Re: summer rose bloom

At 09:26 AM 6/19/00 -0700, Cathy Nanz wrote:
>My roses are pretty much done with their spring bloom. We usually let
>them sit and then prune in Sept. for an Oct bloom. If I cut them back
>now will I get a good bloom in August. We live in southern California 15
>miles from the ocean.
>Starting around July 1-Oct 1 it is always sunny. Daytime temp.about 90
>Nighttime 60. There is usually 3-5 days of higher heat to 105. Is this
>to sunny & warm for good blooms?

Cathy -

I'm not sure what you mean when you say 'cut back'.  Deadheading (i.e. 
cutting off spent blooms down to the first 5-leaflet leaf) is what you 
should be doing.  Real cutting back would be done in the winter when roses 
are semi-dormant here in California (though many never seem to go 
dormant!).  The more grown you cut off, the longer it will take for re-bloom.

Mulching and adequate water are very important.  Deep watering will promote 
the best roots and help them tolerate the heat waves like that we had 
recently!  A soaker hose left on for several hours is good - maybe twice a 
month.  If your soil is sandy, you may need more.  Whether sandy or clay, a 
thick layer of mulch is the best bet, and extend it over the entire area, 
not just little 'pools' around the base of the plant (the roots go farther 
than you think).

When I was in college, I house-sat for a teacher.  At the front door, the 
only real plant in the yard was a huge, old, rose-tree.  When I arrived, 
this rose was completed 'bloomed out', and was ripening a wealth of fat, 
round hips.  Impressed at the amount of effort this plant was putting into 
seed production, I got out my clippers and cut off all of the hips (as 
described above).  I then put the garden hose near the base of the rose 
(the spigot was old and could not be shut off completely, resulting in a 
VERY slow leak).  I also put some grass clippings that were sitting in a 
corner of the yard (starting to smell!) around the base as a (poor) 
mulch.  This took me all of 30 min.

I almost completely forgot about this rose, even though I did come and go 
from the house routinely over the next 3 weeks.  It was a very hot 
June/July and quite dry that summer.  Towards the end of this time, I was 
pleased to see peach colored roses just starting to open.  As this was the 
end of my house-sitting obligation, I didn't visit again for a couple of weeks.

When I did see the owner again, they were so amazed that I got the rose to 
bloom again!  They had lived there for 15 years, and each year the tree 
only bloomed once, in spring.  They thought it was an annual bloomer.  Now, 
since I showed them what to do, this huge old bush blooms throughout the 
summer and well into into the fall/winter (there was still nothing else in 
the yard!).  They could not keep themselves from mentioning it to me even 
several years later!  Amazing what a little TLC can do . . .

Regards,
Sean O.

Sean A. O'Hara                       sean.ohara@groupmail.com
h o r t u l u s   a p t u s          710 Jean Street
'a garden suited to its purpose'     Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
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