For The Union-Tribune
“If you don’t know where you are going, you are going to end up somewhere else.” This sage adage, credited to Yogi Berra, pinpoints the importance of planning. If you are a novice gardener and you want to start a rose garden, you can certainly buy a few roses at the nursery, plant them and hope for the best. But you might risk becoming one of those gardeners who complain they took their roses out because they were too hard to grow.
A rose garden does not exist in a vacuum. Having made the decision to grow roses, don’t ‘just do it.’ Do it right! A successful rose garden includes analysis and planning. You need to consider rose selection, garden design and the fundamentals of rose care.
Selection: Not all roses are welcome in our gardens
American Garden Rose Selection’s (AGRS) motto is “Selecting the right rose for your garden makes all the difference,” and it’s undeniably true. Selecting the right rose takes research and thoughtful deliberations and decisions. The market is loaded with choices, and not all roses perform equally well in every region of the country or county.
We definitely want roses that give us lots of beautiful blooms, but we also want our roses to be disease resistant and grow vigorously. A good starting point is to check the AGRS website, americangardenroseselections.com, for recommended roses for our Southwest region. Also, for trouble-free and healthy roses that have undergone rigorous field testing, check the Earth-kind website, aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkindroses.
Hybrid teas and grandifloras that get super high scores for hardiness, fragrance and beautiful, repeat blooms in San Diego include ‘Secret,’ ‘Beverly,’ ‘Savannah,’ ‘Sugar Moon,’ ‘Pope John Paul II,’ ‘Papa Meilland,’ ‘Neil Diamond,’ ‘Princess Charlene of Monaco,’ ‘Firefighter,’ ‘Parade Day,’ ‘Neptune,’ ‘Memorial Day,’ ‘Yves Piaget’ and ‘Chantilly Cream.’ ‘Gemini,’ ‘Crescendo,’ ‘Dick Clark,’ ‘South Africa,’ ‘Perfect Moment’ and ‘Maurice Utrillo’ are highly recommended but not quite as fragrant.
Fabulous floribundas include ‘Rainbow Sorbet,’ ‘Sparkle ’n’ Shine,’ ‘Julia Child,’ ‘Plum Perfect,’ ‘Ketchup & Mustard,’ ‘Top Gun,’ ‘Angel Face,’ ‘Sheila’s Perfume,’ ‘Scentimental,’ ‘Playgirl,’ ‘Easter Basket,’ ‘Brass Band,’ ‘Easy Does It,’ ‘Livin’ Easy,’ ‘Marc Chagall’ and ‘Frida Kahlo.’
Wonderful shrub roses include ‘Sally Holmes,’ ‘Lyda Rose,’ ‘Pillow Fight’ and ‘Flower Girl.’ David Austin roses that perform well in San Diego include ‘Olivia Rose Austin,’ ‘Lady of Shalott,’ ‘Gertrude Jekyll,’ ‘Princess Alexandra of Kent’ and ‘Desdemona.’ Climbers to consider include ‘Fourth of July,’ ‘Mlle. Cecile Brunner,’ ‘Candyland,’ ‘Soaring Spirits,’ ‘Dortmund’ and ‘Mermaid.’ Minifloras and miniatures that perform well include ‘Diamond Eyes,’ ‘Strawberry Kisses,’ ‘Bees Knees,’ ‘Fairhope’ and ‘Texas.’ ‘Rose de Rescht,’ ‘Perle d’Or,’ ‘Mutabilis’ and ‘The Fairy’ are classic old garden roses that grow very well in San Diego.
I live on the coast, so in the early spring and late fall, some of these roses are more prone to develop black spot, rust and botrytis than they are in drier inland areas. Periodically, I need to manually remove problem leaves and blooms, but I can still grow these roses without the use of any fungal sprays. Some roses such as ‘Marilyn Monroe,’ ‘Mister Lincoln,’ ‘Betty Boop,’ ‘Moonstone,’ ‘Vavoom’ and ‘Doris Day’ get fewer waterborne diseases in drier inland areas than they do on the coast. But inland areas have their own woes. Hot summers and Santa Ana winds can crisp up blooms and cause sunburnt canes.
Visit private and public gardens to see which roses grow best in your location and the consulting rosarians at the San Diego Rose Society to get suggestions for roses that perform best in your area of San Diego County.
Design: The right rose in the right place
Placement: Roses lend themselves to many garden situations because they vary in size (18-inch miniatures to 30-foot ramblers), growth habit, shape and color. Our gardens shine when we include roses, but to achieve our landscape goals, we must determine whether the size and attributes of the rose we select complement the space and placement in our garden. Where could our garden use height, color or fragrance to the greatest effect? Is our garden calling for the vertical drama of a climber? Perhaps it needs a showy hybrid tea, or a shrub or floribunda for lots of garden color? How about a strongly fragrant rose planted close to a window, or our favorite outdoor chair or bench? Before going to the nursery, we must measure the dimensions of the sunny area we are contemplating. Our space will determine the class of rose and the rose variety we will be selecting.
Most hybrid teas and floribundas are in the 3- to 6-foot range. As a general rule, hybrid teas and floribundas should be spaced 30 to 36 inches apart from center to center. Shrub roses and David Austin roses vary greatly in size and can range between 3 feet and 8 feet, so we space them based on the bush’s size at maturity.
Garden style: Roses turn what could be a so-so spot in the garden into a show area, but we need to decide how we want to incorporate roses in our garden. Do we want a formal rose garden or a more casual English-style informal border, where the roses are mixed up with other perennials? In the casual garden, roses contrast and pair wonderfully with the vertical showy spikes of foxgloves, penstemons, delphiniums, stock and snapdragons and the tiny, dainty flowers of alyssum, daisies and nemesia. Taller roses and taller plants are best placed in the back of the border, miniatures and compact roses along pathways and groundcover roses on a hillside or steep slope. Container roses jazz up sunny patios.
Color: Warm colors such as reds, yellows and oranges create an energetic space, while a cool palette of pastels, lavenders and whites creates a serene, calming, restful garden. In a garden with roses of many colors, a repetition of color such as whites, purples and blues when selecting perennials and annuals helps to create cohesion in the garden.
Fundamentals of rose care: Planting it right
Planting location: Choose a spot that gets at least five to six hours of sun each day. Do not plant roses under or too close to trees.
Spacing: Space roses appropriately to avoid competition for sun, water and nutrients, and to minimize susceptibility to fungal disease.
Preparing your rose: Bare root roses received in the mail are usually packed in sawdust or newspaper. Examine and cut the broken roots and damaged or very spindly canes. Hydrate the entire bare root rose (canes and roots) in a bucket of water for at least 24 hours. Most local nurseries pot up their rose plants for sale. If there is already a lot of new leaf growth on the canes, leave the plant in the container until it grows a firm rootball. If it is newly potted, no need to wait. You can plant right away.
Preparing the rose hole: Dig a hole about 12 to 18 inches deep and 2 feet wide. Your soil needs to have good drainage. In soils with poor drainage, consider growing in raised beds or growing in containers. The ideal pH for roses is a soil that tests between 6.0 and 6.5. Sulphur can be used to lower the pH of the soil. Lime can be added to raise the pH. If you are planting a new rose in a hole where you removed another rose, make sure all the old roots are removed.
Amend and mix the soil you dig out of the hole with an equal amount of homemade or store-bought compost or a rose planting mix. Form a raised mound in the middle of your planting hole and arrange the roots on top of the mound so that the bud union is several inches above the ground level. Add the amended soil back into the hole and tamp lightly with your hands. When planting roses, always attempt to avoid stepping in rose beds to avoid compacting the soil and the transfer of oxygen to the roots. Water well to saturate the plant and keep your newly planted rose well watered. Do not allow the soil or the mulch to cover the bud union or the canes.
Irrigation: Drip irrigation systems like Netafim, which consist of tubing with evenly spaced internal emitters, are the most efficient water delivery system, as they directly deliver water to the plant’s root zone.
Common sense, suggestion and caution
Common sense: Plant only the number of roses you have time to care for.
Suggestion: A rose garden is never finished. It keeps evolving. Examine your garden every year and remove nonperforming roses. There are many great roses; don’t put up with mediocre roses.
Caution: Roses are wonderful and very easy to love. Many rose growers become rose addicts. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Perwich is a member of the San Diego Rose Society, a Consulting Rosarian and a Master Gardener with UC Cooperative Extension. For more information, visit rose-harmony.com.
