summer months so we can offer fall roses to our customers at the best possible planting time. |
| Preparing your soil for planting | |
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Prepare now for Spring or fall planting
In the Bible there is a verse about building your home on a solid foundation and not on the shifting sands. Above is a photo of what the shifting sands may look like and like a home the roses need to have a good foundation. Actually the earth in the photo above is not as bad as clay. When you deal with clay, many times the hole you dig is kind of like just planting in a bowl. Dig a bigger hole and you have a bigger bowl. Here we do not have a drainage problem and the addition of a little sphagnum peat and Back to Nature Rose Bed Amendment is all that is necessary to make this a good planting hole. Just remember that since the rose roots spread out to about the same extent as the top of the bush the are of earth that you amend should be larger than the hole above.
How's your soil?
Are you uncomfortable with not knowing weather you soil is of the right consistency to plant, there are two simple test that you can do. The first is the worm test. If you dig up a shovel of the soil and earthworms are present, your soil passes the earthworm test, plant away with confidence. If there are no earthworms present we must preform another test to see what the soil needs to be a great planting medium. This test is the quart jar test and here is how it is done. Go to the garden to the place where you are going to plant and dig up the soil from several locations. Mix the samples together and then fill a quart jar 3/4 full of the mix. Now, add a enough water to the mix to fill the jar to within the 1" of the top. Next you will need to shake the jar vigorously until all of the sample is dissolved into the mixture. You are almost through. Put the jar down somewhere and allow the mix to settle. Perfect soil will settle into 3 equal parts with the bottom 1/3 being sand, the second, clay, and the top humus. Now from this you know what is deficient in your earth so you can adjust it with the material necessary to make it correct. Sand and clay are pretty straight forward elements to add but you may be a bit confused about the humus. Humus can be described as any substance that was once alive that has been allowed to compost into the non odorous, dark, fluffy material. My favorite is horse manure that has been well composted. Other materials you can use are any well composted manure from 4 legged animals, peat, composted leaves or composted wood chips. Remember that fall is the best time to improve your soil whether you plan to plant now are in the Spring.
As always if you have other questions please feel free to call me anytime.
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| Planting Depth | |
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 Why it matters
The rose at the right is one that is planted way to shallow.
It is a hard thing for me to come to grips with the fact there is still so much discussion among rose enthusiast as to the depth to plant roses. Here is why. On budded roses the root system is never the same plant as the top. The knot on the plant is called the bud union because that is where the bud of the top variety of rose was joined with the rootstock. Why this is done is a discursion I will save for another time. In moderate climates the rose should be planted so the bud union is at ground level. In colder climates the bud union may be put up to several inches below the ground. The reason for this is that the bud union is a part of the bush that needs to be protected for the extremes of weather.
I have heard two reasons given to plant the roses shallow and neither make since to me. The first is that if you plant the bud union at ground level the union may send out roots of its own. My answer to this is, OK, and your point is? I have planted roses this way for many years and yes some of them after many years do send roots from the bud union but so what? I can not see a down side to having extra roots. What is the difference between planting an own root rose and having a bud union root? The second reason given for not planting roses with the bud union at ground level is that planting it deep will cause the plant to be more apt to have suckers develop from the roots. Again I do not understand the reasoning behind this premise. Here are a couple of things to think about to make my case. First, if you look at plants that are growing on their own roots, they do not grow a single stem from the ground and then branch beginnings at 3 or 4 inches above the ground. They branch from the crown of the roots which is right at or just below ground level. Second, roots that are close to the surface of the ground are more apt to sucker than those that are deep so planting the roots shallow actually promotes suckering.
Many times when my roses break (sprout) new canes they come from the bottom of the bud union. They do this because the bottom of the union is kept moist by the earth. Try the following with some of your roses that have only one or two canes coming from the bud union. Cover the entire bud union with a couple inches of soil and watch the old wood that was showing no signs of green break forth with new canes. I do this on a regular basis with roses that have only one stem and are at a point that most folks would through away. In fact the majority of the roses in my garden are bushes that have grown from such humble beginnings. As I have always told you my friends and customers, I want you to be successful growing roses and I want to share with you the things I have done that work for me. Planting roses with the bud union at ground level is one of those things. I would like to close with just one more thought. After a rather heated discussion about planting depth with two other rosearian friends I came home and looked at no less than 10 rose growing books from my rather extensive library. In not one of those volumes was it suggested that roses be planted any more shallow than the bud union at ground level.
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