Let me put your mind at ease by telling you there is little to do to maintain your roses in November. We’ve all put in a lot of effort this year to keep our rose plants healthy, which has been challenging given the extreme summers we’ve faced recently.
All our work to produce beautiful roses for our family and our local rose shows ends this month. Some roses will still produce blooms late in November and even December, but most of our plants should be ready to enter a semi-dormant stage for the next few months.
Now is a great time to assess your rose garden and consider what you want to do differently next year. That will include deciding which plants will be shovel-pruned, which plants need to be relocated, and—my favorite part—looking through the catalogs to find several new roses for the garden.
Yesterday, Sherman Weekes (President of Mesa East Valley Rose Society) joined me for a field trip to Marbil Nursery in Litchfield Park. I’ve always wanted to visit the guys who produce the roses, which we often buy at the local nursery or big box store. Walking through the fields and imagining which plants would end up in my garden was fun. One advantage of seeing the plants at Marbil is they already have survived an Arizona summer. They’re grown for this. For the record, I only bought four roses. Now I have to figure out where they will be in the garden.
After a blazing hot summer that shocked our water bills, amongst other things, we can now ease up on the water we put in the garden. With the cooler weather, evaporation will decrease, allowing the roses to thrive with less water. I plan to water my flower beds and larger containers two to three times a week, while the smaller container roses will still receive water nearly every day, albeit in smaller amounts.
Hold back feeding the plants during the last half of November and December. We don’t have the hard freezes that force roses into hibernation, so we need to do some simple things to help coax the roses into a resting period.
I’m still waiting for some rain. It’s been months without any rain in the Valley, but when it does show up, then watch for rust. It’s still possible you could find a plant affected by powdery mildew. This cooler time is an opportunity to look at the stems on your rose bush. Take note of the dead wood and the areas that need to be thinned out. Look for any disease or pests that might have landed on your plants. Watch for sucker growth below the graft union. There always seems to be one or two plants where the rootstock will try and go wild.
Adding mulch is a simple solution to help retain moisture in the soil and prevent evaporation. In addition to conserving water, mulching provides a protective barrier against pests and diseases that can harm your plants.
November can still be busy if your plants are still producing roses. The Mesa East Valley Rose Show is on November 19. and I’m determined to have some entries in Arizona’s only fall rose show. Today’s feature photo of a Queen Elizabeth rose was taken this morning (November 1) in my garden. I’ve had some lovely blooms these past couple of weeks, but the plant’s foliage shows the effects of age and the summer stress. Also, I’ve noted that spiders are more prevalent this time of year. Anyway, a copy of the MEVRS Rose Show Program “Roses in the Sky” can also be found on the MEVRS webpage by clicking HERE.
I also want to remind you about the November 5 American Rose Society Digital Photography Contest deadline. The ARS contest has multiple classes for Novice, Experienced, and Master Contestants. There are additional classes for Juniors and Judges. ARS rules allow for entries which have previously won a local competition.
