A rose is a perennial flowering shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species. The species form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp thorns. Natives, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and fragrance

Thursday, June 29, 2006

The Most Popular Roses

by Chester Smith

When most think of flowers the image that comes to mind is that of a rose. A rose can be used to express any kind of emotion. It can indicate love or it can denote sadness. It can bring a peace of mind or it can excite the receiver.

Little wonder that most of us want to buy a rose. And it is easily understandable as to why many of us would want to see roses blooming in our gardens.

People like all the different varieties of roses. Yet as is the case with most things there are some roses that are more popular than the others.

The image of rose that comes to the mind of most people is that of a hybrid tea rose. A hybrid tea rose usually has a large bloom at the end of a cane. The blooms of hybrid teas come in almost all colors except blue and black.

It is the hybrid teas that are sold the most at florists shop. Examples of this type of rose are Double Delight and Mr. Lincoln.

Another popular variety of roses is the Floribundas. These were earlier called hybrid polyanthas. These usually have smaller blooms and the blooms are usually in clusters.
However there are some exceptions in which the blooms appear singularly. These are the roses ideal for landscaping purposes. Examples of this category are Iceberg and Angel Face.
At times you can also combinations of the Floribundas and the Hybrid Teas. These are called Grandifloras. These are comparatively smaller plants.

Their blooms are also smaller and tend to come in clusters. Queen and Elizabeth are two such combinations.

Then there are the Miniature roses. These are roses that are smaller in bush, foliage and bloom size. The looms of the miniature roses tend to lie in the range of ½ to 2 inches.
Miniatures are very popular roses. The biggest advantage with them is that they can be grown anywhere, even in containers. Behold and Fairhope are two representatives of this category of roses.

Mini-Floras are roses that are too large to be miniatures but too small to be either a Hybrid Tea or a Floribunda. These are usually not fit for landscaping purposes. Cachet and Autumn Splendor are two examples the roses that are covered by this category.

The next sets of roses that are worth a mention are the Old Garden Roses. These are the roses that had been classified before 1867. These include the mosses and the gallicas.

Shrubs are next roses that we can talk about. This is catchall category. This includes roses that are hybrids of other categories and the roses that do not fir easily in any other categories. Ballerina and Rose de Rescht are two roses that fall under this category.

Any such cannot be completed without a mention of the Climbing Roses, which are named so because they can climb to great heights. These are very vigorous in nature. When they are in bloom they tend to be covered in blooms for a month or even longer.

The canes of these roses are flexible. The blooms of the Climbing Roses are small in size and are arranged in large clusters. American Pillar and Seven Sisters are but two of the roses that belong to this category.

These are the prominent categories of the roses that are favored by the gardeners. Each of them needs a certain climate for growth and it is this climate that determines the region of their growth.

So pick your favorite keeping in mind the growth conditions and fill your garden with roses.

About the Author
Chester Smith runs a website dedicated to Rose Gardening. The site features free blogs for users who wish to create blogs about roses.

Try visit Rose Garden Care...

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Learn Rose Gardening - And Have Fun Doing It!

By Robert Mosse

Are you ready to learn rose gardening? Here are some basics to help you start growing healthy, vibrant roses. It's a great thing to do for yourself and your garden!

In any rose garden there are some overall needs. Roses do need good garden soil, sunlight, and the availability of water. So let's begin to learn rose gardening with where your roses will "live."

The Rose Bed:


Almost any soil is, or can be made into, good garden soil. The best soil for your rose bed is a well-drained, fertile, light soil at least two feet deep. A pH between 6.0 - and 6.5 is ideal. Make sure your rose bed will get at least 4 hours of full sunlight a day, with 6 hours being best.

Purchasing Your Roses:

Roses can be easily bought from nurseries and garden centers. They will come as either "bare root" roses, or in containers (packaged).
Bare-root roses come with the roots protected in a moist packaging substance. Purchase these roses as close to planting time as possible, and plant them while they are dormant. Depending on your climate, the best planting time is late winter or early spring, after any frozen ground has thawed.

How To Plant Bare Root Roses:
1. Before planting, soak the roots in water overnight.
2. Dig a hole and make a mound of soil in the bottom of it. Set the plant on the mounds, spreading the roots evenly around the mound.
3. Place the rose so the bud union is at the same height as the ground surface.
4. Cover the roots with loose soil and press lightly. Add more soil until the hole is half full, then fill with water, letting the water soak in.
5. Fill the hole with soil, and you're done!

How To Plant Container, or Packaged, Roses:
1. To plant the rose while it is still dormant, take it out of the box and plant it like a bare-root rose.
2. If the rose is growing (showing leaves and flowers), cut the bottom of the container off, and cut several openings on each side. You want the roots to be unrestricted.
3. Set the rose in the planting hole to the right depth. Fill the hole with soil and water.

Mulching Roses:

Mulching your roses is good for any soil and in any climate. It is extremely helpful in dry areas. Mulch keeps the soil temperature steady, and prevents heavy rain from causing the top soil to cake up. Mulching also helps to controls weeds.

Watering Roses:

Roses need to receive 1 inch of water per week. What's the best way? Watering deeply once a week, instead of watering lightly more often. Overhead sprinkling is great when done in the morning. This lets the foliage dry out before nightfall. Using soaker hoses or other drip-irrigation systems may be a more convenient way to water your roses.

Winter Treatment:

It's fairly easy to help most roses get safely through winter. Start by shoveling a protective mound of soil around the base of the rose. Then add a few scoops of mulch around the base, and they should stay well insulated.

Pruning Roses:

As you learn rose gardening, you'll find that much satisfaction comes from pruning your roses. By pruning, you remove old wood and encourage sap to flow into younger and stronger branches.

Most roses need moderately light pruning. Prune roses in late winter or in early spring, as soon as the buds begin to swell, but before they start to open. In warm climates, pruning can be a year-round activity.

Of course, there is more to learn about rose gardening... but these basics will see that you're off to a good start. The main thing is to enjoy the beauty and blessings our roses bring us every day!

Copyright 2006 Robert Mosse
Robert Mosse is a garden and lawn care specialist and author of the "Easy" Lawn and Gardening Book Series. Find out more about growing roses ... and get Robert's free Guide for 101 Gardening Tips.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

The Basics Of Pruning

By Bambi Coker

The technique of pruning varies with the type of rose and the landscape purpose for which it was planted, whether it’s growing in the ground or in a container. Pruning can range from removing unwanted buds to severely excising canes. Proper pruning stimulates growth at the buds closest to the cut, which produces new flowering stems.

The first step in pruning any type of rose is to remove any dead, damaged, diseased, or weak and thin canes, cutting them off flush with the bud union or, in the case of own-root plants, flush with the crown. Look for any canes that are broken or wounded, or that have cankers (dark, sunken lesions caused by a fungus), and prune below the injury, at the highest point where the pith (the central portion of the cane) is healthy and white. Make the cut exactly 1/4 inch above a growth bud. If the injury extends below that point, cut to a lower growth bud.

Next, remove canes that are growing into the center of the plant or those that cross each other. Canes that grow inward keep light and air from the center of the plant and will eventually cross, chafing one another. These abrasions can become entry points for insects and diseases. Using shears cut these canes down to their origin, whether that is another cane, the bud union, or the crown. It is important to keep the center of the plant open to let in sunshine and allow air to circulate freely.

Always prune to an outward-facing bud so that canes do not grow into the center of the plant. Prune at a distance close enough to the bud that no stub remains to die off and harbor insects or diseases but far enough away that the bud will not die. A good distance is about 1/4 inch above the growth bud. Equally important, cut at the proper angle so that water runoff won’t drip on the bud or collect in the cut and retard healing. The ideal angle is 45 degrees, slanted parallel to the direction of bud growth.

Pruning in Warm and Cold Climates

In warm climates where rose plants grow quite large, pruning to the recommended height is not desirable because it will remove too much of the plant. Instead, prune away about one half to two thirds of the plant each winter or early spring by removing the older canes and shortening the remaining canes. In cold climates where there is a great deal of winter damage, pruning heights may be determined for you by the amount of winterkill. Prune canes down to where there is no more winter damage, even if it is almost to the ground.

The higher a plant is pruned, the earlier it will flower. But don’t jeopardize the health and vigor of the plant by pruning too high just to have blooms a few clays earlier. There is little advantage to pruning your roses lower than the heights prescribed above; unlike disbudding (which we’ll discuss later); it will probably not make the plants produce larger flowers.

Preventing Disease

Although black spot and other fungal diseases manifest themselves on leaves, their spores can over-winter on rose canes. If these diseases plagued your roses during the previous summer, you should prune them lower than recommended, cutting away and discarding much of the source of the problem. Although you won’t be able to see the spores on the canes, you can be assured that cutting off a few extra inches during spring pruning will reduce the number of spores to some degree. Never leave rose cuttings on the ground. They look unsightly and harbor diseases and pests that may potentially re-infect the plant or spread to others.

When to Seal Cuts

Pruning cuts more than inch in diameter can be sealed with pruning compound, orange shellac, or grafting wax (available at garden centers or hardware stores) if boring insects are a problem in your area. Pruning compound and orange shellac are the easiest to use because they can be painted on. Otherwise, sealing is not necessary. Some types of white glue, which is sometimes used as a sealant, are water soluble and will wash away with the first rain or watering; they should therefore not be used.

Inspect After Pruning

Several weeks after you have pruned, take a second trip through the garden with your paining shears. If you pruned early in the year, a late frost may have caused minor dieback on some of the canes. This dieback should be removed. Cankers that were not apparent at pruning time may be visible and should also be pruned away.

Don’t be too harsh when pruning young plants. Until plants are well established and have been growing robustly for two to three years, remove only weak, damaged, or dead wood. Shape and shorten the plants as recommended above without cutting away any of the older canes. In the following years, old canes can be removed as new ones develop.

Bambi Coker © All Rights Reserved

http://www.RosesSecretsRevealed.com

http://www.aaaroses.blogspot.com

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Choosing the Right Roses for your Garden

By Kathy Burns-Millyard

There are literally hundreds of types of roses that you can grow in your garden. With such a selection to choose from, it can be extremely difficult to choose the rose that's right for you. To make this task a bit easier, We've outlined a few important factors you should consider, and explained some of the different types of roses to aid in your search.

Tips on Choosing Roses

1. Color may seem trivial at first glance, but it's usually an important factor to those that want to grow roses. Usually it is simply a matter of personal preference, but you may want to try creating a complimentary color palette for your rose garden.

2. The final growth height of a rose should be considered as it would be unattractive to grow roses that are higher than the area of the garden that it grows in. Some roses can grow to be as high as 20 feet.

3. If you live in an area that is prone to cold winters, you would certainly want a rose that could survive during the off season.

4. If certain fragrances invoke an allergic reaction, you'll want to plant roses that have a softer fragrance than the others.

5. It's smart gardening to learn what the advantages and disadvantages would be if you were to choose certain roses over others.

6. You will want to consider the size of your garden space, so that you can ensure proper exposure to the air and other elements as well.

7. If you are hoping to make your roses into bouquets, you will want to know if they can be cut. Hybrid teas can. Some roses will fall apart at the petals if they are cut.

8. You should also consider what other types of flowers or plants you intend on adding to the rose's environment. You want to add plants and flowers that will not create a damaging environment to your rose's ecosystem.

Some Common Types of Roses

After you get a sense of the type of roses that you would like to plant, you'll naturally want to know which types of roses best fit with your planting ideas. There are too many varieties of roses to list here, but this list covers some of the most popular. You should consult your nearest garden center for advice on whether your choice is fitting to your garden's abilities.

Landscape roses - Landscape roses are great for the novice gardener. They are disease resistant, and require a little bit less maintenance. Hybrid teas are not good for the novice.

Climbing Roses- These roses are different from the regular roses that are planted as they are trained to grow upward like vines. Most people like to use these for trellises, or buildings. Some of them are hybrid teas, wichuraine, and large flowered climbers. They are a beautiful addition to the look of one's house.

Shrub Roses - Shrub roses like the beautiful rugosa are both long blooming, and disease resistant. These are also great for the novice planter. They are gorgeous even when they are not in bloom because the foliage is so pretty.

Old Garden Roses- These roses are not very good for those with severe allergies to strong fragrances because they have a strong fragrant odor. However, they are disease resistant and continue to bloom for months at a time.

The Modern Rose - These are very special roses because they are the result of cross breeding the hybrid tea with the polyanthus. They are also referred to as Floribunda. They are a beautiful combination of the best those two flowers have to offer. They are long blooming, fragrant, and they are great for cutting.

Miniature Roses - Miniature roses are exactly what they sound like. They have all of the fragrance and beauty of a regular rose, but they have smaller blooms. These particular roses are great for indoor planting.

While note all inclusive, this article should be a great help in getting you started on the way to having your very own, gorgeous rose garden.

© 2004, Kathy Burns-Millyard and Garden-Source.com

This article is provided courtesy of http://www.Garden-Source.com - You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.


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Thursday, June 08, 2006

Plant a Rose Bush in your Garden

Rose Garden Care

Now that summer is here and upon us many people start thinking about what garden project they will work on this year. Whether you are creating a new garden or adding to your existing garden and spicing it up a bit. Why not plant a rose bush in your garden? It is not as hard as some may think and they are beautiful, who doesn't love roses?!

There are thousands of rose types to choose from and the choices can be overwhelming. Most importantly pick a rose bush that will do well in your climate. You can visit a local nursery to see their selection and you can also ask questions. Your local nursery is a great resource for learning about roses, plants and more - use it! If your neighbor has a rose bush that you have been admiring, don't be shy ask them what type of bush it is. Some rose bushes will need more maintaining then others so be sure and ask as many questions as you can so you know what you are in for when you start.

After you have picked the right rose bush next you will have to figure out where in your garden you will be planting it. Be sure and pick a good location. Ideally you should have your plans laid out prior to purchasing your rose bush. Choose a spot that will allow for six hours of sun light each day, where air circulates and the soil receives good drainage. These are the most important factors when planting your new rose bush.

Most bare-root rose bushes are planted during late winter. If you purchase your roses in a container you can plan to plant them in the early spring. You should avoid planting roses during the summer. The hot weather can stress your new rose plant which will prohibit it from growing. If you still decide to plant your rose bush during the summer, you can expect to water it every day usually.

And there you have it, the basics for planting a rose bush in your garden. Take time and pick the right rose bush for you and make sure you have a location that will meet the needs of your new rose bush.

Happy gardening!

About the Author
Get inspired this summer with free garden catalogs. We have hundreds of free catalogs and magazine offers available on all topics.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

The Most Popular Roses For Growers

As any rose gardener will tell you, there is nothing in the world more addicting than tending to these plants. Roses are the most popular flower in the world, and they offer a great option for any landscaping scheme, as they look good both when cared for every single day and also when they are left to their own devices. They can get by with as much or as little work as you want to put into them, and the sheer variety of roses is absolutely staggering. Single stem to multiple flowers, climbing roses to spreading bushes, giant plants to mini, and every color imaginable, there is a type of rose to fit every gardener's taste. Among all the options, however, the most popular choice when it comes to roses is the hybrid tea rose.

The first Hybrid Tea rose was called Le France, and was introduced in 1867 by rose breeder Jean-Baptist Guillot. They were the result of crossing two original China roses with Bourbon and Noisette roses. These roses are considered to be more delicate than the other breeds, and are also the most popular species when it comes to those bought and sold in flower shops. This variety of rose blooms every six weeks in ideal conditions, although in colder areas it may only bloom once annually. They have large flowers (some with over 60 petals, five inches across!) with high centers, and may have a tea like scent to them. The plants themselves may grow to be six feet tall, or as short as three feet.

Although Hybrid Teas may be more delicate than other varieties, there are still many breeds available to suit any climate. If you are thinking about planting your own, then it is vital that you look for a species that is suited to the area in which you live. Be aware of the humidity or lack in your area, and choose your roses based on this factor as well as the variations in temperatures. Hot and dry areas will require plants with good root systems and the ability to tolerate heat. Excessive humidity can also be detrimental to some Hybrid Teas, so make sure to find a species that is mildew resistant.

Remember when caring for your Hybrid Teas that these plants bloom every couple on months depending on conditions, and thus they will require extra food for optimum health. They need to be fed once every week, starting with the season. Apply a fertilizer that has been designed for roses, and remember to stop well before the first frost in your area in order to avoid damage to tender new blossoms.

As with most garden plants, there are a few basic rules when it comes to watering Hybrid Teas. To preserve water, apply some mulch (this will also help to insulate root systems in colder areas). Also be sure to apply the water to the soil, and not over the plants via a sprinkler or other such device, as this could lead to the growth of mold.

Hybrid Teas are the most popular rose in the world, and are a beautiful addition to any garden. Their diversity ensures that they are appropriate to almost any climate.

About the Author
Chester Smith maintains a website dedicated to growing roses.