Cape Town - There are only two types of roses that you should have in your garden. The grand roses of all time and modern disease-resistant roses developed after 1990.
The grand roses are to be found in the World Roses Hall of Fame. Each year, the top rosarians in the world choose a top rose to enter into the Roses Hall of Fame.
The most famous rose of all that was launched after World War II was Peace, chosen for the Hall of Fame in 1976. Others include Queen Elizabeth (1979), Fragrant Cloud (1981), Iceberg (1983), Double Delight (1985), Papa Meilland (1988), Pascali (1991), Just Joey (1994), New Dawn (1997), Ingrid Bergman (2000), Elina (2006), Graham Thomas (2009), and Sally Holmes (2012).
If your roses are not the disease-resistant classics, were planted before 1990, and are looking weak and diseased, now is the time to get ruthless. Remove them from your garden and plant one of the many varieties developed after 1990, or even better, after 2000.
The reason is that German legislation banned all insecticide and fungicide spraying of roses in the mid-1980s, and all roses bred after this time had to be very tough and disease-resistant. Roses bred in the past decade are especially tough. They are designed to be low maintenance, do not need spraying, are far more disease-resistant, and make excellent choices for a sunny spot.
Roses are the queens of the summer garden, and much loved for their beautiful blooms. They flower throughout summer and into early autumn, making them highly desirable plants.
If you want highly fragrant roses, English roses and Antico Moderno roses are the perfect options. They are bred for that valued “old rose” look. Floribunda roses produce clusters of free-flowering rose blooms and flower continuously. Hybrid tea roses have stunning blooms on long stems. There are miniature shrubs that produce clusters of miniature blooms are ideal in a container on a patio table.
Shrub rose varieties have different growth habits, ranging from under 1m to 2m in height. Make sure you choose one the right size for where you envisage planting it. There are also climbing roses for growing over an archway or against a wall, and pillar roses for twining around an upright pillar or obelisk.
For townhouse gardens, standard roses are a good choice as they can be planted where the foliage at the top of the standard receives sufficient sunlight, even if the roots are shaded. There are even ground-covering roses.
What do they need?
Roses need at least six hours of full sun each day, so make sure that you plant them in such a position. Avoid planting roses too close to shrubs and trees as these will obstruct the air circulation around the rose bush. There may also be root competition for water. For these reasons roses are traditionally planted by themselves in a designated “rose garden”.
Townhouse gardens generally lack the space for a dedicated area for roses, and tall walls reduce the amount of sunlight a rose receives. If an east facing wall receives sufficient sunlight, this is a good position for roses.
Another solution is to plant your roses in containers. Place them where they receive full sun, and water containerised roses more frequently than roses in a garden border as moisture evaporates from the soil in containers more quickly. The same planting and care techniques apply to both garden and container roses.
How to plant them:
Dig a hole 50cm x 50cm wide, and 50cm deep. Add lots of compost to the soil that has been removed as soil that drains well is essential. Add moisture retaining granules to the soil mix as per the instructions on the packet to help hold moisture around the roots.
Water the plant bag well before cutting down one side to remove the rose. Position the rose so that the top of the soil around it is level with the ground, and firmly pack the enriched soil around it. Then water well.
Spread a 5-10cm layer of mulch (pine needles, small bark chips, peanut shells or dried leaves mixed with lawn cuttings) to keep the soil cool, and reduce water evaporation from the soil. Keep the mulch away from the stem for a radius of 10cm in order to avoid stem disease.
Rose care:
For best effects, carry out the following:
l Water roses thoroughly at least twice a week. Roses need at least 10 litres of water a week. Under-watering will result in poor growth and fewer blooms. Increase the frequency during hot, dry weather.
l For a profusion of blooms, fertilise twice a month using a specialised rose fertiliser. Granular fertilisers need to be watered in after applying so that they dissolve and pass through the mulch.
l For better blooms, disbud hybrid teas by pulling off all side buds to strengthen the main bud. For floribundas, remove the main bud from the cluster of buds to ensure an even head of flowers.
l Carry out pinch pruning on previously planted hybrid tea and bush roses when flower buds begin to form. This practice spreads out the flowering cycle, builds up green leaves and stimulates root development and growth. Simply snap off the tip of a new shoot that has sprouted from a budded eye, and has developed five to seven leaves. Only pinch prune at most 30 percent of the stems. New growth starts from the top of the pinched shoots, and will be growing when the other unpinched shoots are flowering. This staggers the flowering season.
Kay Montgomery; Weekend Argus