| |
Home Plant List
Roses |
Hybrid Tea
Roses |
Hybrid Tea roses are the perfect show
rose. They last well as cut flowers. They have high centered,
pointed, blooms. There is frequently only one bloom at
the top of each stem, though at times a second or third will start before the primary
bloom has completely blown. The flowers were bred first for aesthetics, then disease
resistance, and then finally for the scent. I consider them to be the most finicky
group of roses. There are a wealth of soil preparation and fertilizing recipes;
they all work to some degree, but I don't think they are worth the effort. I do
three things to keep these beasts of bushes tamed: I give them ample water; I
mulch them heavily (and whenever they are getting rust or the weeds are starting to grow I
mulch them some more); and I prune them fairly hard throughout the year.
Removing the diseased portions, through good garden sanitation, can limit much of the
damage. Hard pruning encourages more vigorous growth. There may be a few less
flowers but the plants look great. I have put gardens on a regular spray and
fertilizer program at a homeowners request and then not sprayed at all on an adjacent
property. The 'no spray' roses have fewer insect and fungal problems. It is my
opinion that fertilizer softens up the tissues so the aphids and mites have a much easier
time feeding. The sprays kill off all of the lacewings and ladybugs. Then the
chemicals are the only thing that are keeping the bugs at bay. Roses have been growing,
much to our pleasure, for thousands of years. The chemicals have only been here for
the last fifty or so. I have enough to do in the garden so spewing toxic stuff
around just seems unnecessary and unhealthy for me.
|
| Abracadabra Duet
Fragrant Cloud
Ingrid Bergman
Just Joey
|
|
