Adding Markers for Roses as Part of Your Fall Rose Care
The fall calendar is full of many outdoor activities. Apple picking, pumpkin carving, leaf raking and….getting some of your summer landscaping ready to face the coming winter months. If you are blessed all summer with glorious roses, then you want to take care of those plants this fall as you prepare for winter’s cold and dry weather. Pruning, mulching, watering and markers for roses are all recommended as part of your fall to do list.
During the harsh winter, your roses face several challenges. To begin with they can become very thirsty. Secondly, the cycle of freezing and thawing which happens in the ground and with exposed limbs can be deadly. Last, there are pests which can eat or survive to damage your plants next spring. Here’s how to protect against these common rose enemies.
Pruning
Not every rose will need the same kind of pruning. The important thing to note is that during warm, summer months, pruning will encourage growth. Severe pruning for winter needs to take place when you run no risk of prompting tender shoots that will be blighted by winter weather. This usually means around late November (do it over your Thanksgiving holiday).
Climbing roses: Once the leaves are dead and gone for the season and the branches(canes) have stiffened, lay them down in preparation for mulching. Little pruning is required.
Shrub roses: You will want to cut these back but since they haven’t got a graft junction as hybrids do, winter will not be quite as risky for them. Still, trim them down low enough that you won’t have lots of branches being exposed to warming (in the winter sun) and freezing (in the winter night).
Hybrid roses: On hybrid roses you will want to prune away any spindly or weak limbs. Leave three to five strong canes 12-18” high.
Watering
Soak roses well before the ground freezes. Plants will get thirsty over the long, dry winter months.
Mulching
After the leaves on your roses have died, be sure to pick off any remaining ones. Otherwise fungus or other blights can linger all winter long and cause hinder growth come spring. You will be mulching to shield roots and graft unions from expansion and contraction as well as from the drying effects of winter blasts.
Climbing roses: Cover the canes you have laid to the ground completely with mulch
Shrub roses: Make sure there is three to four inches of mulch in the rose bed. You can feed with fertilizer several weeks before the first hard freeze but, mid-September is too late.
Hybrid roses: Bury the root and juncture spots in eight inches of mulch.
Before you mulch is the time to identify your plants clearly with markers for roses. Your roses need and deserve your care and attention all through the year. By marking them, you can draw attention to their beauty in summer and be aware of their exact location in winter. Kincaid Plant Markers make the best markers for roses. Kincaid markers will stand up to every season and continue looking great and reading clearly. Order yours today and be prepared for your fall rose duties.
