If you surrendered to the beauty of ROSES last year and bought a bush, they need pruning to continue producing well. Or if you already grow roses, this will be a reminder to get your pruners out and get your roses ready for spring.
FIRST --- They do grow well in New Mexico.
Select a location in your yard with sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon.
Your flowers will last longer and you will have less problems with burned crispy edges on the petals.
Avoid low areas in your yard where cold air collects on cold nights. Even though they are very tolerant of cold, freezing every night after warming up during the day will zap them of energy.
Roses prefer a loose rich soil and benefit from large quantities of organic matter. You may have to amend your native soil to suit them, but they will show their appreciation with better growth.
Water is the single most important factor for a beautiful rose. A deep watering once a week is better than a sprinkle every day. Water in the morning to be sure leaves are dry before evening. However, a quick way to get rid of aphids and spider mites without using pesticides is a hard spray to the underside of leaves.
Mulch around the rose plants once the days get hot. It conserves moisture and keeps the roots cool.
Fertilize every four to six weeks starting in late April using a balance of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash along with micronutrients. Stop fertilizing in September to let them get ready for winter. Water deeply the day before and immediately after fertilizing.
If we have a dry, warm winter and the ground is not frozen, water roses twice a month to keep the roots from drying out.
Roses come in many varieties. You may have a preference for a particular type and if you know the types, you are more likely to come home with one that pleases you.
• The florist rose is called a HYBRID TEA and is the most popular rose grown.
• FLORIBUNDA roses produce a cluster of smaller flowers but there are several others that produce clusters. Each has their own good points.
• OLD GARDEN ROSES have the best smell but usually bloom only in early summer
• MINIATURES are the smallest and can be grown in a container.
• CLIMBING ROSES will climb a trellis or house.
• SHRUB ROSES are some of the easiest because they aren’t bothered by bugs and diseases.
• There is one more rose that is a combination of the Hybrid Tea and the cluster rose called the GRANDAFLORA.
You can buy roses in any nursery or Walmart but if you want to see the full array of roses check out the internet for companies that specialize in them. The most recognizable name is Jackson & Perkins. They will even send you a catalogue to entice you with their many varieties.
Now we will get to the pruning
The tools you will need for pruning are a sharp pruner and leather gloves. Bypass pruners are to be used, not anvil type. Anvil clipper is used for dead wood only. It cuts with a crushing mechanism than damages the live wood. A bypass pruner cuts clean and allows the plant to recover fast.
Roses are a shrub which means its branches do not die down to the ground in winter. They need care to remove misshaped and dead portions of branches and to produce more blooms. Hybrid teas and floribunda roses will only flower on new growth so it especially important to prune these hard. Roses that only bloom once in the summer (Old World Roses) bloom on the stems produced last summer and fall so are trimmed only of dead branches. For all roses, pruning is done to remove dead, diseases, and twiggy wood and to keep your rose “young”, vigorous, and productive. This is done in late March, before the new growth starts in spring.
Almost all roses are grafted to a superior root rose variety. This will be a rounded swelling at or below soil level. Measure above the graft 6 to 12 inches and look for an outward pointing bud along each branch. Make a slanted cut about a quart of an inch above that point. After you pruned the major branches, remove any dead(brown) branches and any branches that cross-over each other to achieve a pleasing rounded appearance.
Each March, members of the Albuquerque Rose Society prune most of the roses in the Tony Hillerman Library Rose Gardens. They give demonstrations and encourage new people to help with the pruning and get some experience for their own roses. You can get the information on line or call the Albuquerque Garden Center, Monday – Friday 9:30 am to 2:30 pm. 505-450-2078.
Put a reminder on your calendar: Labor Day week-end is the Bi-County Fair in Prewitt. If you have roses blooming, bring them to the fair on Friday, September 1, between 9 am and 5 pm. You are also welcome to exhibit at the NM State Fair.
Edith Iwan is a Cibola-McKinley County Master Gardener who lives and works in Thoreau. As a Master Gardener she assists the County Cooperative Extension Service in providing accurate, researchbased gardening information to county residents. If you have any gardening questions, please call the NMSU Cibola County Extension at 505-287-9266 or NMSU McKinley County Extension at 505-863-3432