Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The rose, despite her delicate image, is the
child of thugs. To be more polite, roses share
their family tree with blackberries and the
species roses can often grow into a
magnificent bramble to equal those around
Sleeping Beauty's castle. They may or may not
need taming to fit into our landscapes, but
one thing is certain, their beauty comes easily.
2
As roses have been cultivated for thousands of
years, humans have modified and bred them
more than any other ornamental plant.
Consequently, there are not only the species
roses, but many styles of rose that require
simple but different pruning techniques.
A few are common to them all.
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3
Figure 4.29
Three types of wood are referred to when
pruning. Old wood (1). Twiggy weak growth (2). Young
wood (3).
All roses crave sun and air so plant them
where they will receive a good six hours of
sunshine with good air circulation. Climbers
planted against walls should have their main
stems placed evenly in a fan shape with
about 45 cm or more between them. The
length from the tip of your fingers to your
elbow is a good rough guide. Humid
conditions and roses do not mix so always
make sure that the centre of your bush is
open and that the stems of climbers do not
grow too closely together. The more air
circulation in the plant the less disease there
will be.
Note:
The tables in this section list just a
small sample of roses available. Those
listed as repeat flowering may produce
repeated generous flushes of flower
under the right conditions or merely
produce a few odd blooms.
Pruningatplanting
Generally we want roses to be clothed from
head to foot in foliage and flower. In order to
keep the growth active on the base of the
plant, roses should be pruned hard at
planting. This applies also to standard and
weeping roses that effectually 'start' some
distance from the ground as they are grafted
onto a long interstock that forms the 'trunk'
of the rose.
In the following text, the terms 'old wood',
'young wood' and 'twiggy weak growth' are
used. See Figure 4.29 for their general
appearance.
When pruning any rose always cut to an
outward-facing bud to keep the centre of
the plant open (see Figure 3.18 and 'How
to cut', page 33).
Usually roses are planted at one to two years
old; a young plant. At planting, cut the stems
down to three to four buds above the graft (if
