Summer Care for Your Rose Garden

Not all roses are repeat-bloomers, but for those that are, these summer tips will help you get them back in shape for another round of flowering that will last until frost.

Roses grow vigorously beginning in early spring, with an early flush of foliage and blooms. You should prune and deadhead after the first round of flowers to encourage your rose bushes to a quick second flowering period. But once the summer heat sets in, your roses will probably stop blooming. Don't worry. This is a natural response to the stress of heat and what I call "flowering fatigue." Your roses really do need a short period of summer rest.

FEED YOUR ROSES
Your roses have expended a great deal of energy during the spring growth and blooming season. Feed them as they slow down for their summer break. Use a 5-10-5 or 10-20-10 organic rose food, or supplement a compost feeding by mixing in some bone meal for phosphorus. This will give your roses what they need to produce more blooms in a few weeks. I like to do a summer fertilization in early to mid July. I also feed roses with magnesium sulfate, or Epsom salts, every couple of weeks throughout the growing season. Mix one Tablespoon of Epsom salts in one gallon of water, and use as a foliar spray feeding as well as for watering the plants. Some gardeners claim that spraying with magnesium sulfate solution discourages insects. It does improve nitrogen and phosphorus uptake, and it improves chlorophyll production, making leaves greener. Better phosphorus uptake helps increase flower production. The Epsom salt solution works on a stressed lawn and other plants as well as roses.

PRUNE A LITTLE
The summer pause is the time to examine your roses, and do some clean-up pruning to reshape the plants. Prune out any damaged canes, remembering to clear the center of a tea rose plant for better air circulation. Repeat-blooming varieties of shrub roses should be deadheaded and reshaped, but they do not need major pruning in the summer. Climbers should have spent growth trimmed away. If you have roses that are not repeat-bloomers, do some trimming and clean-up and fertilize them lightly. They need some TLC during summer heat stress, too.

INSECTS
Check your rose plants for insect pests. Look for swollen bulges in the canes, a sign of rose borers. Read about borers here. Trim away insect damage, and use an organic spray if necessary to deter other pests. Neem oil is an organic, all purpose insect spray that interferes with the bugs' eating and mating instincts. Read about neem oil here. Clean up dropped leaves and litter from around the plants, and spray neem solution on the ground around the rose plants as well as on the plants themselves.

Aphids can be washed away with a good shot from the garden hose. Use neem oil spray for Japanese beetle infestations, and consider treating your lawn with beneficial nematodes in early autumn or next spring to eradicate the Japanese beetle grubs. Read about beneficial nematodes here.

Summer weather breeds fungus diseases on roses. Read about fungus and disease control here.

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Source:
Personal Experience