Roses, a Royal Flower.

Philadelphia Flower Show

Rose Lecture

by Representatives from the American Rose Society. This lecture was sponsored by the Harrisburg Rose Society.

Transplanting roses
Plant before dormancy is broken.

Container roses can be planted at any time.

If moving roses, take all the roots.

Container roses, transplant when spilling out of the pot.

Pruning Roses
If dead, 'get it out,' or prune in the Spring.

Protect roses from deer.
The traditional approaches include use of dogs, fences, and coyote urine. These are moderately successful. Otherwise plant something that the deer will eat instead.

Rose types
The type of rose planted can make a difference in ease of care and success. A CARE winners program was started to identify hardy, vigorous, disease resistant roses that take little care. The basic goals are to find a rose that:

• Is Garden friendly
• Is Vigorous
• Has abundant bloom
• Is winter hardy
• Is available from the retail market

There is a CARES website, too.

This is a project which identifies roses that do well in this part of the country, the Delaware Valley. The sliding scale criteria include

• No spraying required
• Immune to black spot
• Tolerant to black spot
• Susceptibility to black spot low
• Or the plant comes back after black spot

Roses that were identified as doing well in this area are listed below. Some are omitted from the list only due to incomplete information.

Miniature Roses
Giggles (miniature)
Ruby Pendant
Black Jade
Minnie Pearl

Hybrid Tea
Elena McCartney
Rina Hugo
Traiviata
Fredrick Mistral
Sutton Place

Floribunda
Escapade
Belinda's Dream
Iceburg
Living Easy
Playboy
Sexy Rexy
Sunsprite
White flower carpet

Shrub roses
Autumn Sunset
Orator
Graham Thomas
Sally Holmes
Knockout
Lyda Rose

Medium shrub
Carefree Delight
Pink Meidiland

Small shrub
Baby blanket
Royal Bonica

Climbers
New Dawn

Antique Roses
Check with the Antique Rose Emporium for roses appropriate to your area. Among the top antique roses chosen in a survey of Rosarians were Sombriel, Souvenir de Malmaison, Madame Hardy, Baron Prevost, Rose de Rescht, and Charles De Mills, Rosa Mundi, and Celsiana. Many of these are hardy in zone 6 and are grown on their own roots.

Cutting flowers
Look for all forms of the rose, from bud to open bloom.

Recut the rose under water and put in high water.

If you use a container put the rose in good water and support it.

Pest Control
Let the lady bugs eat aphids! You can buy lady bugs if you need to do so. Otherwise, pick off the aphids.

To control Japanese beetles, use milky spore disease. This must be applied to soil in your lawn. Also, do not use Japanese beetle traps near roses because you will attract beetles to your roses as they fly toward the trap. The experts lightheartedly suggest you put the trap in your neighbor’s yard.

Grafted roses
Rosa is the usual root base for grafted roses. Multiflora rose is the best for grafting.

Needs of Roses:

Per week
Roses need one inch of water weekly and 6 hours of sun each day.

In winter
Mulch use oak leaves, not maple leaves.
Don’t prune rose bushes in winter.

Avoid cutting rose bushes until spring and then cut off breaks, and only to shape the bush or to remove dead stalks

Tie climbers with stretch ties, but don't use string. String will cut the canes.

Fertilize
For spring
N-P-K (nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium) Don’t apply high nitrogen during blooming period. Only apply nitrogen in the Spring.

Then fertilize bushes with a tea made of alfalfa, fish emulsion, and other organic matter. This smells, but roses love it. Also, you can apply compost or Epson salts if you need a magnesium boost.

Mildew prevention
Regular spray routine is key.

Use fungicide recommended by local nursery staff.

Others suggest use this in conjunction with Cleary’s 336 oil, which should only be used in the Spring as it will burn leaves in the hot sun.

For insects, rose experts suggest using Diazon, which, however, is toxic to birds. Their other suggestion is to spray with a combination of baking soda and Listerine and detergent. Note that the latter is more organic and works on insects and blackspot.

Links to Roses

The Antique Rose Emporium
By far the most inclusive source of high quality antique roses. They're in Texas, but ship everywhere.

Paul Barden's Old Garden Rose Information pages
Truly a fine resource for information and photos of old garden roses.

The American Rose Society
A source of information on modern roses and links to local clubs.

Help me Find Roses
A resource to help find types of roses and rose photos.