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Painting the Roses Red
by Stephen Satrani
Jeff van Pelt, horticulture supervisor of the Rudolph W. van der Goot Rose Garden, cherishes the days when the bloom on the roses is peak. June is the time of reward for him and his crew for their unending labor.
Other than a little fine–tuning, the Rose Garden gardeners will sit back and watch the show this month. They're done cutting the dead out of shrub roses and replacing the ones that have died among the 3,000 plants on display.
The Rudolph W. van der Goot Rose Garden is an All–American display garden, one of several gardens at Colonial Park in Somerset, NJ.
Fine–tuning at the garden means managing disease and insects, like black spot that rampages the roses in a wet, hot summer. Van Pelt tries vigorously to keep it out till mid–July.
The garden has more "no spray" roses that van Pelt recommends for the novice rose gardener. They're all on display and all available to home-gardeners.
"If I do that, it's a good year. If it comes in before July, it means it will be horrendous in August when the weather favors the disease and the chemicals can't combat it."
Black spot affects the lower leaves and the center of the bush first and works its way up. Initially, gardeners can hand pick the affected leaves off, then later if needed, use a fungicide to control it.
"Once a leaf gets a black dot it's gone." He advises to keep the center of the bush open.
"Certain weather conditions give certain diseases. We tailor our spray schedule to meet that. A really hot, wet summer makes for black spot. If there's a cool wet spring, there's a good chance for downy mildew."
It sounds like this year and indeed, van Pelt picked leaves from a tiny rose with both diseases.
Downy mildew appears as red margins and irregular reddish–purple blotches. If the margins are blackish with reddish undersides, it's downy mildew too.
Downy mildew will eventually defoliate the plant, and van Pelt says it's a worse disease than black spot because it starts earlier — the moment the leaf starts to unfold — and sometimes goes undetected.
They spray for bugs as they see them, like the rose midge that lays eggs in the growing point and kills all the flowers. They hit them at the first sign of damage.
For mites and aphids, the gardeners use Safer Soap® or horticultural oil.
"We try to keep predators in here Ă‚Â spiders, praying mantis, ladybugs. By not spraying insecticides, you build up that population that keeps bad things under control. I'll have thrips and bad bugs in the garden but never have to spray because predators keep them under control," says van Pelt. "I like to say we're practicing 'plant health,' a hybrid IPM for insects."
They employ a chemical program with fungicides for common diseases, but van Pelt says the goal is to recognize what disease is present.
"Chemicals are disease specific. Mostly when chemicals don't work they are misapplied or the wrong one is used. If you spray safer soap or horticultural oil on a sunny day, they won't work. They're smothering agents. Spray early in the morning on a cloudy day."
Last winter, the gardeners kept their potted tree roses outside. They put them up against the office building under the porch roof, then heeled–in them in with hay bales around the pots. With perlite in the bottom half of the pot, Van Pelt says they'll be root bound in three years. The potted roses are 'Knock Out,' a cherry red, no spray, no dead head, award–winning shrub rose.
"We have a good selection of roses that are hardy from northern New England down for older shrub roses. At 10 to 30Ă‚Âş you don't grow hybrid teas anymore."
The garden has more "no spray" roses that Van Pelt recommends for the novice rose gardener. They're all on display and all available to home-gardeners.
Here are a few:
* Canary Bird, a shrub rose that grows 12x12 feet. It's a "no spray, no chemicals" needed rose. It flowers 2–3 weeks and has small, refined foliage. It's pushed to replace forsythia for a refined, upright look. "It's a rose that has class," says Van pelt.
* Hybrid Spinosissima 'Williams Double Yellow (Double Yellow Scots Rose)' a small shrub for the perennial border. It has red new growth and it's a no-spray. Apple scent.
* Glauca carmenetta is a rose you grow for the foliage. Bluish-green foliage, 7x7 feet, back of shrub border, single flower species look.
* Carefree Delight Ă‚Â 4x4 feet, no spray, single petal pink
* Rugosas in the 'Flower Carpet' series, no spray, repeat bloom, 3x3 feet
The garden is a must and a destination for anyone interested in growing roses. Rose lovers can get the real dirt on what will grow for them. All roses here are available on the market.
Check out Rose Day, June 14, with rose workshops and lectures on everything you always wanted to know about roses in the garden.
Rudolph W. van der Goot Rose Garden
Colonial Park
156 Mettlers Road
Somerset, NJ
732-873-2459
www.somersetcountyparks.org
Somerset County Park Commission
** Photos by Jeff van Pelt
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published June 01, 2003
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