How Deep? How High?

When it comes to planting roses, just because you dig a big hole, doesn't mean you put the rose at the bottom of it.

In mild climate the best height to plant a rose is with the bud union above ground. In cold climates roses are planted with the bud union below ground level so the soil helps protect the union from freezing. But that is not necessary in California. It is better to plant the rose higher so the bud union is exposed to sunlight - some think this encourages basal breaks. A definite advantage to planting with the bud union above ground level is it makes it much easier to determine whether new growth is coming from the bud union (basal canes) or below from rootstalk (suckers.)

When determining proper height to plant, remember due to settling of soil the rose will end up lower. Also after the addition of mulch the rose will be covered up more. With that in mind, I generally try to plant so the bud union is 1 - 2 inches above the soil level. The exact determination is dependent on the length of the shaft or trunk (the area between the roots and the bud union.)

-BRH

400+ volunteers prune 4,000 roses in 90 minutes

Wow what a successful Annual Pruning event in America's Best Rose Garden! Over 400 volunteers pruned 4,000 rosebushes in 90 minutes. All ages and abilities snipped and clipped. Our quick and easy method of "Pruning for Maximum Display" meant volunteers without previous experience could participate, and help get the job done.

Click here to watch the 3 minute video of highlights.

Thanks to all who participated. And thank you to our generous sponsors. The first 300 volunteers received a free bare root rose courtesy of Star Roses, over 200 Chinook books (value $20) were given to volunteers, and other prizes included (drumroll please, or should I say airhorn?) numerous pairs of San Jose Sharks hockey tickets plus parking passes (chomp! chomp!) and products from Dr. Earth organics.

Thank you San Jose Sharks, City of San Jose, Star Roses, Chinook Book, Summer Winds Nursery and Dr. Earth for your generosity.

And thank you to all our fabulous volunteers!

It's the Big Event - Annual Pruning plus prizes

Sharpen your shears and come on down to America's Best Rose Garden. It's the Annual Pruning of the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden on Sat., Jan 7th at 9 a.m.

Our Master Volunteers will demonstrate our quick and easy method of "Pruning for Maximum Display." This nontraditional or should I say "cutting edge" method makes fast work of pruning and produces big bushes with loads of blooms.

The first 200 volunteers will receive a FREE rosebush courtesy of Star Roses, and a Chinook book chock full of coupons and discounts courtesy of Summer Wind Nurseries. And there's more! Volunteers will be entered to win products from Dr. Earth and San Jose Sharks hockey tickets. Chomp! Chomp!

Bring shears and gloves if have them, some provided. All ages and abilities welcome. No advance registration is required, check-in at the registration table upon arrival. Must be present to win.

Annual Pruning of the Municipal Rose Garden
Sat., Jan. 7th from 9:00 am - 12noon
Located corner of Naglee & Dana Avenue, San Jose
Free parking

The forecast is for perfect pruning weather!

For more info www.FriendsSJRoseGarden.org

Let there be Hips!

For most of the blooming season, one of the main tasks in the rose garden is to "deadhead" or cut off old blossoms. After a rose has bloomed the part underneath the bloom swells up and ripens into a seedpod. This sends a message for the plant to slow down flower production. During spring, summer and early fall, good gardeners faithfully snip and clip off spent blooms to prevent hip formation and keep the rose pumping out flowers.

Fall changes everything. Rather than continue to deadhead, it is better to give the rose a chance to rest. Allowing hips to form in late fall allows the rose to complete its natural life cycle. The formation of hips signals the rose to slow down, induce dormancy and store energy for next year.

It can be tempting to keep on clipping. After all we love roses, and our plants which are well loved want to reward us with bloom. In fact, in mild climates it is possible to have have roses blooming through the holidays, and even a smattering at pruning time. In cold climates it may mean roses until the snowfall. However, let's not be greedy. The rosebush needs a rest.

Concerned if you don't deadhead you'll have fallen petals strewn about the garden? You can still have a tidy garden and allow hips to form by gently pulling off old blossoms from the flower head before they fall. This simple technique may satisfy your desire to deadhead yet it encourages hip formation. Yes, there may be times you just have to pull out the clippers and snip - blooms affected with botrytis (a grey mold fungus) should be removed. After all, allowing hips to form does not mean allowing disease to run rampant. Generally speaking a soggy bloom may rot, a dry healthy bloom will not.

When it comes to hips, learn to appreciate their function and beauty. Hips are a part of nature, they are full of vitamin C and can provide food for the birds. Hips can be quite decorative in the fall garden. Just as roses have many shapes, shades and sizes, so do hips. Some look like little orange pumpkins, others like juicy red balls. They make striking additions to fall flower arrangements, especially Thanksgiving bouquets. Hips can be quite pretty, and make a wonderful addition to fall rose shows.

Show your roses appreciation for a wonderful season of bloom. Give them a rest, and they will reward you next year. Hip Hip Hurray!

Guest Commentary for Day of Remembrance

On this 10 year anniversary of 9-11, thought I'd share the following article written by Dorothy Wall. This originally appeared in the Mother Lode Rose Society newsletter "The Rose Hip" in October 2001.

With this Nation's tragic events upon us, rose shows and rose gardens sort of diminish in importance - perhaps even seeming trivial. We realize our vulnerability, our helplessness in the face of such an unbelievable and vicious attack on our country.

But as I found myself turning off the television and going out into the garden I realized that at at time such as this we need our roses and our gardens more than ever. How many times in our own life has my garden got me through a crisis when nothing else could! We need a place to feel grounded - to tie us to the earth and know there is a larger universe of which we are only a small part. That, in the final act, right will win and evil will surely fail and pay a price.

I often think and firmly believe that we are given flowers and especially roses to help us through the bad times, the sorrows and aches of life to help us remember that there is more beauty in the world than ugliness.

It is more important than ever to create some beauty where you can. We cannot change the world or replace the hate in the hearts of evil people with love, but we can refuse to despair. We can make sure that we promote harmony and not hate in our own small corner of the world.

And yes, we can, plant more roses!

###

Thank you Mom for the words of wisdom!

BRH

Weed Need You

In honor of the National Day of Service, we are calling for troops of volunteers to help weed and deadhead the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden on Sat, Sep 10 at 9:00 AM.

After a long hot summer - and the recent round of budget cuts - the roses can get a bit shaggy and need some TLC to keep them looking good through fall. We'll start the morning with a short demo of easy fall rose care, and our Master Volunteers will be on hand to answer questions about "deadheading for maximum display" and other tips.

As always, all ages and abilities are welcome! Bring gloves and shears if have them, some provided.

For more info www.FriendsSJRoseGarden.org

Spider Mites

Spider Mites are a summer pest. When the weather gets hot, that's the time to be on the lookout for spider mites, which damage rose foliage by sucking the cells dry.

How to identify mites? Foliage from above looks dry and when leaf is turned over you may see webbing. Spider mites attack the underside of the leaf and appear as tiny specks, like salt and pepper.

What causes mites? Water stressed plants, dust, use of chemical insecticides. Spider mites are not an insect - they are arachnoids - and use of insecticides kills off natural predators.

How to prevent? Besides good culture (lots of water, not using insecticides) a good plan of action during hot summer months is to remove bottom foliage (mites start from the ground up). Also hose off your plants at least once a week to help keep the foliage clean.

How to control? Spider mites reproduce at a rapid rate, so fast action is needed. An easy, effective and safe method is to use a water wand to wash the undersides of foliage. In case of infestations do this every day for a week to break the mites life cycle. Predatory insects such as green lacewings are helpful. If you need heavier artillery, there are miticides on the market. Always read the label and follow safety precautions.

For more info read UC IPM Guidelines on Spider Mites. And click here for Award of Merit article on Spider Mites from Marin Rose Society.

-Beverly Rose Hopper

Photo by Gail Trimble

How the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden Grew Through Self-Reported Volunteer Tracking

The following article was submitted by Joleigh on Our Volts www.ourvolts.com Thought I'd share it with you.

Managing volunteers, arranging schedules, coordinating with supervisors and keeping track of volunteer hours can be overwhelming and time consuming, especially if you're a small nonprofit or grassroots community organization. Does it need to be so complicated? Is it possible to eliminate endless piles of paperwork and massive miscommunication?

In 2005, the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, a free, public space in the heart of Silicon Valley, was placed on probation with the All-American Rose Selections (AARS). Budget cuts had left the space in a state of decline. Today, the fragrant garden is thriving; over 3,000 people volunteer to keep it well maintained and operating smoothly. In 2010, it won the AARS “America’s Best Rose Garden” competition. How did this patch of neglected shrubs manage to bloom again?

In late 2007, Terry Reilly and Beverly Rose Hopper founded the Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden (FSJRG). In 2008, the AARS decided to keep the garden in their program; evaluators noticed that the beds were finally being properly pruned and weeded and that plant disease was being controlled. FSJRG’s methods merit some attention: successful recruitment and management of volunteers, media engagement and an adept use of the web.

Self-Tracked Volunteer Hours for Social Currency

Reilly and Hopper began putting out the call for volunteers. San Jose Mercury News and other local media platforms told the story through ongoing coverage. Getting volunteers to show up was FSJRG’s first challenge; managing and retaining a base of willing participants was the next step. They set up an internet based system so volunteers could track their own hours and be recognized amongst their peers for the work they did. In the beginning, the means of tracking volunteer time involved a coordinator receiving hours and manually entering them into a database.

In August of 2010, FSJRG began using OurVolts, an online volunteer tracking system. This tool allows volunteers to log their hours themselves. The information shows up instantly as aggregated, public data for everyone from FSJRG to see. This data transparency and instant feedback on individual contributions is a different approach from the norm. Click here to see their OurVolts site and all the work that is still being done!

Since starting with OurVolts, FSJRG has seen an increase in volunteer participation and retention - volunteers seem to commit to the project and have more ownership over what they contribute when they can see the results of their efforts instantly added to the site.

Skillful Use of Social Media and Web

Efforts to build this vibrant community of rose aficionados involved a smart web strategy. FSJRG has an active Facebook page. Moderators pose questions to engage dialogue; volunteers are recognized in status updates and photo albums; accomplishments and events are announced and a range of blossom types are artfully captured and shared.

The FSJRG website is an achievement in and of itself. The site features regular blog postings, an interactive Google map of the garden, a mash-up Yahoo map which illustrates where the volunteers are from, an impressively documented FSJRG history lesson, an embedded version of OurVolts for logging hours and plenty of instructional videos.

Empowered Volunteers

San Jose Rose Garden volunteers are empowered in many ways. When a participant reaches 100 hours of donated time, they are given a City Commendation sign by the Mayor and City Council member.

The Master Volunteer Certificate program provides a workshop to sharpen horticultural skills. After completing the 5 hour training and probation period, Master Volunteers are provided a stylish green vest to identify them in the garden, and they are able to log their hours themselves.

Video tutorials on everything from removing “suckers” (nutrient-robbing stems near the plant’s root), pruning, planting and dead heading also enhance volunteer expertise.

Streamlining internal processes, wise use of web technology, skill-building and recognizing volunteers are all crucial aspects of volunteer retention and community project sustainability. The San Jose Municipal Rose Garden has proven that cultivating a loyal volunteer community is possible, despite thorny obstacles.

Big Bushes

One of the things that sets the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden apart from other public gardens (and crucial to the restoration by FSJRG) was our maxim to “prune high for maximum display.” Too often rosebushes are hacked down to the ground, chopped to only a foot tall with disregard to plant habit and climate. Santa Clara County is blessed with a near perfect climate for roses. Almost anyone can grow roses here albeit with a range of results. Though truth be told some people should not be allowed to grow roses. I’ll never forget the time standing over a bin of bare-root roses I overheard a couple dickering over a pending purchase “if you buy that rose you’ll just have to water it” – how I wanted to snatch that rose out of their hands and save it!

Keep in mind that reference books or info online about the correct way to take care of rosebushes may have been based on rose culture in Minnesota, not California. Methods and results vary tremendously. The first time I visited rose mecca aka headquarters of the American Rose Society in Shreveport, Louisiana, I was shocked to see how small the rose bushes were. In both public and private gardens, roses only seemed to grow a few feet tall and consequently had very few blooms. I’ll admit the sparse display in comparison with our lush gardens back home were a bit of a disappointment.

The difference in performance is part regional, part tradition. Our climate provides for six or seven bloom cycles; depending on variety one can have roses blooming as early as March and as late as December. With all that repeat growth (not to mention sunshine) plants have the opportunity to grow large. Gardeners in colder climates may not have their first bloom until late June and the bushes only squeeze out a cycle or two before shutting down with an early frost; consequently the bushes are small. Regarding tradition, some gardeners prune “like grandma taught them” or perhaps how they did when living in Minnesota or based on reference materials not specific to our area or outcome desired.

Take a look at the bushes in the Rose Garden or in your home garden. When it comes to proper size, pruning and shaping, NEVER remove more than one half the height; otherwise your plant can go into shock. Think of it this way – the canes store sugars and energy for the plant, harsh pruning cuts off energy supplies, which the plant needs for future growth. Of course there are a couple exceptions, sometimes a rose has to be cut back hard because it needs to be relocated and transplanted, or perhaps you discover a rose doesn’t fit the space in the landscape. These are tricky situations, but as a rule of (green) thumb you will have the most success and happiest roses if you allow them to grow to their full potential.

Recently when viewing the big bushes loaded with bloom at the Rose Garden, someone asked, “aren’t the roses too tall?” Though I knew the answer I passed along the comment to Tom Carruth, world famous hybridizer at Weeks Roses. He laughed, “there’s no such thing as roses that are too big!”

by Beverly Rose Hopper
Co-Founder, FSJRG

Tale of Two Rose Gardens

San Jose has two world-class rose gardens, each containing about 4,000 rosebushes. It’s important to know how they are related, yet how they differ. The San Jose Municipal Rose Garden is a historic landmark park containing primarily modern roses. The Heritage Rose Garden is a modern garden containing primarily historic roses. Confused? Let me explain.

In a nutshell, the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden is a rose garden in a park setting, and the Heritage Rose Garden is a rose garden that serves as a botanical collection. Quite different, but they compliment each other. Ironically, both gardens are located on the same street – though it’s called Naglee in front of the Muni and Taylor in front of the Heritage. Still confused? It may help to know the history why these two distinct gardens were created.

Famed architect John McLaren, who also designed Golden Gate Park, designed the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden in the early 1930’s. The plan was and is, for the 11 acre garden to be a world class garden, filled with thousands of roses amid expansive lawns, picnic areas and a reflecting pool (later transformed into a fountain) It was to be a showplace for Santa Clara County, drawing visitors from across the USA. That was true then, and with the recent restoration by Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden, it is true once more.

Initially the garden was planted with the popular roses of the day, but it also contained roses of historic interest, including roses from the California Missions and cuttings from roses grown by Martha Washington. As the decades rolled on, some of these roses died a natural death, and others were removed because they were no longer fashionable. We don’t have exact dates when these treasures were lost, most likely after World War II during the 50’s when America was looking to the future. The very latest varieties were planted each year, and visitors flocked to the garden to see what’s new. In fact, as an All-America Rose Selection (AARS) garden, the Rose Garden receives award-winning varieties in advance of being released to the public. With the recent upgrade to AARS Test Garden status, visitors can see the roses of the future – varieties planted in 2010 for evaluation won’t be on the market until 2014.

Most modern public rose gardens are filled with modern roses. Old garden roses, some which had survived hundreds of years, were becoming at risk of being lost forever. In the late 1980’s, Tom Liggett, a supporter of the Rose Garden but also an old rose aficionado, began promoting the idea of a public garden that would preserve these classic roses. Liggett’s concept was for a botanical collection, or a “rose encyclopedia” rather than a mass display of roses. The collection would contain rare or endangered roses, roses that may be rare in the future, roses of importance to hybridizing, and also unknown and modern roses of note, hence “heritage” roses. As the Heritage Rose Garden was intended as a preservation site rather than a park, a previously unusable plot of land under the flight path of the airport could be utilized. In addition the project was pitched to the City as low/no-maintenance; no-spray, all-volunteer, and initially no deadheading. There would be no lawns; restrooms, picnic facilities, water features or other structures that would require maintenance other than drip irrigation and the roses themselves.

The Heritage caused a sensation in the rose world, because there was no other collection like it in the USA, or even perhaps in the world. In recognition of this, it was the first inductee in the Rose Garden Hall of Fame by the organization Great Rosarians of the World (GROW). Jill Perry is the current Curator of the Collection, and the Heritage is a joint venture with the City of San Jose and the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy.

Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden and the transformation of the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden have also caused a sensation. FSJRG has received much press, many local and national awards, including recognition by California State legislators and the US Congress. FSJRG strives to set high standards and we are proud our program is being used as model by other communities. We are grateful for our wonderful volunteers and the public/private partnership with the City of San Jose.

Though there have been many changes over the decades, the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden has returned to its roots as a showplace, a destination, an oasis of tranquility and beauty. It is as one volunteer said, a place one “can breathe.” And as part of a nation wide contest by the All-America Rose Selections, it was recently named “America’s Best Rose Garden.”

Serious rose fans will want to become well acquainted with both gardens. As they are located within 5 minutes of each other, it’s easy to do. Plan on picnicking at the San Jose Municipal, as facilities at the Heritage are quite limited. But bring your camera to both!

- by Beverly Rose Hopper, Co-Founder Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden

The San Jose Municipal Rose Garden is located at Naglee and Dana
The Heritage Rose Garden located at Taylor and Spring Street
(Naglee changes name to Taylor at the Alameda)