How to prune roses this Spring

SPRING PRUNING of established roses is always a gamble. If you prune too early, late spring frosts can kill all the canes. If you prune too late, some of the plants’ strength will be lost in the growth of the top shoots (spinach). You and you alone must be the judge of when to prune your roses. All roses must […]

Rose Leaf – Black Spot

Black spot treatment A term which can be used to describe certain plant diseases which reveal themselves as black spots on the leaves. Some are quite startling in the color contrast with the green of the leaf, for example, black or tar spot on sycamore leaves. But the best known of all ornamental plant black spot diseases is that which […]

Potted Shrub Roses for Instant Color

Do you have small space to plant or little time to garden? Then look no further than a shrub rose. A potted StarĀ® Landscape Shrub Rose blooms from spring well into fall frost with little care for year-round color and non-stop blooming Shrub roses look beautiful cascading from a hanging basket or spilling over the sides of a container, either […]

Valentine Roses

Valentine’s Day has just passed, and if you were lucky, someone you love gave you roses to celebrate the occasion. All the romance and fragrance in the air bring to mind one of history’s great love stories-that of Napoleon and Josephine. Naturally the whole tale is full of roses. It is fitting that Josephine began life with a rose in […]

Rose Gardening

All About Roses – C. Simone Given a writer with a willing pen, a day of June, a garden across which the soft wind comes full of the mingled scent of rose blossom-the delicate fragrance of the Teas, the deep scent of the full-colored Hybrid Perpetual’s and the old garden roses such as Cabbage, Provence and Sweetbriar, and the aromatic […]

PROTECTING PLANTS FROM WINTER DAMAGE

Besides ice dams on the roof and piles of snow in the driveway, horticultural injury is a fact of life during northern winters. Surprisingly, there are many ways that otherwise long-lived plants may meet their demise in between growing seasons. Direct injury from exposure to cold temperature is the most obvious, and as a result, most gardeners and homeowners pay […]

Propagating Roses

Because of the complexity of their pedigrees, roses other than the species cannot be grown true to variety from seeds. They are mainly propagated by budding, although they can be rooted from cuttings. They are, however, not so vigorous as those that are budded. Growing from Cuttings Hardwood cutĀ­tings, about 1 ft. long and 1/4 in. in diameter, are taken […]

Roses have deep history and many styles to choose from

Roses have a deep history behind them as well as their beauty. There are fossils of roses dated 35-40 millions years ago and are thought to originate in Asia. The oldest fossils were found in Colorado, Oregon and Montana, with younger fossils found in Yugoslavia and Germany. The oldest identified rose is Rosa gallica, commonly called the French Rose, can […]

Gold Of Ophir

Gold Of Ophir For centuries and perhaps even millennia people have been searching for the source of the Gold of Ophir. My own search started last week, and I am pleased to say that my shipment of the fabled cargo should arrive sometime in May. It all began when I opened up a popular magazine and read an essay written […]

Do you have the Correct Bedding Plants in your Garden?

The description bedding plant is not an exact one and only means that the plant is grown elsewhere in some quantity and then planted out as a temporary occupant of the bed; this being known as `bedding out’. The bedding plant in private gardens has, in general, had its day, since this style of gardening entails much expense. In public […]