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A rose is a rose is a rose
in San Jose's rose garden
by Tony Tomeo
I would like to be able to say that I installed my mother's rose garden as a gift for Mother's Day several years back. It was not, however, that simple. The process took several years of collecting a few individual plants from a multitude of choices.
In college, my roommate and I would eagerly await the arrival of the Jackson and Perkins rose catalogue (entertainment for horticulturists) to help in these choices. However, we found that the best way to see how particular cultivars perform is to see the actual shrub in bloom.
The best place to do this is the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, and the best time to see the showiest blooms is now, early May. In the Rose Garden there are more than 4,000 rose shrubs and 189 cultivars to see. You are certain to find roses to suit your taste. It is important to remember, however, that many of the roses are experimental. This means that their performance is being evaluated before release to the public, and they may not yet be available in retail nurseries or mail order catalogues.
The Rose Garden is a great place to visit, even if you or your mother do not plan to have roses in your own gardens. The Rose Garden is located at the corner of Naglee and Dana avenues in San Jose. If you need more information, call 277-5561.
If you compost for mulch, now is the time to use it. Most surface rooting plants prefer mulch for its insulating and moisture retention qualities. It also discourages growth of weeds. Mulch is most effective when applied in a layer 2 to 3 inches thick, but not in direct contact with stems of newly planted fruit trees or roses. Roses are particularly susceptible to crown rot.
If you do not compost yard waste, you may want to purchase mulch, such as ground fir bark, to use around your more appreciative plants. Now that many rhododendrons have finished their bloom cycle, the stems of the spent flowers should be removed. They are not usually detrimental to the plants, but can be rather unsightly. Likewise, fern fronds should be pruned off as they are replaced by fresh new growth. New growth on vines should by trained or tied now while it is still manageable.
Flower of the Week: Rose
There are far too many cultivars and species of roses for me to write about here. However, the most popular are from the six classifications: hybrid tea, grandiflora, floribunda, polyantha, miniature and climbing. Hybrid tea roses are planted more often than all others combined. They produce their classic, large, well formed blooms singly on long straight stems. The plants can be as short as 2 feet, or as tall as 6 feet.
Grandifloras are vigorous plants that may reach 10 feet in height. The flowers are very similar to hybrid tea roses, but very large, and with some cultivars, produced in groups. Polyantha roses produce large profuse clusters of small 11Ž2 inch flowers, but the color range is somewhat limited. The plants are vigorous and shrubby.
Miniature roses are less than a foot tall and exhibit fine foliage and very small flowers. The color range is almost as extensive as that of hybrid tea roses. Climbing roses are the most variable category; because they are derived from "sports," or vegetative mutations of roses in the other categories. Climbing roses retain the foliar and floral qualities of the original cultivar, but produce long, vigorous canes that can be trained as vines.
The ultimate size depends on the parent plant. Climbing miniature roses, for example do not get very tall. Tree roses, or standards, are actually hybrid teas or floribundas grafted onto a 3-foot stem which has been grafted onto the understock. Sometimes miniature roses are also available as tree roses. All of these categories tend to bloom in cycles, beginning in early spring and ending in late autumn.
Roses are by no means low maintenance. Hybrid teas, grandifloras and floribundas require annual pruning. Climbing roses require some degree of pruning and training to prevent a thicket of canes from developing. All do best with regular fertilizing during the entire blooming season. Irrigation must be frequent enough to prevent the roots from drying, but not so often that the roots rot in muddy soil. It is advisable to water roses in the morning so that they are not subjected to high humidity over night.
If irrigation systems are used early in the morning, they must deliver water directly to the base of the plants, because wet foliage will quickly succumb to rust or mildew. Roses prefer good air circulation; and crowded conditions also promote disease. Full sun exposure is preferred, but reflected heat can fade blooms.
Aphids and spider mites are the main insect pests. Almost all roses eventually get aphids, but they can be washed off with a spray of lightly soapy water followed by a rinse a few minutes later. Because this procedure involves soaking foliage, it is best done in the morning. When pruning plants or cutting flowers, remember that all but miniatures and some polyanthas are grafted; so any growth emerging from below the union must be removed. I always recommend planting roses bareroot in the winter; but there is really nothing wrong with purchasing them already rooted in a can, as long as they have had three or more months in the nursery to do so. The advantage to canned stock is that you can see exactly what the flowers will look like.
Horticulturist Tony Tomeo can be contacted at 358-2574.
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
