By Baxter Williams Houston Rose Society
The three most important additives for roses are water, water, and water.
If you haven’t noticed, IT IS SUMMER! And the rains have come, and gone, and the plants need water. It’s as simple as that.
Friends, for maximum bloom production put the water on the bushes any way that you can – on the flower bed mulch with a garden hose, or with an impulse sprinkler, or with a “whirly-gig” spinning rig, or an overhead oscillating sprinkler, or all of the above – again, any way that you can.
* Have you been told watering at night will cause a fungus? Wrong.
* Were you told that droplets of water on the leaflets will “burn” the plant? That’s rubbish.
Do it early in the morning, or at noon, or in the heat of the afternoon, or evenings, or at night. Or go sophisticated and install an irrigation system. To give you a reference point, a fully-foliaged Hybrid Tea rose needs approximately 5-gallons of water each week in July-September.
A top notch rose grower in Pasadena “plants” an empty cat food can at ground level in the rose bed, and when it is full that is just the right amount.
There are low-care varieties available, known as “Earth Kind” varieties, and how they are tested with no care except watering to prevent death during droughts. The Earth Kinds don’t need as much water to not die, but they are so much healthier when given water.
