Learn how at free rose pruning workshop
Master rosarians at work: Baldo Villegas prunes a rose bush at a previous workshop. Charlotte Owendyk holds the microphone so he can narrate his work. Courtesy Sierra Foothills Rose Society
It’s time to sharpen your rose pruning skills!
Get some expert advice and hands-on training at the Sierra Foothills Rose Society’s annual Winter Rose Care Workshop at the Orangevale Grange Auditorium, 5807 Walnut Ave., Orangevale.
Set for 9 a.m. Jan. 11, this free event covers all aspects of rose pruning, then wraps up with lunch – a chili cookoff!
No advance registration necessary and the public is welcome. Bring gloves and bypass pruners.
The workshop features master rosarians Baldo Villegas, Linda Knowles and Charlotte Owendyk – each a nationally recognized, award-winning rose grower.
“Practice under the watchful eye of experienced rosarians who prune hundreds of their own roses,” say the organizers. “When you leave, you will confidently prune your roses!”
Make that “thousands” of roses; Baldo grows more than 3,000 bushes at his Orangevale home. With that many roses, he knows how to get pruning done pronto.
Highlight of this workshop is always Baldo’s demonstration of his “Three-Minute Pruning Method.” He’ll show how to prune a full-size hybrid tea in three minutes – and often less – by looking at the plant from the base up. By identifying the canes to keep first, the job becomes much simpler.
Instructors also will share advice on pruning tools as well as how to control pests and diseases in the garden (an important part of why we prune roses every year).
The morning-long session wraps up with a chili cookoff at 12:30 p.m. Participants vote for the best chili while also having an opportunity to get advice from the society’s rose experts one on one.
For more on Sierra Foothills Rose Society: www.sierrafoothillsrosesociety.org.
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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