Roses are easy

Southern Living, Apr 2001 by Bender, Steve

At least, that's what Pam Cunningham says.

If this Florida gardener can fend off bugs and black spot. so can you.

I may be older than King Tut's underwear, but that doesn't mean I can't learn something new. Case in pointuntil I met Pam Cunningham, I never knew roses were low-maintenance plants.

"Madness!" you cry, having heard horror stories about incessant spraying, grooming, feeding, and weeding of roses. But Pam swears she gets beautiful flowers year-round with little effort.

Her garden in Ocala, Florida, was originally designed by a local landscape architect as a home for vegetables and herbs. But she quickly found the upkeep to be overwhelming. "We had to completely replant the garden every season," Pam explains. "And our plants were getting killed by insects. Then I had the idea that I should garden organically, so my daughter and I would go out and remove caterpillars from broccoli by hand and fill paper cups. It was disgusting."

Out went the vexing vegetables and herbs. Then, aided by a local horticulturist, Pam rededicated her garden using the original design. "We dug up the beds; amended the clay soil with sand, peat moss, and manure; and edged the beds with Japanese boxwoods," she recalls. "Then we planted roses. And they were so much easier."

Several factors determined the kinds of roses. "I wanted great color and a lot of variety," she says, "some antique-- looking roses, some long-stemmed ones like `Mr. Lincoln' and `Tropicana,' others like 'Playgirl' that have just a few petals, and small-flowered ones like `Summer Snow.' When `Summer Snow' is in bloom," she adds, "you can cut it and make huge bouquets of flowers."

But what of the unending toil and high anxiety we all know beautiful roses demand? It's a myth, insists Pam. She simultaneously feeds her roses and fends off insects by sprinkling RosePride Systemic Rose & Flower Care 8-12-4 around the base of her plants every six weeks. She doesn't bother spraying for black spot or mildew. Instead, she simply picks off any diseased leaves she spots. To retain soil moisture and inhibit weeds, she mulches with pine bark chips several times a year. Finally, a drip irrigation system supplies necessary water without wetting the foliage, which would promote disease. "What I like most about the garden is the continuous flowers," Pam states. "I cut the roses back around Valentine's Day, they grow back, and I have flowers all year long." Her daughters, Ellison and Kelli, enjoy the roses too. "They've taken a real interest," she notes. "They'll cut a rose and call it theirs. I think they'll grow into an even greater appreciation of gardening than I have myself."

And they won't have to stick with just the selections Pam grows now. Other easy-to-grow roses include `Souvenir de la Malmaison Rouge,' 'Hansa,' 'Heritage," `La Marne,' 'Pink Pet," `St Patrick,' `Moonstone,' and `Cecile Brunner.'

"Gardening isn't a big secret," Pam concludes, admiring multitudinous blossoms. "Maybe it seems easier because I have good soil and an irrigation system. But I think that plants require very little care, other than food and water. And if you give them that, they'll thrive."

For more on roses, see "Bare Facts for Planting Bare-root Roses," Southern Living, February 2001, page 78.