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| Julia Child is one of the showcase roses (clearance - ha!) |
Yesterday I planted the last bare root rose (rainbow collection, clearance, free shipping). That rose was already leafed out - green leaves growing from the stem. Pale leaves often do not mean much, but these get some overhead sun while soaking.
People forget the "early rain and the latter rain."
Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
Deuteronomy 11:14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
The early rain germinates the seed, so the roots follow the water downward, making the plant more stable and able to stay healthy.
The latter rain brings the plant to fruition, quite an energy demand as the flower turns into a case of food enclosing seed.
This only happens because plants are comprised of cells which are clusters of chemical factories, each one having specific tasks and outcomes.
Gardening should mean observing the principles of Creation, not the fads promoted by the hardware store.
This year I have left more roses in more rainwater than ever before. The first were the Veterans Honor, which also benefited from a combination of lengthy rains and sunshine, not just one or the other. Their jump into blooming startled me and the Military Gardening Group as well. We had bunches of flowers, intensely red. "Look at that one. Look at this one - five blooming at once!
The first and second rainbow selection (don't start on me) proved that a rose soaking in water longer would leaf out faster than its buddy that was planted first. Today I watered all five. The first two, planted first because they should be showpieces, are still rather bare of leaves. The last three are leafed out in green.
Yes, the types could make a difference - and so should the size of the bare root plant. This is not science, but I am more credible Faux-ci.
Some are pretty big and stout (the showpieces) so they would need longer to be saturated with rain.
My advice, based on experience, is to soak bare root roses in rainwater (or stored water, free of chlorine) with the stems out of the water, sunlight allowed.
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| Heirloom Rose - another clearance rose - times 3 - for $10 each, not $39. |
Part Deux
I like the French sound - Part Deux.
After roses are planted, I dote on the canes and keep them moist daily with a watering can (rainwater or stored water). Early in the morning is good; late in the day will make the slugs happy.
Water droplets do not burn plants.
The top layer of every rose planting is a generous amount of Peat Humus or compost. Compost is great if you like hauling, stirring, and hauling tons of plant material. Peat Humus is inexpensive, easy to wheelbarrow to the right place, and not full of weeds.
I like using large amounts of mulch around the rose bush. This suppresses weeds and marks the bush so it is not bumped over, "weeded," or neglected. Wood mulch is attractive, too.
Calm Down about Weeds
Every living root should be kept in the soil as long as possible. I have a patch in the Rose Garden that went wild last year. We mowed it down, but it comes back strong. The good side is that the weeds are building the soil, 75% of additions come from roots. They also penetrate the clay soil, break it up, and send rain down their root systems for many different benefits.
I can prune a weed away from a rose, perhaps planted by a prankster squirrel who knows his treasure is protected. Squirrels all have degrees from MIT (Mammalian Institute of Treachery), so do not doubt their intentions.
Hauling weeds away is not my passion. I add them to the mulch layer or tuck them in a convenient place. All the rain gutter trash - a veritable greenhouse of new plants and compost - went to the Blackberry patch.
