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Spring Gardening Tips for a Flourishing Garden
As the vibrant colors of spring burst forth and the air fills with the sweet scent of blossoms, it's the perfect time to roll up your sleeves and tend to your garden. Whether you're a seasoned gar...
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Warmer weather brings out rapid rose growth
Baldo Villegas demonstrates his 3-minute rose-pruning method at a 2022 workshop. At right is fellow rosarian Charlotte Owendyk. Photo courtesy Sierra Foothills Rose Society
It’s almost the end of January and I’m facing another deadline – completion of my annual rose pruning. And this time, Mother Nature is putting on the pressure.
Our winter deluge – nearly three consecutive weeks of rain – put me way behind in this yearly chore. Before Christmas, it was so warm and dry, my roses kept blooming – so I kept procrastinating. (It was the holidays; I had things to do I liked more than tangling with prickly bushes.) After Christmas, it did nothing but rain.
I’m not alone in this predicament; many gardeners are trying to beat the calendar – or growth hormones.
Sacramento rose lovers try to get our bushes pruned before Valentine’s Day. It’s a semi-arbitrary deadline; roses are dormant during the chilly winter months and a lot easier to prune. Roses start growing again as soon as the weather warms, usually after a round of deep-soaking rain. That combination usually hits sometime in late February or early March.
Our January storms were not only wet (and deep soaking), but warm. Afternoon temperatures have been edging close to 70 degrees. And that prematurely woke up my roses. Suddenly, I had bud breaks and new growth everywhere – and a real mess.
I squeezed a little pruning in between storms, but it was mostly to bushes adjacent to firm footing on the patio or driveway. Finally, the ground in my garden was dry enough this week for me to plunge into serious pruning; 120 bushes done and 20 to go.
How did I get through so many roses so quickly? I kept remembering Baldo’s three-minute method.
Baldo Villegas, best known as Sacramento’s Bug Man, is a retired state entomologist and master rosarian. He also grows a tremendous number of roses – about 3,000 bushes. To tackle that many plants, Baldo came up with a strategy: Start from the bottom. Look at the base of the plant, determine what canes to keep and what to cut. Then, go for it.
Often, you’ll need to start at the top, too, especially if it’s a very large bush. Cut the rose down nearly to the height it should be when blooming (usually 4 feet tall for hybrid teas). Then, sort out the canes.
Baldo’s method simplifies the process of rejuvenating the plant. Pruning back to the same points year after year does not make good roses; it shortens the life of the plant and limits its growth. By focusing on strong, healthy, younger canes, pruning allows those “keeper” canes to flourish – and flower more.
Baldo recently explained his method during the Sierra Foothills Rose Society’s annual winter rose care workshop. The podcast team from Green Acres Nursery & Supply was on hand to record Baldo in action and get his tips.
“These rose pros share their best methods for pruning, and a few safety tips while working with these prickly plants,” says Green Acres. “With some goatskin gloves, and Baldo’s bottom-to-top technique, you’ll be pruning like a master rosarian in no time.”
Listen to the podcast here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1610311/12058108-winter-care-for-roses.
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Garden Checklist for week of May 19
Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.
* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
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