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Fall rose care after a challenging summer

Tips to help your roses look their loveliest

Red and white rose blossoms
Autumn intensifies the Betty Boop rose's red lipstick edge. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)



Rose leaf damage
Too much sun and smoke scorched leaves of Queen Elizabeth.


Roses love Sacramento weather in the fall. Except for that first flush of April blooms, local bushes tend to look their loveliest in October. Reds and oranges are more intense; other colors seem brighter, too. If the weather stays mild, they’ll keep pumping out fresh flowers well into November and December.

After a challenging summer, roses could use some TLC right now, so they can look their best during their fall second act. I know my roses need some.

As a master rosarian, I’ve grown roses for decades and seen all sorts of conditions. But I’ve never seen the smoke and sun damage to foliage that I saw this month. The leaves of some varieties -- such as Perfect Moment, Queen Elizabeth and Gemini – looked absolutely scorched, the result of intense 110-degree heat, wildfire ash and smoke-choked skies.Those bushes will eventually drop that damaged foliage and grow new leaves.

Ash continued to sprinkle the petals and leaves of many roses – floating down from the roof or nearby trees.

Still, my roses are pushing out scores of new buds. It’s more proof of the resilience of roses.

Trumpeter rose
This Trumpeter rose is spotted with ash from wildfires.
For fall rose care this season, here’s what to do:

* Give your roses a shower. Wash off all that ash and grit.

* A strong blast from the hose will also wash away aphids, which are feasting on those new buds.

* Water also works against spider mites, which are covering plants with fine webs. Those little suckers love hot, dry, smoky conditions – just like what we've experienced in September. Knock them off while washing the dust from the foliage. Make sure to shoot some spray on the underside of leaves.

* Keep out the hose and deep-water your bushes. During bloom season, full-size roses need about 5 gallons apiece a week.

* After watering, sprinkle ½ cup of bone meal around each bush and gently work it into the soil.

* Trim off spent flowers. Roses will rebloom in six to eight weeks – just in time for Thanksgiving.

* Sun conditions change over the years, especially around large trees. Are some of your bushes getting too much sun? Too little? Bushes need about six hours a day to bloom regularly, but prefer morning sun in Sacramento. Consider moving unhappy bushes when they're dormant in January.

* Clean up fallen foliage around the bushes. It can harbor fungal disease and pests.

* Be on the look out for powdery mildew. It strikes when temperatures cool down into the 70s, which will be soon.
Fragrant Lavender Simplicity
Bees love this Fragrant Lavender Simplicity rose.


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Garden Checklist for week of May 18

Get outside early in the morning while temperatures are still cool – and get to work!

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. Transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

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