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

Summer Rose Growing is often a break in the action on the Rose Growing Calendar. Keep the beds clean and the bushes clear of faded blooms and take time to enjoy the fruits (or in this case, blooms) of your labor. This is the July/August section of the rose growers calendar, which is the shortest and therefore the most enjoyable!

Arrange some cut flowers, take some photographs, visit your family and friends and brag about your roses. This is the time to enjoy your rose garden.

Things To Do For Summer Rose Growing:

-Continue your feeding, spraying and dead-heading program.

-Don't cut long stems from roses newly planted in late fall or spring. They need all the leaves they can have to provide nourishment to the plant.

-Water, water, water, especially during these dry hot days. Dry soil and hot days and cool nights encourage powdery mildew.

-Keep an eye on any roses growing in containers. They dry out quickly!

-Remember - no more granular fertilizer after the end of July. Foliar-feeding can still be done, as this acts more quickly and will nourish the rose when the ground is dry.

-Visit as many rose gardens as you can and make a list of roses you would like to have.

-If you are interested in increasing your own stock of roses, July is the time for budding new roses onto root-stocks.

-Bare-root rose ordering often takes place at this time of year. You should at least be looking to your fall order if you intend on planting.

...and most important of all, don't forget to take the opportunity to stop and smell the roses.

Balling or balled: Petals cling together preventing the flower from opening naturally . Most common in wet weather and with fully double blooms.

Basal shoot: Succulent new growth that originates at the bud union. Leaves and thorns will look the same as the rest of the rose.

Bi-color: A rose of two colors.

Blind shoot: Mature stem that doesn't produce a bloom as expected.

Bud union: The point where the rose plant is budded onto the root stock.

Cane: One of the main stems of a bush that originates from the bud union.

Crown: The bud union where roots join with the canes just below soil level.

Die-back: When a cane or stem dies back to a bud or stem because of a pruning wound or frost damage.

Lateral: A stem originating from a main cane.

Pegging: Securing long canes to the ground by attaching cane tips to a peg in the ground. Promotes lateral cane growth and more blooms.

pH: The H refers to Hydrogen and pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity in soil. Below pH 6.5 is acid, above pH 7.5 is alkaline. Roses prefer slightly acidic soil - pH 6.0 to 6.5.

Pith: The spongy material at the center of the stem that should be clear white color. An unripe stem is sometimes described as 'pithy'.

Remontant: This is the same as recurrent or repeat flowering.

Sport: A mutation - a plant that shows a marked and inheritable change from its parent.

Standard: The same as a tree rose - a rose grown on the top of a long stem.

Sucker: A shoot arising from the grafted rootstock below the bud union. Its leaves, thorns and perhaps stem color will be different. Remove as close to its point of origin as possible.

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