How Are Your Roses Doing? A Complete Summer Guide
Follow these tips to keep your roses healthy and beautiful throughout the warm season
Summer is a time for rose lovers to celebrate gardens filled with the beauty and fragrance of the world’s most popular flower. While roses add wonderful attributes to outdoor spaces, they require regular care and maintenance to flourish. Normal maintenance tasks include watering, fertilizing and pruning.
Insect damage and fungal diseases can also factor into growing roses, so it’s important to know how to recognize, prevent and treat these problems. Let’s learn how to best care for our roses through the summer so that they will continue to grace our gardens with beautiful blooms.
Insect damage and fungal diseases can also factor into growing roses, so it’s important to know how to recognize, prevent and treat these problems. Let’s learn how to best care for our roses through the summer so that they will continue to grace our gardens with beautiful blooms.
Mulching. To help preserve moisture around the roots, add a 2-inch layer of mulch underneath the rosebush, keeping it an inch away from the base. This will prevent the root zone from drying out while also moderating the soil temperature. Shredded bark or leaves, grass clippings or pine needles are suitable mulches.
Find a landscape designer near you
Find a landscape designer near you
Fertilizing. Not surprisingly, roses need fertile soil to produce their gorgeous blooms, and regular applications of fertilizer are recommended. Organic rose fertilizers are a great choice since they will feed your roses without killing beneficial soil microorganisms as synthetic (chemical) fertilizers can. As an added benefit, fertilizers made from organic sources last longer than synthetic ones.
The first application of fertilizer should be made in spring. In areas with relatively mild winters (USDA zone 8 and above; find your zone) this should be done in March. In colder climates, April is generally a good time to fertilize. The amount of fertilizer to add can vary depending on the type of fertilizer, so it’s best to follow the directions on the bag of fertilizer that you buy.
After the first blooms of the season have faded, fertilize again. The last application of granular fertilizer should occur no later than six weeks before the first frost in your region.
While fertilizing three times a year will provide you with a healthy, beautiful rosebush, for those who want the best and biggest rose displays, you can supplement your rose feeding with alfalfa meal and Epsom salts.
Learn the Secret to Bigger and Better Roses
The first application of fertilizer should be made in spring. In areas with relatively mild winters (USDA zone 8 and above; find your zone) this should be done in March. In colder climates, April is generally a good time to fertilize. The amount of fertilizer to add can vary depending on the type of fertilizer, so it’s best to follow the directions on the bag of fertilizer that you buy.
After the first blooms of the season have faded, fertilize again. The last application of granular fertilizer should occur no later than six weeks before the first frost in your region.
While fertilizing three times a year will provide you with a healthy, beautiful rosebush, for those who want the best and biggest rose displays, you can supplement your rose feeding with alfalfa meal and Epsom salts.
Learn the Secret to Bigger and Better Roses
¿Estás buscando a un profesional para tu próxima reforma en casa?
Encuentra en Houzz al mejor profesional para tu proyecto
Encuentra en Houzz al mejor profesional para tu proyecto
Pruning. Your rosebushes will need to be deadheaded throughout the summer, which means removing spent roses. This will not only get rid of old rose blooms, but it will also help to encourage the production of new roses.
When deadheading roses, it’s important to move down the stem and make the pruning cut a quarter inch above a five-leaflet leaf that faces outward. This will ensure that the remaining stem will be strong enough to support new growth.
In cold-winter climates, stop deadheading roses six weeks before the first hard frost or you’ll risk severe cold damage when new growth appears in response to the pruning.
Alternatively, in low-desert climates, stop pruning roses in the summer months. Rose growth slows down during summer in hot, desert regions, and the few blooms that bushes do produce during this time are very small. Wait until September to prune back the upper third of each rosebush to remove sunburned foliage and stimulate new growth.
Find pruning tools in the Houzz Shop
When deadheading roses, it’s important to move down the stem and make the pruning cut a quarter inch above a five-leaflet leaf that faces outward. This will ensure that the remaining stem will be strong enough to support new growth.
In cold-winter climates, stop deadheading roses six weeks before the first hard frost or you’ll risk severe cold damage when new growth appears in response to the pruning.
Alternatively, in low-desert climates, stop pruning roses in the summer months. Rose growth slows down during summer in hot, desert regions, and the few blooms that bushes do produce during this time are very small. Wait until September to prune back the upper third of each rosebush to remove sunburned foliage and stimulate new growth.
Find pruning tools in the Houzz Shop
Pests and Disease
Summer is the time that roses are particularly susceptible to a host of pests and diseases, but there are a number of things that you can do to prevent and control them.
The first strategy is to select disease-resistant shrub roses. Rose breeders are creating new shrub roses that bloom more than the traditional floribunda and hybrid-tea roses and are also more resistant to common fungal diseases.
Another important practice to reduce the incidence of pests and disease is to keep the area around each rosebush free from fallen rose leaves and spent blooms. These can harbor fungal diseases and insects that will later reinfect your rose, so keeping the area clear of rose clippings will decrease the chances of these problems happening.
Summer is the time that roses are particularly susceptible to a host of pests and diseases, but there are a number of things that you can do to prevent and control them.
The first strategy is to select disease-resistant shrub roses. Rose breeders are creating new shrub roses that bloom more than the traditional floribunda and hybrid-tea roses and are also more resistant to common fungal diseases.
Another important practice to reduce the incidence of pests and disease is to keep the area around each rosebush free from fallen rose leaves and spent blooms. These can harbor fungal diseases and insects that will later reinfect your rose, so keeping the area clear of rose clippings will decrease the chances of these problems happening.
Pests. Damaging insects that affect roses are aphids, Japanese beetles and spider mites. To keep problems with these insects minimal, it is vital to take action at the first sign of their presence, as they are easier to control when their numbers are small. Let’s take a closer look at each of these bugs and how to recognize and control them.
- Aphids: These are small, green insects that gather on the stems, underneath leaves and on unopened rosebuds where they feed on the sap of the rose. In small numbers they don’t create too much damage, but in large quantities they will. Often, the easiest way to remove aphids is to spray them off with a strong jet of water from the hose. Insecticidal soap is another useful tool in getting rid of aphids. You can make your own spray to kill aphids by mixing 1 teaspoon of liquid dish detergent with 1 quart of water and applying it every three days until the aphids are gone. Planting garlic around your roses ahead of time will help to keep many aphids away. Biological controls such as releasing green lacewings or ladybugs, which eat aphids, are another method of curbing their population.
- Japanese beetles: For rose growers who live in the Midwest or Northeast, this little beetle is likely to be a problem during summer. Japanese beetles are approximately half an inch long with a green body and copper wings. They love to eat the foliage of roses, leaving a leaf skeleton in their wake, and will also devour the blooms. The most effective method of removing Japanese beetles is to simply pick them off and submerge them in a cup of soapy water, which kills them. You can also put an old sheet underneath rosebushes and shake them, which will cause the beetles to fall onto the sheet, making it easier to find them. Neem oil can also be an effective treatment for Japanese beetles.
- Spider mites: Warm, dry weather fosters the spread of spider mites, which are very tiny mites that colonize leaf undersides. They suck on the sap of the leaf, leaving a speckled appearance on the foliage, which eventually turns yellow and falls off. Spider mites also create small white webs. To control, remove any affected foliage and begin spraying roses in the morning with water from the hose, which removes the dust that the mites are drawn to and creates a more humid environment that they don’t like. Insecticidal soap is also effective in controlling them and should be concentrated underneath the leaves. Biological control of spider mites can be done by releasing predatory mites.
Disease. Roses can be affected by fungal diseases, such as blackspot and powdery mildew. Preventing fungal disease as well as recognizing the signs early are fundamental in caring for your roses. These diseases thrive in moist conditions and can largely be prevented or minimized by planting rosebushes in sunny areas and far enough apart to ensure good air circulation. Watering at the base of the rose, instead of from up above, will help keep roses drier, helping to inhibit the growth of disease. Finally, cleaning up all rose debris off the ground will remove any fungus and prevent its spread.
- Blackspot: As its name suggests, this fungus begins as a small black or dark brown dot that becomes yellow on the foliage. It can also affect the stems. Severe infestations will cause significant leaf drop and can kill your rosebush. Blackspot thrives in humid climates. To control, begin by removing all affected leaves and branches and disposing of them. Then treat remaining leaves with a fungicide — neem oil is a good organic option, although there are chemical fungicides available.
- Powdery mildew: This reveals itself as powdery-looking spots primarily on the leaves of roses, but it can also be found on the petals and stems. Warm weather and cool nights can create ideal conditions for this fungal infection to flourish. To treat, remove all diseased parts of the plant and treat healthy foliage with a fungicide such as neem oil, or spray with 1 tablespoon of baking soda mixed with one-half teaspoon of dish soap in a gallon of water.
Watering. Roses require regular watering. A general guideline is to irrigate twice a week to a depth of 12 inches, in the absence of rain. In arid climates, watering up to three times a week may be needed during the summer months.
It’s important to apply water at the base of roses rather than from above, as fungal diseases can occur when the leaves are wet. Drip irrigation or a soaker hose are two ways to water deeply at the root zone. However, if your roses are watered by sprinklers, schedule watering in the morning to allow time for the leaves to dry throughout the day.