Some Pet Roses in the Garden


by Bill George

Just to update you on the latest report from the George's rear garden, I'm happy to say the garden looks splendid! If you read my article last month, I was the guy beating myself up with a guilt stick for not checking soil pH sooner. The soil report had my pH at 7.9 which was much too alkaline for roses. So far I've added one application of aluminum sulfate with tremendous results. For the most part, my back yard garden has bounced back with bloom production such as I've never seen before. As of this writing on July 1, I've still got lots of color remaining. Keep in mind that being in South Lyon we're a little cooler than most other members who live closer to the city, thus your bloom stages are a week to two weeks ahead of me. It sure was great to see healthy plants in the back yard finally after two seasons of darn near "crop failure".

Every year I seem to have a few "pet" roses. Last year I think it was a toss-up between Carey Grant and Magic Lantern. Cary Grant sits in a container next to my garage door and greets visitors to my driveway with its vibrant orange blooms. This plant knows how to produce manly canes as it reached 7 ft. in height last year. I don't think I'm going to get that type of height this year, but it still looks majestic. Magic Lantern doesn't have near the stature in height but for what it lacks there, it makes up in bloom production. And pretty blooms they are! Sort of a buff yellow with just a hint of pink. It puts out a very regal display every year. Speaking of pink, have you ever seen a Princesse de Monaco? The bloom starts outs at the base dressed in white and as it moves up toward the center of the spiral, turns to a neon pink to edge the petals. The 1998 ARS Handbook list it as a white rose but it is far from being a pure white rose. This year I think I'm leaning more toward Europena with its red splashes that never seem to quit. Last year, I had one plant, this year, I have four. Does that tell you anything regarding my bias toward this plant?

It seems that for every rose bloom out there, there is a pesky critter that waits to make it into a salad. My problem this past month was with rose beetles. Those are the greenish-grey bugs that like to fly in on light or white blooms and set up for the smorgasboard. For a while Sue and I diligently picked them off the blooms by hand and squished them between the thumb and index finger or dropped them in a bucket of water to drown. Not great swimmers, know what I mean? But then, things got out of hand and we couldn't keep up with them all. As a last resort, I went to my insecticide aresenal, I mixed up a little brew which included Immunox for fungus control and Sevin for the visiting bugs. One application seemed to remedy the problem to a tolerable state. I'm still picking a few beetles, but nothing like what I had at their peak population.

Once this bloom cycle is completed I'm planning on another fertilizer application, may be with a little higher middle number to encourage another great repeat bloom production. There will be some more aluminum sulfate in our near future. I'll probably brew up a tea to soak in my new elevated solar heated watering system and administer as I water. Something with some "Michigan road apples" and alfalfa. If this sounds more than a little intriguing, I'll be happy to show it off to anyone who inquires about it at the DRS Pot Luck Picnic this August 1 at our house. There are a lot of nice people in the DRS and this is a great time to meet them if you haven't before. Looking forward to seeing you all here.

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