Take a Hike and then Prune Your Roses

I must start this week’s column with a happening that has nothing to do with gardening! It’s about one of my favorite Arizona landmarks, The Grand Canyon. Hiking the Grand Canyon is high on any outdoorsman’s list, and as an avid outdoorsman I’d yet to check it off my list. I decided that the time had come.

Any literature regarding this mile deep gorge emphatically states: “Do NOT attempt to hike down and back up the canyon in one day. Such an attempt may be cause for a very expensive helicopter ride, or death.”

Well, Brad DeKruyter, general manager of Watters Garden Center, and I did just that over Presidents’ Day weekend; and we survived it! We lived a unique experience that neither of us will soon forget. At dawn the temperature on the rim was 13 degrees; at the river’s edge it was a comfortable 67. Upon reaching the bottom we spent one hour resting our feet in the river’s edge and then started our hike back out of the canyon. Counting the time spent gawking, admiring, resting, sunbathing, and all the rest that comes with hiking the canyon, the official time of our 21-mile trek was 9 hours and 13 minutes.

I have no regrets; a few blistered toes are a small price for an adventure of a lifetime! For me, the Herculean effort was tempered because Brad was my intrepid hiking buddy. He is a down right good gardener, he’s a friend, and an exceptional outdoorsman. We had a blast!
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After that last winter storm and the warm temps that followed, I feel spring in the air, and spring makes me want to prune my roses. There’s no rush to complete this annual task; the important thing is to do it. Rosebushes that have been properly pruned will yield blooms with much better fragrance and color.

Hybrid tea and floribunda varieties continue their wave of popularity and it’s convenient that both are pruned in the same manner. Every year, when I first look at these bushes with my pruners in hand, I always get the feeling that I don’t know where to start cutting! However, with many rose-pruning seasons under my belt, I’ve found five easy steps that guide me to making my roses the best they can be. With these steps anyone can easily knock out a dozen properly pruned hybrid tea or floribunda rosebushes in an afternoon.

Step #1 - cut out all dead canes. Make sure you wear a good pair of gloves for this step. The dead thorns can really hurt, draw much blood, and even leave scars. Trust me; this gardener has a few such battle scars, which is why I strongly recommend a good pair of rose gloves.

Step #2 - cut off wild-looking canes and any crossing branches. Usually you’ll find the wild-looking canes growing from the bottom of the graft, close to the ground. These canes are from the original rose rootstock; you don’t want them on your bushes so cut them back to the graft. These are easily identified because their thorns look different from the bush’s other thorns; they’re heavier and sharper. Crossing branches are any that are growing across others, contradicting the overall shape of the bush.

Step #3 - cut out old canes. These are canes that are an inch or more thick and have bark starting to form on them. Cutting out these old canes will open up the bush and create the desired structure for the plant. For this job I break out my favorite pair of long-handled pruners. They are specialty pruners for sale only at garden centers, but they’re perfect for this job. They permit the user a deep reach into the bush without fear of being badly “thorned”.

Step #4 - prune out any canes that have suffered winter damage. These canes appear green on the bottom with a red to purple color on the tops that have been injured by frost. The goal is to end up with a bush that is knee to waist high and with 3 to 6 evenly spaced canes coming from the main graft near the ground.

Step #5 - seal any cut cane that is larger around than your pinkie finger. This will keep bugs from burrowing into the exposed soft wood. I like the black pruning paint that comes in a can with a small brush attached to the cap; it makes this job easier.

Now that your rosebush pruning is finished for another year, you should wind up your session with a little spring cleaning. Remove any dead leaves and flowers from around the graft so that air can circulate freely around the base of each plant. If you have had problems with powdery mildew on certain bushes, make sure you pull all remaining leaves off the canes and really clean up thoroughly. This will reduce the possibility of mildew returning.

Spray the newly pruned rose with ‘Lime Sulfur’. This liquid spray is all natural and cleans the remaining bush of any powdery mildew, aphids, and thrips.

Now feed your roses. I am a strong believer in rose foods with a systemic bug control. The plant actually absorbs the bug killer into the foliage to keeps bugs at bay. With this preventive treatment you’re finished setting up your roses for a season of beautiful blooms!

If you want to learn more from this local gardener I invite you to my classes at the garden center each Saturday morning from 9 to 10:30. The topic of this week’s class is “Keeping the Mammals O-U-T”. Bring photos of your landscape and we can discuss your specific issues after class. Make sure to arrive early because class sizes are limited. The entire schedule of spring classes is posted on my web site at wattersonline.com.

Until next week, I'll see you in the garden center.
Throughout the week Ken Lain is at Watters Garden Center, 1815 W. Iron Springs Road, Prescott, and can be contacted through his web site at www.wattersonline.com. Ken says, "My personal mission is to help local homeowners garden better in our mountain landscapes."

Until next week, I'll see you in the garden center.