Tips for winter rose care start with sharp shears
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Sharp pruning shears and thick gloves are
crucial to successful (and safe) rose pruning.
(Photo: Debbie Arrington)
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It’s pruning time! Now is when rose lovers get busy. Our bushes need some TLC if we want healthy growth and abundant flowers next spring – and for months to follow.
The best time to prune in Sacramento usually is between Dec. 15 and Valentine’s Day. Colder weather coaxes roses into dormancy during that period. Their spent blooms will develop into rose hips, the rose’s fruit. They’ll finally drop their leaves – and any remains of fungal infections.
Pruning fosters a healthier environment for roses. It revitalizes the bush and resets its biological clock. It improves air flow (which combats fungal disease) and eliminates dead wood (which could be harboring pests). It allows the rose to be the best it can be.
Before you prune, take time to get your tools in order. Use “bypass” pruners or loppers; as you prune, one blade passes by the other to create a cleaner cut and not bruise the stem or branch. (The alternative is anvil pruners, which pinch the stems.)
Sharpen your pruners and long-handled loppers before you start cutting. Sharp tools make clean cuts that heal quickly.
Here's an excellent video on sharpening hand pruners, filmed by the UCCE Master Gardeners of Sacramento County: https://youtu.be/k9AddV33lpw
Wear thick gloves -- preferably leather. Protect your hands and arms. Rose prickles may contain dangerous bacteria that can cause serious illness, even death. Don't get pricked.
Another must-have tool: Disinfectant. This can be Lysol spray (or similar) or wipes. Between each bush, spray or wipe your pruner and lopper blades. That quick dose of disinfectant can save lots of future grief; while pruning, it eliminates the inadvertent spread of disease from one rose to another.
Prune taller. Instead of taking a bush to the ground (or nearly so), prune hybrid tea bushes to about waist high – 3 feet tall. You’ll have blooms sooner next spring because the bush doesn’t have to take weeks to regrow to its basic size.
But do prune. If not pruned, the bush’s new growth will be on top of its old growth and tangled into a prickly mess. The bush can reach easily reach 8 to 10 feet tall – and probably become too big for its space.
When pruning, remove ALL the remaining foliage on each bush. Those old leaves often carry fungal spores that will infect spring growth shortly after it appears.
After pruning, rake up all the fallen leaves and other debris under the bush and remove it. Don’t compost it; it likely contains lots of fungal spores that you don’t want to recycle into your garden.
Once they’re pruned, surround your roses with fresh mulch, 1 to 2 inches deep. Aged compost works well. So do small wood chips or dried tree leaves. Avoid mounding mulch over the graft where the bush’s budwood is attached to its rootstock. Otherwise, the rootstock is likely to sprout. That mulch also protects the bush’s tender roots from any frost danger.
Put off fertilizing until late February. Right now, you want your roses to rest up for the bloom-filled year ahead.
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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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