Makenzie, Author at American Rose Society

How Little We Know About Fragrance

Jul 17, 2024 | FRAGRANCE

by Dick Streeper, Master Rosarian, San Diego Rose Society

‘Dainty Bess’, a hybrid tea, is often overlooked as a fragrant rose. It was a seedling of the intensely fragrant and popular greenhouse variety named ‘Ophelia’ and was introduced in 1925. The powerful fragrance element clove is expressed when the bloom matures. ABOVE: Mlle Cécille Brünner photo by Rich Baer

The words rose and fragrance go together like hand and glove. When we are presented with a pretty rose bloom, our first reaction is to smell it.

Yet, we live in the dark ages when it comes to understanding fragrance in roses.

One article on this subject published in the 1962 American Rose Annual ought to be at the fingertips of every rose catalog writer and author who writes on fragrance. In “A Preliminary Study in Rose Fragrance,” author Neville F. Miller identifies the chemicals that produce fragrances and the physical qualities that define and affect them. Miller’s work was hailed by a small group interested in scholarly aspects of rose culture but was generally ignored by the rose industry and the public.

Fragrance continues to be described in terms such as slight, light, spicy, fruity and strong. One description never used in rose catalogs is “none.” It’s rather like describing colors as dull, little, bright and lots, and not recognizing the color black.

Miller lists seven primary elemental odors needed to describe, at least in part, the fragrance of most roses. They are rose, nasturtium, orris, violets, apple, clove and lemon. In addition, he names 26 less common odors, including combinations, all with rose varieties that exhibit the fragrance or odor combination. He also names the organic chemicals that produce these odors.

Most people rate fragrance on its intensity, and on that basis, roses with a rose-clove combination usually win the prize for most fragrant. However, many of the most interesting fragrances can be intense but very fleeting. Here are some facts that make the study of rose fragrance fascinating.

Roses exhibit much more fragrance in the first bloom cycle in the spring, so that is the time learn and develop a sense of smell for fragrance.

Most roses have several compounds that contribute to fragrance and are released at various times and over varying periods of time.

Many varieties have remarkably different fragrance profiles as cut flowers brought indoors compared to that found in the same flowers outside.

The power to recognize and distinguish this magnificent palette of beauty lies within us if we learn how to use it. Here is how to begin.

Learn the seven elemental odors identified by Miller and named above that are needed to describe the majority of hybrid tea roses. I think that Miller’s choice of the word “rose” as one of these elements of fragrance is confusing and should be replaced by the word “damask.” Damask is the fragrance found in the variety ‘Kazanlik’ (Rosa damascena var. trigintipetala) and one of the elements found in most intensely fragrant roses. ABOVE: Kazanlik

The word orris also causes confusion. The compound named orris is derived from iris rhizomes. It is widely used in the perfume and home-and food-products industries as a fixative, a compound used to preserve odors or tastes of other products. It has an odor not like an iris bloom but rather like the faint smell of violets. I would combine the elements of orris and violets into one and name it violets.

The element called lemon refers to the fruit and not its citrus blossom. The remaining four elements on Miller’s list – nasturtium, clove and apple – are easy to identify from common experience. BELOW: Lemon Spice

Next step in appreciating fragrance is to grow a few roses that are intensely fragrant. Here are some to include in a fragrance-study collection: ‘Oklahoma’ (rose); ‘Golden Showers’ or ‘Golden Masterpiece’ (orris-violets); ‘Garden Party’, ‘Buccaneer’ or ‘Peace’ as a cut bloom indoors (nasturtium); ‘New Dawn’ or ‘Dr. W. Van Fleet’ (apple); ‘Lemon Spice’ (lemon); ‘Dainty Bess’ (clove). You might also add ‘New Zealand’ and put it an elemental class not on Miller’s list named honeysuckle. BELOW FIRST: New Dawn, BELOW SECOND: New Zealand

With your new fragrance-study garden in place, you can start your lab work in spring. The first exercise will be on the subject of vapor pressure, a fancy term that for laymen is the rough equivalent of evaporation rate. We all know that if we applied separate dabs of rubbing alcohol, beer and baby oil to our skin at the same time, these fluids would vanish over varying periods of time and emit odors as they do so. As they evaporate in consort, they give off a changing profile of odors.

This is exactly what happens as the bloom of a rose containing more than one rose oil—or alcohol—compound opens. But the physical phenomena are more astonishing.

By way of extreme example, the vapor pressure of nonyl aldehyde, the organic chemical that produces the odor of citrus blossoms, at 77 degrees is measured at .470 millimeters of mercury. The vapor pressure of eugenol, the organic chemical that produces the odor of cloves under similar circumstances is .013. That indicates, in simple terms, the clove will evaporate 36 times more slowly than citrus. Thus, the fragrance profile is constantly changing. ABOVE: Dainty Bess by Rita Perwich.

The concept of fragrance is a bit more complicated still because we don’t know exactly when each compound of fragrance is released as the bloom opens. Plus, some roses emit fragrance from the sepals and foliage. What is very apparent is that the fragrance of a rose changes, commonly in dramatic ways, in the course of its opening.

I am reasonably certain that fragrance is also dependent upon the pH of the plant tissue and the water content within the bloom. I base this on the observation that fragrance assessment is very easy in the first bloom cycle of the year and much more uncertain during the remaining months. I also believe that the first bloom cycle of most roses produces fragrance qualities not found in the balance of the year.

Many roses that are not thought to be fragrant in the garden are intensely fragrant when cut and brought into the house. These include ‘Peace’ and ‘Honor’. Most people identify Cécille Brünner’ as a fragrant rose on the plant. When I was a practicing lawyer, I placed a bud of this rose in my lapel most every day because it held up well and released a powerful fragrance two or three hours after being in my lapel. That fragrance was quite different from that of the bloom on the plant or when cut and placed in water. These changes are related to the conversion of alcohols to aldehydes and the oxidation of oils as described by Miller.

Hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of rose varieties have lovely and interesting fragrance profiles waiting to be discovered and waiting for an Einstein to unify an approach to fragrance description in roses that is at least as understandable as the description of rose colors.

Reprinted from the San Diego Union Tribune, February 20, 2005. Dick Streeper was a past president of the San Diego Rose Society and the East County Rose Society, founder of the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden in Balboa Park, and a past director of the American Rose Society.

Photos by by Rich Baer unless otherwise noted.

How to Choose a Rose

Jul 17, 2024 | BASIC ROSE CARE

by Carol Macon, Master Rosarian, Denver Rose Society, Award of Merit 2017, photos by Rita Perwich

Websites showcasing one gorgeous rose after another, with ordering starting in fall. January catalogs filling your mailbox, just in case you missed the on-line extravaganzas. How do you choose just one rose? It is definitely not easy. First of all, despite the recent demise of some rose firms and consolidation of others, there are a still lot of sources. Hybridizers still hybridize, and dozens of new varieties come to market each year. Secondly, while roses are getting better and better as garden plants, especially in terms of hardiness and disease-resistance, this does not mean that rose varieties with lesser attributes are no longer coming to market. Indeed, they are, and I shovel prune plants each fall that I previously planted with high hopes. Usually the reasons for this are the failure of the plant to thrive or a propensity to disease or both, and so I can’t pass the rose along to another gardener. Those that I, for one reason or another (mostly size, or the encroachment of shade), do give away, must at least be good garden plants, although they may be wrong for the spot in which I planted them. In these cases, I have lost my rose investment in years of growth because I chose a plant that, when mature, did not work in its designated place in my garden. So obviously, you need to know the mature height and width of any rose you plan to buy, and you must be able to give your rose at least 6 hours of sun a day in the spot you choose to accommodate its dimensions. (ABOVE: ‘Graham Thomas’)

This may be a simplistic statement, but before you purchase a rose, you must know why you want it. Do you want long-stemmed beauties to arrange in a vase? Do you want a traffic-stopping vivid splash of color in the front yard? Do you want to hide a dead tree, add reliable color to a perennial bed, edge a walkway with plants that bloom all summer, plant a drought-resistant flower bed? Do you want to grow the next Queen of Show? Once you decide on the rose’s purpose, you have automatically limited the field from which to choose. This is the antithesis to my usual method of choosing a rose because I like its on-line glamour shot or have fallen in love with a bloom in a greenhouse. (ABOVE: ‘Lady of Shallot’)

Then, and this is the toughie, you should know where you are going to plant the rose. Like many another gardener of mature years and mature garden, I have limited space for anything new. In fact, every year, I plant roses in pots that sit on our driveway, because there is no room for them in the ground. Forty- two of them used to spend every winter in our garage. These facts do not stop me from ordering new varieties every year. Now, I ask you, how smart is that? The only saving grace of my method is that I can evaluate the new, potted roses during our summer season, and use the best ones to replace older varieties in my garden in the fall. This would work even better if I weren’t so emotionally attached to those older varieties. I once had a hardy and vigorous plant of Sutter’s Gold that gave me five or six bloom cycles every summer, a miracle at our altitude of 6100 feet. I took it out to plant show star Gold Medal, and later regretted losing Sutter’s freely given garden color. See Rule 1: know why you want the rose. (ABOVE: ‘Olivia Rose’)

Now, assuming that you have a need for a new rose in your landscape, a specific need, for which you need a specific type of rose, and further assuming that you know exactly where this rose is to be planted and even further than that, you know what size rose the spot can accommodate, what’s next? Consider your garden’s location. Because we live in Colorado, where winter temperatures can remain below zero for days and then scoot to 70 degrees F, or even worse, do exactly the reverse of that; and because our growing season is short, the two most important criteria for any rose are hardiness and vigor. Without them, we won’t have that rose for long. Our rose choice must have a reputation for living a long and happy life a mile high. It must be energetic in its rate of growth and production of bloom each and every year. Now, granted that these factors are often unknown when a rose first comes to market, we can make educated guesses.

If the rose is an American Rose Society award-winner (All-American Rose Selection, American Garden Rose Selection, Award of Excellence) it has been tested for hardiness and vigor all over the USA. If you can wait to plant a couple of years after your chosen rose comes to market, its flaws, if any, will start to turn up in the American Rose Society’s annual ritual known as Roses in Review, following which a rating will appear for it in the ARS’s annually produced HANDBOOK FOR SELECTING ROSES. As a general rule of thumb, I try to buy only those varieties with a rating of 7.8 or above, which makes them above average roses and more likely to be hardy and vigorous. The handbook is mailed free to every ARS member every year, and many members refer to it when shopping for roses. I firmly believe that any serious rose grower should belong to the American Rose Society. Membership can save you time, trouble and money.

For me, the most reliable guide to hardiness and vigor in a rose is its national origin. Roses from Kordes and Tantau in Germany, Poulsen in Denmark, Harkness, Fryer and Austin in England, Dickson in Ireland and anybody in Canada, usually grow very well in our garden. In contrast, I have never managed to keep a French or South African rose alive much less happy. California roses are always iffy, and I tend to wait a year or two after their debuts to purchase them. How do you know the source of a rose? The first three or four letters of a rose’s registered (not market) name are an abbreviation of the producer’s name: Kor, Aus, Poul, Fry. And you know that by checking the New Rose Registrations section of your American Rose magazine. Be aware of Germany’s ADR designation. ADR testing for hardiness and disease resistance is the most rigorous in the world, and rose varieties with this designation are available for purchase in the USA. The Germans are very serious about their ADR Award; so serious that not only can they award it to a given rose, but they can also take it away.

The other criteria for selecting a rose are, in order of their importance to me (you may and should have your own scale), disease resistance, fragrance, form, bloom cycle frequency, substance, petal count and drought tolerance. These qualities can sometimes be determined more by what is left out of a website or catalog description than by what is actually printed. Assume that if disease resistance is not mentioned, you’ll need to spray for blackspot and mildew. Assume that if fragrance is described as light or not described at all, the rose has no fragrance. Assume that if high centers or show form are not mentioned, your rose won’t win Queen of Show. Is your choice needed for garden color and possibly, arranging? In that case, the plant should be a prolific bloomer, and the description should say so. Bloom cycles are dependent on weather and season length. Knowing what you can expect from a hybrid tea or floribunda is based much more on individual experience than it is for, say, an old garden rose which has only one heavy, early summer bloom, or some shrub roses, which will bloom heavily in spring, followed by fewer blooms thereafter, and maybe, a second flush when the weather cools in fall. Substance generally refers to the thickness, texture, crispness, firmness and toughness of the petals. It is a function of the amount of moisture and starch present in the bloom. This is a factor in the bloom’s ability to stand up to rain and other environmental stress, including hail and insect infestation. It is also an important factor in the vase life of a cut bloom, and thus, its show worthiness. Petal count is usually included in a catalog description. Too few petals may mean a rose may open and blow quickly. Brandy is a rose that has too few petals to hold its form. Conversely, too many petals may mean that the rose will never open in our climate. Uncle Joe (Toro) is an example of a rose with too many petals to open well in Colorado. And it should be mentioned here that a website or catalog listing of the height and width of a rose is based on what the rose is capable of where it was bred. If the rose is a product of Oregon or California, it usually will not attain its stated height and width where the climate is more severe. Conversely, Canadian roses, for the most part, will grow as much as third to a half again higher and wider than they do in Ontario. Austin roses may grow higher and wider here and have fewer disease problems than they do in England because our climate is sunnier and less humid.

Many shrub and old garden roses are renowned for their drought tolerance, but catalogs generally have not caught up with the current importance of this quality in a rose and seldom comment upon it. One noteworthy exception is the catalog of High Country Roses, www.highcountryroses.com, which sells drought tolerant roses. You may check on a variety’s drought tolerance with your local consulting rosarians. You may have read about Earth-Kind roses, which have been tested by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service for superior pest tolerance, outstanding landscaping performance, and heat and drought tolerance. Be aware that while they may be drought tolerant, several of the relatively few cultivars with this designation are not truly hardy and vigorous on the front range of the Rockies.

So now you know how to choose a rose. Just don’t fall in love in a greenhouse.

Fungicides Made Simple

Jul 17, 2024 | BASIC ROSE CARE

Disease is a major source of plant damage in roses, with the most common rose diseases being caused by fungus. While some rarely-contracted rose diseases are caused by viruses or bacteria, more often than not, it is fungi that wreak havoc in our rose gardens. Nationwide, blackspot fungus (Diplocarpon rosae Wolf) is the most common rose disease. Powdery mildew (Alphitomorpha pannosa) runs a close second in its commonality, but unlike blackspot outbreaks tend to be seasonal. Occasionally, outbreaks of downy mildew (Peronospora sparsa Berkeley) and botrytis blight (Botritis cinerea) may be found, but these diseases appear much less frequently than either blackspot or powdery mildew.

Damage due to fungal attack can range from one extreme to another on the seriousness scale – from repeated loss of leaves (weakening the plant) to less damaging symptoms of minimal lesions (spots) on foliage and canes. Roses with high levels of infection produce less new growth and fewer blooms because their leaves (which are needed for photosynthesis) are affected by disease and fall off. Because of the important role that foliage plays in the overall health of the rosebush, repeated defoliation ultimately impacts the health and longevity of the plant.

Roses differ in their susceptibility to fungal attack, with modern hybrid teas being the most susceptible. If left untreated, infected susceptible roses can lose a large percentage of their leaves. Fifty years ago, Dr. Griffith Buck identified the correlation of leaves to plant hardiness, finding that roses with the ability to hold onto their leaves even when infected by fungus were hardier, more disease resistant landscape plants. This correlation has been reinforced through the Earth-Kind Rose Research Program being conducted through a partnership between the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the Houston Rose Society.

Managing Fungal Diseases

Fungal diseases are best managed through a multidisciplinary approach that includes plant selection, planting times, level of fertility, sanitation and applications of fungicides. Some roses exhibit more tolerance than others to attack by common diseases. The susceptibility of a rose variety to disease will dictate the management practices that must be employed to maintain the health of the garden site.

There are many roses on the market that have exhibited tolerance to disease; however, there is an even larger population of roses that are highly susceptible to fungal diseases. The gardener’s job is to balance plant selections so that management of fungal diseases in their roses can be attained within the maintenance parameters the gardener has available. Planting young new roses at times when environmental conditions are ripe for disease development, without protecting those plants against attack, tends to invite the disease process. Some hypothesize that excessive fertilization in early spring and late fall (when weather conditions support disease formation) can initiate the process. There is some logic to this theory as blackspot and powdery mildew tend to attack new plant growth first. Heavy fertilization encourages the development of new growth that, if left unprotected, is fair game for fungal pathogens seeking a host. However, cultural practices alone will not eliminate diseases from the garden.

“Fungicides” are a specific type of pesticide that control disease by inhibiting or killing the disease-causing fungus. They work by attacking and damaging cell membranes, interfering with energy production or interfering with the life cycle of the fungus.

Some of the newer disease treatments on the market do not directly affect the fungus itself, but instead boost the plant’s natural defense system causing the plant to produce thicker cell walls and anti-fungal proteins so that the plant is better able to defend itself when disease pressures are high. Examples of this would be products like Messenger and similar “biorational” treatments.

While most fungicides are only capable of protecting uninfected growth from disease, only a handful are effective against pathogens once infection occurs. For this reason, to be effective most fungicides should be applied when environmental conditions are right for disease development, before disease occurs or at the first appearance of symptoms.

Types of Fungicides

Fungicides fall into two categories — “curatives” (products that attack fungi that have already infected the plant) or “preventatives” (products that inoculate plant tissue so that the plant is better able to fight off disease). Fungicides with curative properties would include products sold under the trade names, Mancozeb, Manzate and Fore and products containing maneb. Preventative fungicides would include products such as Rose Pride (formerly known as Funginex), Rose Defense, Daconi and products containing Neem oil.

Some homeowners start applying fungicides to their roses only when the plants lose all their leaves and then stop spraying once new growth emerges. Other gardeners use fungicides for the wrong purpose — for example using a preventative on a bush exhibiting symptoms of heavy blackspot infection. These treatment approaches are wholly ineffective in controlling fungal diseases.

Once defoliation occurs, preventative fungicides become ineffective. In this instance, applications of a curative fungicide, such as Mancozeb, applied every five days for three weeks (or as directed on the manufacturer’s label) is critical to establish disease control. I have found that it takes three weeks of regular applications of a curative fungicide in addition to good garden housekeeping to reestablish disease control. The need to spray should be dictated by the four factors: the health of the rose, the environmental conditions, including the level of disease pressure that may be present, the disease susceptibility of the rose and the desired level of plant perfection.

Disease Control With Fungicides

Fungicides come in powder, granular and liquid form. Most are mixed with water and applied by spraying the mixture onto the plant. A few fungicides are applied to the soil where they break down into compounds taken up by the plant making the plant toxic to the disease. For spray applications, coverage of all parts of the plant (upper and lower leaf surfaces and from the top to the bottom of the plant) is critical because very few fungicides have the ability to be absorbed into plant tissue and move through the plant. One exception would be Aliette, which is applied as a spray treatment and then translocates through the plant’s system from the leaves to the roots and back to the foliage on a “seek and destroy” mission.

On susceptible roses, effective control of fungal diseases may necessitate multiple applications of fungicides — sometimes as frequently as once weekly from the first flush of new growth in the spring until the first hard frost in the fall. These repeated applications are necessary to protect emerging new growth and to replace fungicide product lost by decomposition, degradation by sunlight and/or removal by wind and water. Unfortunately, repetitive applications of the same fungicide can lead to the fungus developing resistance to the treatment — making treatment applications ineffective.

Keeping susceptible roses healthy requires some application of fungicides, especially when conditions support disease development. Blackspot spores germinate and infiltrate cell tissue when temperatures are between 65 – 85° F and when moisture is present on the foliage for seven hours or more. Powdery mildew tends to appear when humidity is high but conditions are dry and cool (warm days/cool nights).

Fungicide labels contain the words “contact” and “systemic”, which is a general description of the method by which the product kills fungal pathogens. Contact fungicides are applied to and remain on the plant surface and do not penetrate into plant tissues. Contact fungicides must come in contact with the disease-causing pathogen to be effective. Examples of contact fungicides are Mancozeb, Fore, Manzate and Daconil.

Often these types of fungicides leave a spray residue on leaves and stems, and only the parts of the plant with spray residue are protected from infection. Contact fungicides are very sensitive to the environment and are usuallyf effective for seven to 14 days, however product life depends on the amount of rain/irrigation the bush receives and the amount of UV rays the chemical is exposed to. One to two inches of rain will reduce the residue of contact fungicides by half, but rainfall of two inches or more will eliminate the product from the plant. The product label will provide direction on application frequency.

Systemic fungicides, sometimes called “penetrants”, are absorbed into the plant and have the ability to move from the application site (similar to how blood moves through our bodies). The distance that systemics are able to move within the plant is dependent on the nature and type of fungicide used. Some systemic fungicides stay in the leaf tissue. Others have the ability to travel from the leaves to the root system, but not back up through the plant structure. Only a few systemic fungicides, like Aliette, can travel up and down freely within the plant. Some of the common systemic fungicides used in rose gardening are Aliette, Fertilome Liquid Systemic Fungicide, Monterey Fungi-Fighter, Rose Pride (Funginex) and Bonide Systemic Fungicide.

Mode of Action – How They Work

How a fungicide works is called its “mode of action.” Fungicides are manufactured in such a way that their modes of action attack either “single” or “multiple” sites within a fungus. Single-site fungicides target one critical component (usually an enzyme or protein) needed by the fungus for survival. The slightest mutation of the fungus impedes the effectiveness of the fungicide treatment by camouflaging the product’s target. Fungicides with single-site modes of action are Rose Pride (Funginex) and Green Light Systemic Fungicide.

Genetic mutation of fungi is more common than we may think. There are 54 known variations of blackspot fungus in North America, and these variations or “races” of the disease are frequently geographically specific. Roses resistant to one race of blackspot fungus may prove susceptible to other races of the disease.

Fungicides designed to attack multiple sites are usually effective against different types of disease components within a fungus. These types of fungicides treat a variety of disease components so that in the event that there is a mutation of one particular enzyme/protein in the pathogen’s make-up, there are usually other non-mutated disease components for the fungicide to attack. Contact fungicides typically affect multiple sites in fungi. Examples of multi-site fungicides are Mancozeb, Manzate, Aliette, FertilomeLiquid Systemic Fungicide, Ortho Garden Disease Control and Daconil.

To Spray or Not to Spray

In North Texas it is not uncommon for hybrid tea roses to require 15 to 20 applications of fungicides per year to maintain plant health. Along the Gulf Coast, environmental conditions can dictate even more applications and for a longer period of time. Sometimes even hardy roses may require a few spray applications when environmental conditions support disease development and disease pressures around the garden are high. A good disease management approach includes cultural and environmental controls, in conjunction with the right type of fungicide, including:

Plants must get six to eight hours of full direct sunlight;
Having adequate spacing between plants (a minimum of 2 feet between mature plants);
Avoiding wetting the leaves during irrigation and not watering plants at night;
Removing leaf litter in and around the bushes;
Moderate fertilization; and
Rotation of fungicide products that have different “modes of action” to delay the development of the resistance to chemical treatments.

A gardener need not hold a Ph.D. in chemistry, toxicology or plant pathology to effectively treat fungal diseases. With all of the rose care products on the market today it may seem a daunting process to select the right product for the disease process in your own garden. This is where a local consulting rosarian can help.

Gaye Hammond (gayeh@lpm-triallaw.com, ‘Fungicides Made Simple’, Summer 2013. Basal Breaks, Jeff and Cindy Garrett (rirjeff@aol.com), eds., Tri-State Rose Society of Chattanooga.

The Perfect Rose Hole

Jul 17, 2024 | BASIC ROSE CARE

by Satish Prabhu, Master Rosarian, Carolina District Rose Society

There are many formulae for creating a rose bed and rose soil. Some are very simple and some very complex, suggesting using many different kinds of amendments. A large range of width, length, and depth of individual planting holes and beds are recommended. What is a beginner to do? Often we feel that a new rosarian seeking some advice and info is discouraged and driven away by the complexities of what we might recommend with the best of intentions. Is all of it really necessary? We were on a tour in Denmark not too long ago and were touring an old coastal fishing village. The tour guide was explaining how all the roads (three to be exact ) were totally paved with locally sourced paver stones about three hundred years ago and the original pavement was still intact, only getting stronger and compacted, and more durable each year. The pavement extended from front wall to front wall of residences and shops lining up either side of the road. Just then a lady came out of her front door.

In her hand she had a small bag of compost, a small rose bush (what is known here as liners, and they come with their roots bundled in a small cylindrical root ball wrapped in plastic), and a very narrow digging hand trowel. Certainly, it caught my attention as she started to slowly dig up one paver stone, I stayed behind and started watching, while my group proceeded towards the only ice cream shop in the village. She slowly dug a cylindrical hole about five inches in width and ten inches in depth, removed the plastic bag wrapping the root ball, carefully eased the plant in the hole and back-filled remaining space with compost, leveled the ground, and picked up her tool and the single paver stone, and stood up admiring her handy work.

She was very aware of me watching her with interest and she looked at me and smiled. “And that will grow?” I asked. “Of course, it will, just like all these other roses you see here”, she said, pointing at many roses growing on the sides of the road, presumably planted very similarly! I have been thinking for a very long time, “There must be an easier and simpler way to do this” and my experience and seeing this demo convinced me that there must be one! In the last few years, I have started recommending and to some extent doing in my own garden, that we simply dig a hole about 18″ x 18″ x 12 ” deep. Then simply add one cubic ft. of a good grade potting soil such as Miracle-Gro, Vigoro, Fertilome, or any other brand or a quality compost of any kind and mix it with the soil dug from the planting hole. (Only one, any one of all of the above). It will be exactly about a third in volume. Then proceed to plant your rose in it. The resultant soil level will be about three inches higher than the surrounding ground surface and this will help the rose from getting drowned from excess water. Then add a three-inch layer of mulch, available in big box stores, and you are done. And it does work!

This applies to both container-grown roses and bare root roses. In a way, planting roses, simplified. I am in no way discouraging anyone from going the traditional route of extensive soil and rose bed preparations and sending a soil sample and prepping the soil in fall for spring planting and….! Go for it, if you are so inclined!

All photos by Satish Prahbu

Rose Garden Lingo, A Jocular Interpretation

Jul 17, 2024 | BASIC ROSE CARE

by Douglas Witt, Master Rosarian emeritus, Carolina Rose Society

The hobby of growing roses encompasses a vast array of ‘people, places, and things’, and can lead to interesting outgrowths such as the words often used by rosarians in their daily discourse. Admittedly these may be used less today than when I began growing roses, and may not apply exclusively to roses, but dabbling into a portion of this patter might be of interest to newer participants in the hobby.

Some words or phrases have become the equivalent of inveterate speech and yet may lack relevance to a newcomer. Many terms are colorful which I feel adds a bit of ‘moxie’ or spirit to the hobby. In giving my take on these idioms I will add a little tongue-in-cheek humor of perhaps one’s first impression formed upon hearing the word initially. After that I will follow with a more comprehensive explanation of its usage or meaning.

I have been accused of being too staid at times, and in our hurried world of today we need a touch of humor to lighten the seriousness so let’s have a little fun!

Listed in no particular sequence I will begin with:

HIP – My grandchildren have a neoteric use of the word….slang for ‘in the know, or ‘with it’! Actually, it is the colorful fruit of the rose. Shakespeare mentioned hips in his writings. It is known that in ancient times hips were used for medicinal purposes, jewelry, perfumes, and even as food. Close examination of a mature hip reveals its resemblance to the early development stage of apples; and for good reason. Roses and apples are members of the same large genus, Rosaceae. ABIOVE: Rose Hips photo by Sally Long

Unfortunately, many of today’s modern hybrid roses produce sterile seeds or none at all which are contained in hips; thus no hips are forthcoming on the plant.

COAT HANGER – A convenient spot to hang one’s coat while working in the garden? Also called a ‘hat tree’, it is a description for an errant pruning cut on a cane made above a bud-eye leaving excessive length (or a stub) which will wither in time. This can provide an avenue for fungi such as canker to enter, and could eventually lead to loss of part, or all of the cane. When pruning, cut ¼ to 3/8 inch above a bud and seal with a material that hardens upon drying.

SPORT – The usage of this word is unrelated to the term associated with an amiable individual or a flashy playboy. Instead, it is for a cane possessing different bloom color, form, or other notable growth traits which are unlike that of the plant from which it emanates. It is the result of an alteration of the cell structure, a genetic mutation, that changes the make-up of the host plant at that juncture. It is perhaps a new variety to be propagated and is a rare occurrence in the garden.

DEADHEADING – This provocative word is not a reference to the dastardly use of the guillotine during the French Revolution of 1789. Rather, it is the act of removing spent blooms or dead flower heads. Roses bloom as a means of perpetuating the species by producing seed as do all flowering plants. Modern roses bloom repeatedly during a growing season and as each cycle is completed removal of the spent blooms serves to instigate fresh growth and bloom in a controlled manner. This removal also aids in preventing the presence of fungi such as botrytis on mature petals both on the plant and in the mulch where they well eventually drop to if unattended.

SINGLE-SITE – I’ll wager that one’s first thoughts upon reading those words were of a club or singles bar where unattached throngs congregate. Wrong! It is a term used to describe a systemic fungicide’s mode of control. It enters the stem and foliage to neutralize only one site within the fungi’s composition, interrupting its integrity and preventing viable reproduction. When using the same product continuously its effectiveness may wane as the single-site within the fungi may be replaced by a modified or mutated gene resistant to the product. Thus, the admonition to alternate products with a different mode of action.

CONFUSED CENTER – Let me guess! A first impression was of a term used by a non-exhibitor to describe an avid exhibitor’s thought processing core. No! It is a term used in judging Hybrid Tea roses at a rose show indicating that a bloom has petal alignment faults at its center. The ideal bloom has a high, spiraled center with petals gradually falling away to form a symmetrical outline that is more-or-less circular when viewed from overhead.

BLIND SHOOT – There is no connection of this term to a blindfolded marksman at a target range. It is the description of a stem with no bloom bud at its tip. A rather indelicate choice of words to indicate a condition found frequently in a rose garden, particularly in cooler weather. There are various causes of this condition including insects, climatic conditions, and hereditary factors.

ROOTSTOCK – The word has no connection to a massive rock-star gathering such as occurred in the mid-twentieth century at Woodstock. It is instead a reference to the rugged stock onto which a desirable scion is affixed to improve its growth habits and productive output. It was discovered that certain families of plants grow larger and produce more bloom and/or fruit when grafted onto a hardy, compatible rootstock. Roses fall within this category.

GRAFTING – This is not a reference to the act of obtaining money or position by underhanded means. It is the process of inserting a bud or scion into a slit in another stock from which it will draw vital fluids and continue to grow. Presently there are several different rose stocks that are compatible to use for grafting onto. Each imparts its own growth or other desirable traits to the affixed bud or scion as it develops.

DIE-BACK – One might think it refers to the rebound of a pair of dice from a backboard during a craps game at a Vegas casino. It is instead an expression used to identify a condition of partial or entire cane loss. It is the aftermath of numerous incidents including cultivation injuries, cane boring insects, inclement weather, vole activity, and fungus diseases such as canker. I hesitate to say it, but even old age can be a factor. The occurrence should be promptly attended to as it can lead to a further spread of the condition or attract unwanted pests.

SUCKER – Usually the first thing that comes to mind is a gullible being that easily falls for deceitful practices. In this instance it is superfluous growth (a shoot) emanating from the rootstock of a grafted cultivar. It can be readily identified as its appearance will be noticeably different from that originating from the grafted hybrid. It can be a long, lanky cane with an overabundance of thorns, lighter foliage with more or less leaves, and may bear blooms of a different color and form. It should be removed as soon as discovered since it will assimilate nutrients and water intended for the grafted hybrid. To be sure it is a sucker and not a sport, trace its point of origination which should be below the graft site. ‘Own Root’ roses do not produce suckers.

CROWN – In this circumstance it is not a tiara worn by a sovereign monarch. It is however the area on a rootstock where a bud or scion was grafted, and from which the principal growth of it will emanate. It will increase in size over time, obtaining an extensive dimension after several years, and should not be subjected to injury lest the plant falter or die. It represents the future of the plant and will require a form of winter protection in colder climate zones to enhance its survival probability.

GRADE NO. 1 – I like to think of our hobby as a grade #1. But for this essay it refers to the top-quality rosebush available for purchase. The system was established years ago by the American Association of Nurserymen in setting standards for grading field grown, bare root, two-year old (referring to the rootstock), grafted rosebushes. Hybrid Teas must have three or more heavy canes at least ½ inch in diameter within three inches of the graft union (crown). At least two of these should be 18 inches long (before being pruned for convenience in handling). Floribundas must meet the same requirements except the canes can be a couple of inches shorter, and Climbers must have canes a few inches longer.

Of course the American Rose Society (www.rose.org) is grade #1 in the world of roses. It is the foremost authority on all phases of the hobby and welcomes any inquiry concerning the world of roses.

In this brief paper I have covered only a portion of the many words or phrases used by rosarians in their pursuit of the hobby. A search in an encyclopedia or the dictionary will reveal that many words have multiple meanings, but that is another topic.

I have had fun compiling this short list of rose lingo and hope it has been enlightening as well as perhaps produced a chuckle or two along the way. It is interesting as to how the mind can interpret a word or term upon first hearing it. Many times a first impression can be incomplete or even erroneous, but curiosity can serve to stimulate the mind’s imaginative capability be it for frivolity or for seriousness.

All photos by Rita Perwich unless otherwise specified.