This year, with its unique weather pattern, roses bloom in May, which is a little late for this very popular garden plant. We can forgive the changed schedule and enjoy the flowers like the previous year.
Roses belong to the Rosaceae family with more than 90 genera including trees, shrubs, vines and herbaceous plants. Some relatives produce edible fruit, such as apples, pears, quinces, apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, medlars, strawberries, rose hips, hawthorns, and almonds. Other members include ornamental trees and shrubs such as pyracantha (fireweed), photinia and, surprisingly, roses.
© Courtesy of Santa Cruz Sentinel Rosa 'Distant Drums' This plant was introduced in 1984 and has purple and purple flowers mixed in racemes. It grows up to 4-5 meters tall and 2-3 meters wide. (Tom Kerwin)The genus Rose contains 140–180 species divided into four subgenera.
The subgenus that includes garden roses has too many rose varieties to explore or even list in this short column. For the complete study, see the links in the Expand Your Knowledge section (below). To summarize this heterogeneous genus, three broad categories can be distinguished: wild roses, old (once-blooming) garden roses, and modern garden roses (hybrids after 1867).
Garden roses come in thousands of varieties. The large and increasing number of cultivars reflects the response of breeders to the high appreciation of this plant by gardeners.
Rose fulfills almost all ideas of a beautiful flower. We say "almost" because some growers will have their first crop different, but will likely choose a second rose.
The attractiveness of this plant comes from the color, shape and smell of the flowers as well as the size of the plant.
Roses come in a variety of colors and combinations, each color ranging from white to yellow to red. Only true blue is missing. The color variation of each flower makes this plant attractive to rose lovers.
Rose flower shapes are also very different. The American Rose Society defines "single" as a rose with four to eight petals. They are very attractive, but other popular forms are "semi-double" with 9-16 petals, "double" with 17-25 petals, "full" with 26-40 petals and "multi-flower" with 41-100. Petals + Petals.
© Courtesy of Santa Cruz Sentinel Rosa 'Portland of Glendora' is a perennial damask hybrid introduced in 1850 as 'Jessin Hannett'. It has full dark pink flowers with a purple hue and a strong damask fragrance. (Tom Kerwin)The fragrance of roses attracts both gardeners and pollinators. Fragrances or "rose perfumes" are based on the essential oil of rose petals. According to www.fragrancenet.com, roses have five main scents: myrrh, fruit, old rose, musk, and clove. Search the Internet for "pink perfume" to find a list of the most popular perfumes.
Rose plants also vary in size within a suitable range of gardens. All roses are technically shrubs, the most common type being the bush rose, a rounded plant 2 to 7 feet tall. Climbing up to this height and having climbing roses that need support. There are also miniature roses and ground cover roses up to 15 inches tall.
The attached photos of my garden show a variety of flowers and garden rose forms
Caring for garden roses
Growing and caring for roses involves several considerations and lots of advice, with an emphasis on pruning. For helpful links, see the Expand Your Knowledge section below.
© Courtesy of Santa Cruz Sentinel Rosa 'Iceberg' is a floribunda introduced by Cordes (1958). It bears white-white double flowers in small racemes. This rose has won numerous awards including the World's Favorite Rose in 1983 and the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden Award of Merit in 1993. (Tom Kerwin)However, roses take very good care of themselves and have earned a reputation as "cemetery roses." Often these are older varieties that have maintained a healthy lifestyle despite not being regularly watered, fertilized or pruned. This is not a recommendation to neglect roses in your garden, only to suggest that roses can grow on their own with amazing resilience. This is especially true for wild and old garden roses.
Most modern roses are propagated by grafting the desired flower from a rootstock (which is close to the wild species) which gives the plant vigorous and rapid growth. This method gives positive results in some cases, but if such a rose is unsustainable, it can be taken over by "children" grown from cuttings.
An option for gardeners is to prefer "own roots" roses, that is, those that are not grafted onto rootstocks. This is not done to encourage plant abandonment, but to appreciate the pure varietal character and enjoy the freedom of not removing the lineage.
Encourage new rose blooms
When the flowers are dry, cut the cane one-fourth above the first junction of the five leaves of the cane. If the stem looks weak or short, cut off the next five leaf nodes. New flowers will appear in a few weeks depending on local conditions.
Another method, favored by some gardeners, is to pinch off an old, wilted flower with your fingers.
Create a new rose bush
A friend wanted to plant Rose 'Polka' in his garden, but could not find where to buy this plant. Option: Propagate this rose, which is already growing in my garden, by cutting a needle. Now - late spring to early summer - is the ideal time to cut. Here is the main method.
Choose a flexible pencil-sized stem with a drooping flower. Cut a stem at least eight inches long with four or more leaf nodes. Remove the flower and stem tip. Keep the top leaf and remove all other leaves. Prepare a planting site, vegetable patch, or container with soil at least 6 inches deep. Provide bright, indirect light by all means.
Insert the cutting into the soil to cover at least the bottom two nodes and compact the soil around the cutting. Alternative: Dip the bottom of the cutting in rooting hormone.
Keep the soil moist but not wet for two weeks until the cuttings root. Alternative: Give a small dose of rose fertilizer. Once the plant takes root and shows new growth, transplant it to a new garden shelter.
Mark your garden calendar
The Monterey Bay Rose Society is planning a series of visits to local rose gardens to give growers a chance to showcase their accomplishments and to appreciate other growers' well-grown flowers and landscaping ideas. For planning purposes, visitors can identify varieties to add to their garden, for special appeal and as desired contributions to garden design.
This column will include the events where information is available.
You can also visit the large public rose garden nearby to see beautifully grown plants that are at their peak this month.
The San Jose Municipal Rose Garden has been called "America's Best Rose Garden". Not a day goes by without some species of flowers: more than 3,500 plants and 189 varieties on more than 5.5 hectares. For information: www.sanjose.org/attraction/municipal-rose-garden.
The Rose Berkeley Garden is a hillside terrace covered with 3,000 shrubs of 250 varieties. This 3.64-hectare garden includes a mahogany gazebo 220 meters long, the initial design of which was proposed by the famous architect Bernard Maybeck. Visit berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/parks-recreation/parks/berkeley-rose-garden.
The seven-acre Morcom Rose Amphitheater features nearly 5,000 rose bushes that form a 10-tier waterfall, anchored by meandering paths in a verdant canyon in a residential area of Oakland. This formal 1930s garden is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized by the American Rose Society. Visit friendsofofoaklandrose.org/
When you see roses you want to add to your garden, make a note to wait for the bare root season (January to May) when roses are in their normal dormant state. Roses planted during the dormant period quickly take root in the garden and bloom in the first year. Some mail order rose nurseries accept orders year-round and deliver plants during the bare root season.
Develop your knowledge
The Monterey Bay Rose Society website (montereybayrosesociety.org/) provides tips and information on specific events in the Monterey Bay area, including its show garden at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. For information: visit montereybayrosesociety.org and its Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Montereybayrosesociety/.
Visit the American Rose Society website (www.rose.org/) for articles and videos on growing roses.
For a brief description of the rose genus, visit Wikipedia.org and search for "rose" or "garden rose." For a quick introduction to this topic, see simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose.
Enjoy roses in your garden.
Tom Kerwin is past president of the Friends of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and Monterey Bay Iris Society, past president and life member of the Monterey Bay Area Cactus and Succulent Society, and UCLA Head Gardener for Life (certified 1999-2009). . ) is now a board member of the Santa Cruz Hostel Society and active in the Horticultural Society of the Pacific. See his garden photos at https://www.facebook.com/ongardeningcom-566511763375123/. Visit ongardening.com for information on gardening and an archive of columns about gardening. Send your comments or questions to gardening@karwin.com.
© Courtesy of Santa Cruz Sentinel Rosa 'Golden Celebration' is a David Austin (1992) hybrid with full clusters of dark yellow flowers. The host of this flower is the small western rose curculio. (Tom Kerwin)