Horticultural Society shows success with roses

At the Benoni Horticultural Society’s meeting of this month, held on August 16, horticulturist Stephen Rehbock delivered a talk on roses, saying he felt this topic was fitting after detecting that roses have been deteriorating in gardens and at flora shows which he often attends.

Here are some points he raised regarding the maintenance of roses:

• Start with a healthy-looking rose bush; a healthy root stock is very important.
• Roses are heavy feeders; have a feeding programme about once every six weeks.
• The best things to feed roses are Nitrogen, which promotes foliage growth; phosphate which encourages healthy root and flower development and lime which provides calsium; (2:3:2 fertiliser recommended).
• Feed the plant right throughout the year.
• Do not over-prune roses; too severely pruned roses leads to the development of a dieback disease, which causes fungi to grow on the plant.
• Do not plant anything around your roses; the best place to plant roses are in grasslands.
• Do not prune stems, which carry the most nutrients; at all times, encourage healthy-looking stems.
• Prune your roses at their most dormant time.
• Have a regular spraying programme.

Rehbock then demonstrated how to prune a rose bush, with the following tips:

• You can cut up to two thirds of a rose bush.
• The plant’s hormones ensure that most of the nutrition goes to its new stems; begin pruning from the base of the plant.
• Prune to open the centre of the plant and create healthy shoots, not tangled.
• Remove dead, diseased or broken wood, for instance, from hail damage.
• Make sure it is a clean cut, not ragged.

Rehbock advised that this time of the year (pre-spring) is the best time to start growing roses.

More facts and ideas on roses were discussed at the meeting.

The Benoni Horticultural Society meets at the Four Seasons Nursery, every third Saturday of the month, at 2.30pm.

A guest speaker presents a talk on various gardening topics at each meeting.

For further information, contact Stephen Rehbock at 011 849 2657.