November Rose Growing
...one of a series, for a complete year!

November Rose Growing can be bleak and stormy on the Rose Growing Calendar. Days are short and dark, winds are cold and blustery and winter preparation is in full swing in the rose garden. Time to put the rose garden to bed before the deep cold of winter.

Things To Do For November Rose Growing:

-Plant new bare-root roses, if any and/or transplant roses you had planned to move to other areas of your garden.

-Weed and pick diseased and dead leaves off the bushes. You can completely defoliate your roses by hand in late November, especially if they had black spot. You want to destroy as many disease spores as possible and not have them over-winter in your garden.

-Cut any large rose canes back by 1/3 to prevent any damage from 'wind rock'.

-Now is the time to complete the winter protection you have decided upon and see your plants are "all secure" for the winter.

Beware of 'Wind Rock' - That southeasterly wind that is so typical of west coast winters can buffet exposed roses and cause their roots to be loosened. Usually you will find a hole has formed at the base of your rose and once the rains start and freezing weather approaches, the water seeping into the roots will freeze and kill your plant. Cut your tall roses back so they'll be less susceptible to this effect and you can also add extra soil at the base to anchor them. Check your own roses for this phenomena, at the base of your roses.

Winterizing Your Roses

- All grafted roses are unprotected at the point of their crown, or bud union (where the plant is budded on to root stock). Also, some varieties are more prone than others to winter kill. Most nurseries will tell you if a rose is "tender" and needs extra protection and in general, most hybrid tea, floribunda, tea or noisette roses fall into this category.

Winter mulch layered all over your rose bed won't protect your plants from frost. Because our climate is often a wet one, this layer can become soggy and interfere with a bed's drainage. It's better to mound a material - straw, old leaves, compost, manure, soil from your vegetable garden, etc. - into a hill over the crown and 8-10" up the stems of to water your rose regularly in the next few weeks, especially if the weather is dry.

Bare-Root Roses

-should be planted as quickly as possible. Soak the whole rose in water for a couple of hours before planting. Prepare the hole as noted above. Make a small mound of soil on the bottom of the hole to "sit" your rose on, spreading the roots out and over the mound and then add amended soil to anchor the rose. Proceed as for container-grown roses.

Transplanting Roses:

-Roses may be transplanted in early spring or late fall. The rose should be carefully dug from the soil getting as much root as possible. Immediately move to the new location and plant as you would a bare-root rose. The roots may have to be trimmed to fit the new hole. Water it in well, cut the stems to 8" high to remove flowers and leaves so the rose can establish itself in the new spot.

Do not apply fertilizer until the rose is well established and water regularly. your vulnerable roses. It is the first hard frost that does the damage so late

November is a good time to do this. Make sure the material you use will not blow away. You can make collars of landscape cloth, newspaper, chicken wire or old peat pots to keep it in place. Make sure to remove it first thing in spring when the temperatures warm the soil.

-Climbing roses need their canes tied in place to keep the canes from whipping in any wind and breaking off.

-Old garden roses, most miniatures and shrub roses are very winter hardy and need no extra protection, unless, of course, you are growing them in containers.

-In general, it is the hybrid tea roses, floribundas and the afore-mentioned teas and noisettes that should have a little extra attention in November although most roses are generally winter hardy to about minus 10 degrees C. It is said that most roses can withstand an occasional -15°C weather with some of the canes dying back to within 1" of ground level or to the top of your protective mulch.

...and did you do your Christmas shopping yet...you could always make a Christmas Card out of the the photographs you took of your own roses...you did take some didn't you?

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