Plantaholic - My Daughter's New Name for Me

Well, most of my seeds have arrived. Although I am still awaiting my Willow tree and the Dwarf Blue Cedar Seeds. At the eagerness with which I am purchasing a variety of seeds and various planting supplies, my daughter has given me a new nickname... Plantaholic. Sigh...

Well, there are worst things to which I could be addicted. Perhaps I might share with you the newest purchases which have earned me the new label. Below are pictures of the seeds which I have just purchased through ebay.
 Rare Blue Rose
 Rare Midnight Blue Rose
 Rare Black Rose
 Rare Blue Strip Rose
 Rare Patriot Rose
 Rare Purple Rose

Here is the catch, my research has revealed that roses grown from seeds are not likely to be identical to their parents because there could have been some cross pollination and sheer genetics. I'm also aware that the first blooms may not resemble the blooms of the rose bush wants it is mature, which is around 1 - 2 years. However, I was willing to take that chance. Just the chance that I could have roses of these vibrant colors is enough for me.

The seeds have been ordered; now I just have to wait for them to arrive to begin the stratification and scarification process. It will be at least two months before I have anything noteworthy to report. I am very excited and will you keep you updated.

Propagating Rose Bushes

Every once in a while, I go through a spurt where I want to grow things. I can't say that I have a green thumb, but neither do I kill every plant that I own. I try my best to follow the plant care directions to provide my plant with exactly what it needs. So far, I have done pretty well with keeping my plants alive. However, I have never had great success is germinating seeds or propagating my rose bushes.

On February 22, due to my dog accidentally breaking off a piece of my rose bush with his vigorously wagging tail, I decided to give it a go instead of just tossing it into the trash. Who knows, it might just take. Since it has been a while since my last attempt to propagate rose cutting, I set the clipping in a vase full of water while I brushed up on my research. Since I didn't have a pot or soil to plant it in, it sat in water for two weeks, with a sandwich bag over the opening, with weekly water changes. I didn't feel too bad for it since it was an unexpected and unplanned for venture.

After two weeks, the date of this post, I finally made a trip to get the items I needed. The poor "cutting," if you could call it that, had lost most of it's mature leaves by this point and only had it's newly emerging leaves. But as it wasn't turning brown or shriveling up, I figured there would be not harm in still trying to salvage it. Here is a picture of it's home for the next 3 - 5 weeks. It's in a 4" clay pot with a sandwich bag on top to keep up the humidity. It is in front of a north facing window which receives more than eight hours of bright, indirect sunlight. So far, so good!

Watering and Pruning Rose Bushes

Rose bushes are best watered by soaking their roots and not by spraying sprinklers. In my rose bed my roses are watered by bubblers. When rose bush leaves are constantly exposed to moisture, especially in the evening and not allowed to dry before sunset, it increases the risk of mold forming on the leaves and rotting them. When temperatures are in the 70 -85 degrees I typically water my rose bushes with a thorough soaking every 3 - 4 days. When temperatures increase about 86 degrees I run the sprinkler system three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The best watering practices are to water the roses deeply and thoroughly a few times a week instead of giving them a shallow watering daily.

As for pruning, don't ever be afraid to dead head your rose bushes (remove spent roses, roses that are faded and whose petals are falling off). Spent roses use up the rose bushes energy which would be better used in putting forth new blooms. However, there is a proper way to dead head your roses. You should cut the bloom right above the node (bump) that is pushing forth on the stem right at the closest five leaf section. Roses bloom on new growth so trimming off spent blooms encourages the rose to put forth new blooms.

Being the busy woman that I am, I try to dead head my rose bushes at least once a week but occasionally I get busy and stretch it to two weeks. Here are some pictures taken before and after pruning spent roses. The last pruning session was done two weeks prior.

Before
  
After

Before

After
  Notice the reddish small leaves at the tips of extended stems. These are the new shoots that will soon have budding blooms.

Before

After

Before

After

Planting Bare Root Rose Bushes

Despite what some people may think, it's not very difficult to grow roses in the desert and it also does not require tons of water. I am starting my rose garden, if you want to call it that, by planting six (6) bare root rose bushes purchased for $4.97 to $6.97 each. Purchase price was determined by the vibrant or unusual coloring of the rose bushes I selected. And planting them was easier than you might think!

Timing is important when planting your roses. In the low desert the best time to plant bare root rose bushes are between January (after last frost) and early March. As usual, you'll first need to select an area that will get at least 6 hours of direct sunlight, eight is preferable. Roses are more prolific bloomers when exposed to the recommended amount of sunlight.

Secondly, I took a shopping trip to my local home improvement store where along with the bare root rose bushes I purchased 1 - 10lb bag of bare root rose bush planting soil. If you don't already have a shovel, you will need one of those as well.

Here is an example of what you are looking for 


Here are the steps I took to plant each of my rose bushes:

• Run sprinkler or irrigation system to thoroughly moisten soil. This will make working the soil easier and help the roses to get established sooner and better. 
• Dig a hole twice as deep as the roots of your bare rose bush and at least 1 ft in diameter. 
• At the bottom of the hole you have just dug, pile a small mound of a 50-50 mixture of your planting bed dirt and purchases planting soil.
• Arrange the roots of you rose bush to spread out on top of this mound. Adjust mound and plant height so that the graft union will lie just below ground level. Here's a photo for better clarification

• Fill in hole around bare root rose bush with a 50-50 mixture of your planting bed dirt and purchases planting soil. Be sure to tamp down soil so that the roots are firmly pressed into the soil. 

Irrigate new rose planting daily with a watering can until you begin to see leaves budding on the rose bushes. At that time, cut back watering to every other day. When leave fully appear, cut back watering to every three to four day.