Enjoying Your Roses This Fall

In many articles that you read about roses, we generally concentrate on the nuts and bolts of how to have beautiful roses. In the whirlwind of fungicides, Japanese Beetles, proper watering, and fertilizers we often lose the point of why we have roses in the first place. There are as many reasons for growing roses as there are people who grow them. As the comfortable days and chilly evenings of autumn give us bountiful blooms in deep rich colors, it is a great time to sit back with a nice cup of warm apple cider and just enjoy the beauty and wonder that fill the rose garden. Included are a few tips on how maximize the enjoyment of your rose garden.

Here at Witherspoon we are blessed to work with roses and people who love roses. People tell us about taking their cut roses to hospitals and retirement homes, they tell us how much their mother or husband who can’t leave the house enjoy looking outside at the beautiful roses. Some say that working in the rose garden is a type of therapy for them. There are many more reasons for loving roses, but whatever the reason these tips will help enhance your romance with roses.

1. Cut early and cut often – rose bushes love to be cut. The more blooms you harvest the more blooms you will have. When you cut your blooms cut about ¼” above where a five- leaf leaflet intersects the stem. With the possible exception of early spring, don’t cut at the first leaflet but go down into the bush and cut a nice long stem. This practice will help to ensure that successive stems are long and strong.

2. Share the beauty – there are times when rose growers have more cut blooms than they know what to do with. What a great time to find for someone without roses; receiving a single bloom can turn around their entire day. Something about the intoxicating beauty and aroma of a single bloom can remind you of life’s simple pleasures. At the very least it will bring a smile and the world can use as many of those as it can get.

3. Stress less – it is amazing how much stress a hobby can give someone. Roses are to be enjoyed, they should never be a source of stress. Keep up with the regular maintenance, ask an expert if you see something odd (www.witherspoonrose.com), and relax. More than likely whatever you did or didn’t do will not cause irrevocable damage to your plant and it will grow back just fine.

4. Fall plantings - the cooler temperatures of fall offer a great environment for new fall plantings. Planting in the fall gives the roots of your new roses time to get established over winter and will be ready to perform for you next Spring. 

Rose bushes are incredible plants. They are strong yet beautiful and though their thorns can cause a little pain, their blooms can bring a lot of happiness. Take this time to sit back, enjoy your roses, and contemplate how their complex blooms can bring such simple joy.