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Learn how to prune a rose bush in under 3 minutes

Sierra Foothills Rose Society hosts popular winter workshop

Rose care workshop
During the hands-on part of a pre-pandemic Winter Rose Care Workshop, Baldo Villegas, right,  demonstrates pruning techniques. This year's free workshop will be Saturday at the Orangevale Grange. Masks are required. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Can you prune a full-size rose bush in three minutes – or less? Baldo Villegas can – and he’ll show you how.

Baldo’s super-fast pruning method is one of the highlights of Saturday’s annual Winter Rose Care Workshop, presented by the Sierra Foothills Rose Society. This year’s workshop will be held in a new location: Orangevale Grange Auditorium, 5807 Walnut Ave., Orangevale. Admission is free; no advanced registration necessary.

The new site will allow for more social distancing. To comply with pandemic precautions, participants will be required to wear face masks.

Set for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 15, the workshop is designed for both new and experienced rose lovers. Learn the basics or refresh your skills.

Baldo and rose
Baldo Villegas knows roses -- and their
pests. (Photo courtesy
Sierra Foothills Rose Society)
Doors open at 8:30 a.m. At 9 a.m., master rosarians will discuss proper pruning tools and their care. That’s followed by pruning principles, tips for different kinds of roses and Baldo’s speed method. His streamlined pruning tips grew out of necessity; Baldo grows more than 3,000 bushes in his Orangevale garden.

At 10 a.m., participants will get a chance at hands-on experience with groups devoted to pruning: hybrid teas and floribundas; old garden roses and polyanthas; shrubs and climbers; and miniatures and mini-floras.

At 10:45 a.m., get ideas on how to incorporate more roses into your landscape. At 11:45 a.m., Baldo – a retired state entomologist and Sacramento’s Bug Man – leads a discussion on controlling pests and disease in the rose garden with time for answering questions. Got a mystery pest? Bring a photo or, better yet, a sample inside a Ziplock-type bag.

Rose questions of all sorts will be welcomed to round out this very full workshop.

Questions? Email Linda Knowles at  pathfinderrose@comcast.net.


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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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