Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Learn how to prune roses better, faster

Sierra Foothills Rose Society offers free workshop with expert hands-on advice

In a previous workshop, Baldo Villegas demonstrates his pruning technique while Charlotte Owendyk assists and holds the microphone.

In a previous workshop, Baldo Villegas demonstrates his pruning technique while Charlotte Owendyk assists and holds the microphone. Courtesy Sierra Foothills Rose Society

Need to sharpen your pruning skills? Here’s a great opportunity to learn how to prune your roses faster and better – and taste some great chili, too.

On Saturday, Jan. 13, the Sierra Foothills Rose Society will host its annual Winter Care Workshop for Roses, featuring master rosarians Baldo Villegas, Linda Knowles and Charlotte Owendyk. To be held at the Orangevale Grange Auditorium, the free workshop starts at 8:30 a.m. with registration. The seminar starts at 9 a.m. and includes hands-on practice as well as demonstrations.

“Practice under the watchful eye of experienced rosarians who prune hundreds of their own roses,” say the organizers. “When you leave, you will confidently prune your roses!”

Make that “thousands” of roses; Baldo grows more than 3,000 bushes at his Orangevale home.

Proper pruning produces more and bigger flowers. It also helps reinvigorate rose bushes and makes for a healthier garden with less if any pesticides.

The morning-long session wraps up with a chili cookoff at 12:30 p.m. Participants vote for the best chili while also having an opportunity to get advice from the society’s rose experts one on one.

Highlight of this workshop is always Baldo’s demonstration of his “Three-Minute Pruning Method.” He’ll show how to prune a full-size hybrid tea in three minutes – and often less – by looking at the plant from the base up. By identifying the canes to keep first, the job becomes much simpler.

Instructors also will share advice on pruning tools as well as how to control pests and diseases in the garden (an important part of why we prune roses every year).

No advance registration is needed and the public is welcome. Bring gloves and bypass pruners.

Orangevale Grange is located at 5807 Walnut Ave., Orangevale.

For more on Sierra Foothills Rose Society: www.sierrafoothillsrosesociety.org.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Local News

Ad for California Local

Thanks to our sponsor!

Summer Strong ad for BeWaterSmart.info

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.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

square-tomatoes-plate.jpg

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!

Join Us Today!