In my work, I talk to gardeners all the time. Many tell me they aren't happy with the performance of their roses.
Whether it's disease, insects or problems with pruning, gardeners are constantly struggling with their roses. But I tell them to relax, because growing beautiful roses has never been easier.
This season, you can find lots of new, disease-resistant landscape shrub roses at your local garden centre. They're easy to prune, create beautiful blooms for extended periods and have changed the way many people view roses.
These carefree rose plants can light up your landscape as hedges and background, or be mixed with flowering perennials. There are even low-growing varieties that make colourful ground covers.
Shrub roses are impressive for many reasons: their natural disease-resistance, their willingness to grow in a variety of climates with minimum attention from the gardener, their compact growth habit (very little pruning required), not to mention the great beauty of their flowers, which are borne consistently over a very long season.
One of my personal favorites is Knockout. This beautiful shrub won an All-America Rose Selection award for best new roses for 2000.
Knockout produces clusters of cherry- red flowers throughout the summer and grows well everywhere, without a hint of disease. This plant grows almost a metre high and wide.
In the last few years, Double Knockout, Rainbow Knockout and Pink Knockout have been added to the family. Also in the works are yellow and white versions.
Also very popular is Flower Carpet. This is a series of ground cover roses with white, pink or red flowers.
Flower Carpet has excellent disease resistance, is a generous bloomer and grows to about 66 centimetres in height and a metre or more in width.
TIPS FOR LANDSCAPE ROSES
Water and sunlight:Landscape roses need at least six hours of sunlight a day and should be watered regularly during dry weather.
Feeding: To create and maintain healthy blooms, roses need to be fertilized every four to six weeks.
Insect and fungus control: Insects such as mites and thrips can trouble even well-maintained roses. But neem oil can control most pest and fungus problems.
Neem oil has a bitter taste that many insects don't like to eat. Using it on plants repels many insects. It also:
- Interrupts insects' metamorphosis from egg to larva to pupa to adult, preventing them from maturing.
- Stops adult insects developing a hard exoskeleton, causing dehydration.
- Prevents egg production and sterilizes insects, halting reproduction.
Neem oil doesn't affect beneficial insects. It may even assist honey bees, for example, by ridding them of mites, which can infect or kill bees.
Neem oil is non-toxic to humans, birds, earthworms, butterflies, honey bees, lacewings (which feed voraciously on harmful insects) and other animals.
Neem oil does not kill fungus; it coats surfaces infected with fungi and prevents spores from spreading.
Spray the solution on the soil around the roots of plants, and on leaves and stems. Make sure to spray the underside of leaves as well as the tops.
Repeat the process once a week for a month. With severe insect infestations, increase the concentration of neem oil. By spraying around plant roots, neem oil will be taken up by the plant and become a systemic pesticide.
