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How to prepare roses for winter: detailed instructions
In the fall, you need to devote time to the queen of the flower garden and replenish the collection with new copies.
For some reason, roses are considered capricious flowers. Although in fact they thrive in almost any climate. The main thing is to choose the right variety. And caring for them is not at all difficult. There is only one trick: not every plant can be settled in the neighborhood of roses. And how to properly care for the bushes and in favor of which varieties it is better to make a choice for a beginner, we will now tell you.
candidate of agricultural sciences, agricultural technician
Trim? Crop!
Roses in mid-latitudes are pruned several times a year:
in spring, when the first shoots grow a little (1-2 cm);
in summer and autumn, faded brushes are removed to stimulate flowering;
in the fall, long branches are shortened so that they will not be beaten by frost during the winter, and all shoots are thinner than a pencil: they definitely will not overwinter.
To prune properly, remove the leaves to reveal the structure of the bush and the branching pattern. First, cut off the dead, brown shoots. Cut out overlapping branches and thin, weak growths. Finally, shorten what is left; it is worth leaving a quarter, third or half of the entire plant height.
Cut at a 45-degree angle with the outermost bud facing outward. How much to trim, choose yourself. A strong haircut makes the flowers larger, medium or weak gives a large number of small buds.
Resettlement of roses
In the fall, it is better to plant roses with a closed root system, those that are sold in containers. The planting hole should be twice the size of the pot’s earthen clod. Loosen its sides and bottom. Add compost and humus to the backfill soil.
Before planting, completely immerse the pot in water with the addition of root or another preparation to enhance root formation. As soon as the water stops bubbling, remove and wait for excess liquid to drain. Carefully set the lump in the hole, the grafting site should be 5 cm buried in the soil. Cover with earth, compact, create a roller of soil around. Drizzle with the rest of the root-forming water.
For the winter!
Cover up the roses in late autumn: add loose potting soil from a bag or high-moor peat so that the pruned branches are only slightly visible. This will protect the plant from winter winds, thaws and frosts. In the spring, when the young branches grow by 10 cm, the earthen mound can be raked out. Climbing plants are bent to the ground and pinned.
What to choose a newbie?
If you want to plant the queen of the garden for the first time, or if the plants are still dying for various reasons, try buying landscape roses. Breeders have combined under this name varieties that are resistant to diseases and are able to withstand any weather conditions, including frost. But for best results, you will need soil with a neutral pH balance (6,6-7,5), abundant watering, and full sun.
Resistant varieties:
«Bonika-82» – bushes grow up to 80 cm, flowers are pale pink, double, with a darker center. The rest period from flowering lasts only a couple of weeks in August;
“Hello” – ground cover, with crimson double flowers, 6–10 cm in diameter. It competes with weeds with its power of shoots, growth rate and vitality. In winter it endures up to -35 degrees without shelter;
“Deborah” – in the first year, it does not grow tall, and its shoots, with light green foliage, tend to the ground, so it is often confused with a ground cover rose. But as soon as it gets accustomed, and in the second or third year, it shoots strong and strong shoots up to 80-100 cm tall, completely covered with dark pink flowers;
nаdia refers to super-surviving varieties. In terms of stability and properties, nаdia is similar to “hello”, but unlike it, it has a strong aroma, smells like gardenia, flowers in its buds are yellow, closer to wilting, they turn white. From the second year of life, these roses also winter well without shelter;
Pullman Orient Express (yellow-pink) and “Madam meillan” (creamy yellow-pink) will appeal to fans of hybrid tea varieties. They winter well and are disease resistant. They grow on average up to 1,0–1,2 m, have a strong smell, and are unusually spectacular.