As we approach pruning season, you’ll be looking more closely at your roses, and you may encounter rose canes that appear darkened or dead. Likely, this is dieback, a condition characterized by the progressive death of stems and canes that can ultimately compromise the health and appearance of your rose plants. The dying areas may …
It’s nearly bareroot season, and time for the annual process of rose introductions. A new player in roses (at least new to me) is Altman Plants with renowned rose hybridizer Ping Lim. According to their website, Altman Plants began with the vision to grow the highest quality plants and make them available to everyone. Today, …
With the first rains of the season comes the potential for Botrytis – the disease that can turn lush blooms into a brown, soggy mush. This common disease is also known as Botrytis blight, bud rot, gray mold, wooly mold and when growing on grapes, the “noble rot” where it can either ruin a crop …
There is nothing quite as lovely as a rose bud unfurling, framed by lush, healthy, deep green foliage. Rosarians strive to attain and maintain their roses for this often-illusive picture. With the advent of modern roses (developed after 1867), more and more roses have been hybridized, and the results have been variable. Some plants looked …
Spiders get a bad rap; many people go to great lengths to get rid of them. Is it their other-worldly appearance? Concern about being bitten by a poisonous type or simply the idea of “creepy, crawling” things? Whatever the reason, before eliminating them, it’s good to understand the invaluable role they play keeping pest populations …
What in the world are single roses? Roses that grow individually on a stem or plant? Roses that like to grow alone? Well, neither – when we refer to “single roses” we are referring to the form of the flower, in particular the number and arrangement of the petals. Petals are the most visible portion …
Thrips are generally bad news for the gardener, whether you have one type of thrips (the name is the same – singular and plural) or more. Not visible to the naked eye as they often feed within buds and furled leaves or in other enclosed parts of the plant, these extremely small insects cause damage …
One of the least common colors to see in most rose gardens is purple – in any of its forms, from very pale lavender to dark, grapey purple. It is a shame, since there are many wonderful roses that cross this color range. A number of the popular roses that fall into this color category …
A discouraging sight to anyone growing roses is that succulent new cane tip that suddenly wilts and dies. This symptom may have many causes, but one of the culprits is a cane borer. There are numerous borers – they’re generally the larvae of a beetle or moth that bore into canes, feed, and eventually cause …
What do George Burns, Picasso, and Playboy have in common? Well, I don’t know whether the two famous individuals fell into the playboy category, but the connection for rose lovers is that they are all beautiful, multi-colored roses. What do I mean by multi-colored? In this context, these are roses that have two or more …