Roses Arrived and Now Circle the Maple Tree. Going Postal on the Slugs

Paradise rose.

The bargain roses for Father's Day came, ten in a surprisingly compact box. The box was quite warm, which may explain why roses are so beat up and dried out when they arrive.

They came via Gurney's from Weeks Roses, a wholesaler. This time I received two of each, one in each pair a very large and well developed plant. In the last shipment, all 10 were very large, more than any of the other companies'.

The first shipment has burst into so much color, so prolifically, that I decided to get more for Father's Day. Our initial agreement was just out the back door, where I had soft soil and mulch. But no, Chris had a better idea this morning.

"Why don't you put them around the maple tree out front?" I said with muted cheerfulness, "Sure." In movies, that is when the sound track starts sound like "wree, wree, wreee, wree" or someone begins chanting in Latin.

Bride's Dream rose.

I knew digging among maple tree roots would be a major challenge, especially since they had been dreadful close to the house.

Experts suggest avoiding maple trees, but there it is, pruned back by our landscaper friend, who loved creating a mountain of branches, logs, twigs, and leaves. The objection of "not enough sun" is met by the bottle brush look of the maple tree. Secondly, I planted as far away from the trunk as I could manage.

Tuscan Sun rose.

The first hole dug was fairly easy and the second one started well - "wree, wree, wree, wree." I hit a block of interconnected roots that were the size of a small loaf of bread. I shoveled, sawed, pried, hammered, and finally dislodged the entire lump.

Meanwhile, I was checking the labels on the roses as I fished them out of the rainwater barrel. They had a long soak and stayed there until the next two holes were dug each time.

I always wanted to grow Europeana, and now I had two of these floribundas to add color to the front yard. The other batch  is mostly floribunda, and I really like the sprays of flowers they produce. So does everyone else.

The others are just as promising, all hybrid teas. I used the shovel to measure distance and 10 fit around the tree just right. Mrs. Ichabod said, "I told you."

Europeana rose has been one of the top floribundas for years.

Hybrid teas are the favorites for vases, but floribundas make good bouquets, too.  So far the floribundas have not had the same staying power when cut. but there are plenty to harvest daily, and this is their first year.

Slugs - Use Egg Shells, Clay Shards, or Diotomaceous Earth

Slug control

Slugs are sensitive to having any kind of cut or abrasion. Some suggest egg shells as free treatment for slugs. I used some clay pot shards around one plant. But I saw more slug damage around younger plants, so I bought a bag of diatomaceous earth.

As the link suggests, watering early in the day is one control. This area is so soggy that we have a flood watch with no rain. The waterways are so full that we could still have flash flooding. Therefore, slugs are well watered and plenty hungry.

On the good side, observing the Eighth Commandment, slugs are mostly underground, where they are moving bags of water. They can cocoon themselves during a dry spell too, so they contribute to the overall moisture of the soil, but locking up water, just as mulch, earthworms, soil creatures do.

This Earned a "Can't Stop Laughing" Comment from an Alumnus - WELS Martin Luther College - Where Gay Is OK"Call Days Underline the Need for Recruitment"

 Hopeless drunk in college? -
expect a call in WELS.
Lead teachers in spiritual values.

CALL DAYS UNDERLINE THE NEED FOR RECRUITMENT

Call day at Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn., saw 86 candidates assigned to their field of ministry. All 2015 graduates available to go anywhere were assigned, but 40 requests for graduates were not able to be filled. A week later at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., 32 graduates and about a dozen previous graduates received assignments, but approximately a dozen requests from congregations seeking a graduate were not able to be filled

It's all in fun, all in fun, all in fun,
until graduation day and the outing ceremony.

Michigan Lutheran Seminary is looking for a few good men,
to dress as women.

One Does Not Simply Harvest Asparagus. How To Attack a Shipment of Bare Root Roses

German Police Alerted to Armed Mob

BERLIN –  Police in rural northeastern Germany rushed out to track down a reported mob of up to 15 people armed with knives and sticks. Instead, they found a group of asparagus harvesters.

Police in the town of Ludwigslust said a man called their emergency number Saturday to report having seen "10 to 15 people armed with knives and sticks" on a local road.

Within minutes, six police cars were on their way to the scene. Officers quickly discovered, however, that the group was asparagus harvesters walking along the road with their work tools as they went to take a lunch break.

***

GJ - We have a beloved cousin living in Berlin, so my wife and I found the news story hilarious, especially since I. Grow. Asparagus.

In other news, the $5 bare root rose bushes arrived, my Father's Day gift from Mrs. I. The previous shipment from Gurney's has been so colorful and abundant that I had to take the second offer instead of Amazon's cordless drill and 87 drill bits.

The first priority was placement. I thought of a colorful row of roses in front of the wild area, but Mrs. I opted for roses close to the kitchen door. I will plant them at the end of the pumpkin patch, which is mulched and sunny. 

A sceptic wondered when I would run out of room for roses. I answered that I have the maple tree to circle with roses and a little room left in the corner of the main rose garden. I doubt whether any bare root roses are left for this year.

Steps in Creation Planting Roses:

• Placement - two factors really matter. One is sunlight. Morning sun is best, so the East is very good for roses. The second is viewing and access. The closer they are to viewing, the better. Just outside the backdoor works well for this group and they have some shade, so they will not cook on the hottest days. Water is easily available, too.
• Soaking - I have two barrels of rainwater for immersing them two hours or more. Judging by how hot the box was, the roses had a good sauna and could use the moisture before planting. The canes need it just as much as the roots. If rainwater is in short supply, stored water in a big barrel or garbage can is good. The chlorine evaporates out in a day or two.
• Digging the holes. If the area is tough to dig, soak it well the night before but not the day of. Digging in sloppy mud is not an experience to repeat. 
• I use a tripod box to measure how far apart I plant the roses. If they are parallel to a fence, I stretch out a line to keep the holes parallel. Otherwise a little bit of irregularity is not a problem as they grow. They are roses, not soldiers.
• If I dig into sod, I keep the lumps for upside-down placement in the hole. They decompose quickly and enrich the soil, packed with roots, worms, and soil microbes. A sod lump also stabilizes the new rose in its place.
• Rose roots can be pruned and often are. The real growth comes after planting. I prune broken ones and long ones that make planting awkward.
• Plant the rose on a pyramid of soil at the bottom of the opening. Pack it with some firmness, but not jumping up and down on the spot. Compacted soil is not good.
• After planting, two steps are important. Soak the soil into place, ideally with rainwater. Prune each cane to spur growth. I soaked the most dried out roses I have ever seen and pruned the dreadful looking canes - and they grew faster than all previous full-priced roses.
• Once planted - water roses daily for two weeks - especially the canes. Watering at the base is not enough at this stage. I often give the roses a shower and wash down the entire plant, long after planting. However, at this stage cane hydration is essential. 
• Mulching can be done or completed later. This is true rose feeding. The first layer is newspapers. I open a section of the newspaper and spread it out. If it is breezy, I soak them first. Wood mulch goes on top the newspapers to hold them down and complete the weed barrier, earthworm and fungus paradise.
• Look for the red-to-green leaves to pop out, some earlier, some later. Rainwater on lagging roses is a good idea. So is pruning another inch off the canes, especially canes that look woody, dead, or harmed at the tips. Water is never going to pass through dead areas so there can be no growth or flowers there until the pruning is done.
• Red wiggler earthworms will do the best in converting the mulch into rose food, tunneling, mixing, and fertilizing. 
  

Roses Do Not Need or Do Well With - 

1. Inorganic fertilizer. The chemical fertilizers drive away earthworms and harm the soil microbes that feed rose roots.
2. Pesticides. Spraying for pests will kill all the beneficial insects (ladybugs, flower flies, ichneumon wasps), harm the earthworms, and keep birds away - no food. Give the beneficials time and opportunity to eat their favorite foods.
3. Neglect. Roses are NOT a lot of work. They do require an appreciation of God's Creation and their needs. Continuous care means pruning - that is - cutting roses off for enjoyment, plus removing deadwood and blackspot. Watering may be necessary at times.

Rove beetles kill the bad guys, so do not kill them with pesticides.

The Jackson Rose Gardens
use Creation principles to have a constant display
of beautiful flowers with little expense and labor.