Gardening Organic Roses
Is organic rose gardening possible?

They aren't fussy, they just get on with life!

These roses have been growing for tens of years, some even hundreds, without fungicides or chemicals. To quote one international rose hybridizer,

"The dead people in the cemeteries of England have been growing roses organically for many years. If they can do it, those of us who are alive shouldn't have much difficulty!"

I don't think gardening organic roses is really difficult, it's just a combination of no chemical usage plus good rose garden management, because many of the things advocated by the organic rose gardening community are simply just very good rose gardening practices.

Lets have a closer look at these two views: the chemicals and the good rose garden management.

1. Growing Roses Organically: Chemicals.

Farmers have used chemicals for decades but many have changed. They have had formulae changes to make them less toxic and many have been banned after testing has shown them to be unsafe for humans and/or animals. Changes have taken place in the chemical make up of fungicides, for example, because plants have developed a resistance, and many were found to be harmful. In my area, one was banned just this last year.

Dursban and Diazinon (organophosphate pesticides) are being banned. Evidently one granual of diazinon can cause a bird to die. Drinking water contamination is another effect. I am informed that "Miracle Gro" fertilizer has been banned in ten U.S. States for this very reason.

Stanford University reports that 70% of those with Parkinson's disease have had exposure to pesticides. But all this aside, it's difficult to ignore the fact that mother nature has been producing beautiful flowers for a few years now without artificial help!

The moral here is that there are many, non-chemical ways of enriching the soil and dealing with diseases and pests, so why take the chance. And why destroy the good bugs in the soil if you don't need to? Start by using organic fertilizer on your roses.
Click here to find out all about it--->Go To Organic Rose Fertilizers.

2. Growing Organic Roses: Garden Management

Good garden management goes a long way to promoting gardening organically...and it's so easy! This is because healthy rose bushes combat most problems and therefore require less attention, which means less headaches for you and more time to make rose petal jelly! (we have a page on that....)

Buy roses that are strong and disease resistant in the first place.

Fancy tea roses are not always the best for your rosebed. Check out the easy care roses, the Polyanthas, the carpet roses or the older (o.G.R.) roses. They are all much easier to grow and much more disease resistant.

Continuously create organically rich soil. Add compost and natural manures (very well rotted) twice a year as a mulch and not only will you have water protection but a new soil base for the following year.

Space your roses so they have room to breath. Actually it's for good air circulation which means leaves dry quicker and bugs have less of a change of spreading themselves.

Water deeply and down to the roots, not over the leaves. This prevents many leaf diseases from spreading. Blackspot needs water droplets to survive.

Feed with organic fertilizer twice a year....beginning of the season and half way through. No feed = No grow!

Clean up under the bushes (especially any diseased leaves), promptly cut out any dead stems and deadhead flowers before they fall. In other words, be a five star hotel, keep the beds clean!

Consider companion planting to help ward of unfriendly bugs.(next section down!)

Gardening organic roses is easy eh! As I was writing that last section it occurred to me, again, how easy it is to keep your roses healthy, and thus promote a good base for organic gardening. Gardening organic roses or not, we should all be practicing good, clean, healthy rose garden management.

3. Growing Roses Organically: Diseases and Bugs!

Foliar diseases such as blackspot and rust are hard to avoid but their effect can be lessened. Buy resistant roses in the first place, plant with good air circulation, keep the bed clean and don't water the leaves.

If you still have problems use an organic pesticide or fungicide. To be quite candid here, most do not work as well as the purely chemical forms but they also don't damage the soil and environment around them, so persevere.

"Messenger" is said to strengthen the immunity of your roses and thus can better stave off disease. The so called "Bordeaux" mix helps prevent fungal disease but it's effectiveness is very limited. Potassium Bicarbonate based fungicides (not baking soda!) seem to provide some protection against mildew and blackspot and the copper or sulphur fungicides, usually applied in the dormant season (as a dormant spray) also provide some protection.

The point here is, grow very healthy rose, put up with a little blackspot and all will be well. Otherwise, experiment with more disease resistant cultivars. Gardening organic roses will mean the odd imperfect bush!

5. Organic Rose Gardening: Companion Planting Ideas.

There are some plants that help roses to thrive. One of these is the onion family, especially garlic. Marigolds and thyme are also good companion plants.

All three of these are small enough not to affect rose root growth and yet provide some organic/chemical support to warding off bugs.

As well Alliums are said to repel menatodes and nastutiums to trap aphids. Rosemary and thyme attract the beneficial insects as well as being useful herbs in the kitchen.

Whatever you try, make sure it doesn't compete for space with your roses and that it doesn't spread to become a "weedy" mess around across your rose bed.

Gardening organic roses with moderation,on the companion planting front!

We have more on companion planting ideas.
Go here to find more--->Companion Planting Information

Gardening organic roses is a combination of using non-chemical fertilizers and natural pesticides with good, healthy rose-bed management.

Roses can survive for many years without any human attention. They do not have to be the "fussy" member of the garden. Gardening organic roses is a natural process that has existed for hundreds of years: we just have to get back to it, for the health of the soil, the roses and ourselves.

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