There really is no mystery to growing beautiful roses. Most appreciate full sun, meaning at least six hours of direct, unfiltered sun a day. The ideal situation is for the six hours to be morning sun as it is cleaner, cooler light. Many roses will flourish in less light or even longer periods of filtered light, but your chances of disease, elongated growth due to the plant "reaching" for the light, and reduced bloom production increase as the quality of the light diminishes. If your light is filtered because of over-hanging trees, you may also experience problems with competition from the roots stealing the nutrients and water from your roses. Brighter light will fade some blooms, while it will intensify the colors of those containing china genes. The china roses have the genetic tendency for their colors to intensify with heat and light, such as MUTABILIS and DOUBLE DELIGHT do. It is heat and wind that increase the water requirements and spoil the appearance of your blooms. If you must grow your roses against a fence or wall, you will find them "happier" if you move them as far out away from the vertical surface as possible. Walls and fences reflect tremendous levels of light and heat. They also absorb the heat from the sun and continue to radiate it long after the surrounding air has cooled. If you garden in a cooler area, you may make good use of this increased heat and light to produce your roses. For those of us who garden in hotter areas, your roses and you will find it easier to not be pushed up against the wall.

Air circulation is beneficial for several reasons. One of the most important is to dry any remaining moisture from the foliage to reduce the infection of rust, blackspot and mildew. By allowing for good circulation while protecting them from extreme wind, you will have the basic stage set for your rose growing pleasure.

Much of our soil here is rather heavy clay. It doesn't absorb water very deeply, nor does it drain very well. All plant roots benefit from the ability to grow deeply into the soil. They serve to anchor the plant against wind and mechanical toppling. The deeper into the soil they can grow, the less likely they will be cooked by the sun baking the soil, frozen from deep winter freezes, and being mechanically damaged by walking in the rose bed or from cultivating the soil. If your soil is of this type, generous additions of organic matter will assist in loosening it so the roots will be able to perform their anchoring functions. Clay also prevents water from penetrating more than an inch or two below the surface. By breaking it up and mixing it well with compost, manure, ground redwood, etc., you allow the soil to "breathe", Roots, insects and soil microbes breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, among other gases, just as humans and animals do. When water soaks into the soil, the bubbles coming up from the soil are the "exhaling" taking place. Earthworms are some of the most wonderful garden inhabitants you can have. They will not appear until there is food for them. They eat decaying vegetable material - manure, compost, bagged amendments - anything derived originally from plant material. I have taken areas which were solid, heavy, baked adobe clay, broken up as much of the surface as I could, mulched it heavily with horse manure, kept it wet, and in a matter of a few, short weeks, was able to dig out the area very easily. The earthworms migrated from adjacent areas to consume the manure. They burrow very deeply into the soil, leaving tunnels containing their "castings". These tunnels allow the water to penetrate into the soil, the gasses be exhaled, and oxygen and other needed gases be drawn in. Much of our soil is very highly mineralized, but it is nearly totally lacking in vegetable matter which feed the worms and beneficial bacteria and fungi. Anything you plant will greatly benefit from a regularly renewed mulch.

Chemical fertilizers are useful, as long as you are also feeding your soil organisms (the bacteria, etc.). Fertilizers are salts of the desired nutrients. Only the salt forms of the nutrients are water soluble, thereby able to move in the soil with the water. These salts require digestion in many cases, into the forms the plant roots are able to absorb. By continually applying chemical fertilizers to your soil, you are increasing the salt content. You can see how saturated our soil is already by the white, alkaline crust formed on the surface as the water evaporates. These salts can be flushed through the soil by improving drainage. Organics perform this function, plus they feed the bacteria which digest and dissolve the salts and soil minerals into the form readily absorbed by the rose roots. Manure, etc. correct a "multitude of sins".

Fertilizers are described by their guarantied chemical analysis. This is the number ratings on packages such as 15-30-15, 10-10-10. etc. The first number is the percentage of nitrogen available. The second is the percentage of phosphorous and the third is the percentage of potassium. VERY briefly, nitrogen promotes new growth, phosphorous promotes increased bloom, and potassium promotes fruiting. There are many other functions involved, but these are the primary ones you need to be aware of to understand fertilizers.

You don't have to use fertilizers formulated specifically for roses. Roses can't read. Most flowering plants require "tomato-type" fertilizer, and roses are no exception. This is a non-acidic fertilizer where the center number is higher, often 1/2 again to twice as high as the first and third numbers. The mineral you will probably experience the most difficulty with in our adobe is iron. This promotes dark green leaves, which promote photosynthesis, the creation of the starches and sugars the rose needs to flourish. Most fertilizers contain iron to varying degrees. Personally, I attempt to use products such as Ironite, which contain high percentages of iron in a form which is guaranteed not to burn the roots. Our soil actually contains relatively high percentages of iron, but it gets "locked-up" into insoluble forms by the high alkalinity. Additions of products containing iron will give short-term boosts and aid in correcting iron deficiencies. Long-term benefits result from simply feeding your soil organisms with generous, regularly applied mulches of your manure, redwood compost, etc. The organic matter will actually tend to bring the alkalinity of the soil down closer to a neutral condition. This will free iron and other minerals which already exist. Personally, I LOVE horse manure. I have heard people complain about weed seeds, oat seeds, etc., which come up from it. It has been estimated that each cubic yard of native soil in Southern California contains over 30,000 seeds of everything from indigenous "weeds" to hybrid Bermuda grass. Seeds of hybrid Bermuda have been found in air samples collected from the Jet Stream over the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from any land. Any seed germinating in soil that is well-fed on organic material is easily pulled up by hand. The soil is damp, crumbly, beautifully textured and absolutely conducive to healthy, vigorous plant growth. There are seeds of plants you probably don't want literally everywhere. They come in on the bottoms of your shoes, on the wind, through bird droppings. The few you may bring home in manure are nothing to worry about. You are going to have weeds no matter what. Keeping a two to three inch mulch over the surface of your rose beds will keep the amount of germinating seeds down and make those that do come up extremely easy to deal with. There is a growth hormone naturally occurring in alfalfa which is distilled for use in commercial greenhouses. Enough of it remains through the digestive process, that horse manure based on alfalfa will not only provide you with high levels of nitrogen from the horse's urine, but also beneficial bacteria from digestion and plant growth hormone. Regular applications combined with generous waterings will produce large, healthy plants which smother themselves with bloom. Try it for yourself. I think you will appreciate it. All mulches should be kept from being hilled around the base of the rose bush. You want air and light to be available to that part of the plant to encourage it to produce new growth to regenerate itself.

Roses can not be over-watered in soils which drain freely yet maintain soil moisture. If a hole dug where you wish to plant a rose won't drain after an hour or so, you have a problem. Either follow advice offered in commercial gardening books for improving the drainage, or choose another spot. I've heard that the ideal amount of water is the equivalent of one inch of rainfall over the entire root zone each week. However you deliver the water, make sure it sinks into the soil instead of just running off. If you treat your soil like a living thing, rather than just "dirt", most of your other problems will just about take care of themselves.

Just as it is important for life, water is the most important fertilizer. As the nutrients are salts, the plants need to be well-watered prior to applying any fertilizer. Putting salt on a dry plant will dry it out even worse. This is what is meant by "burning" the plant with a fertilizer. The salts need to be kept dissolved in order to be absorbed by the roots.

Water is also one of the most effective pesticides and fungicides. Many of the insects you don' t want on your plants can either be discouraged from setting up residence, or out right drowned by a strong, steady stream of water. Most fungus spores germinate in the PRESENCE of humidity on the bare, unprotected surfaces of the leaves. A film of water covering the leaf surface can not only wash the spore off the leaf, but actually prevent one from germinating and penetrating the leaf in the first place. Mildew spores germinate when the temperatures are in the 40 to 60 degrees F. range, in the presence of humidity. If your roses are watered by automatic sprinklers which wet the foliage, try setting them to water during the part of the early morning when these temperatures exist, maybe 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. If you live in a hot area, most disease symptoms will go away once the thermometer climbs and the humidity drops. Investigate alternative methods of treatment before you buy your bottle of pesticide or fungicide. It's easier, more interesting and much safer for you.

Aphids are probably the most common rose pest you will encounter. They are actually a very interesting insect. In the spring, a generation of males and females are hatched from eggs laid the previous fall. They mate, and the males die out for the year. Every two weeks or so, a new generation of pregnant females are born, until the fall when eggs are laid for the next year's cycle. Aphids require air blowing through holes in their bodies to breathe. Anything sealing these holes will cause them to suffocate. A strong stream of water will wash them off and kill them. You will usually notice ants along with the aphids. They are attracted to the "honey dew" the aphids secrete. The form of sugar in the rose plant is generally the same as granulated cane sugar. They are attracted to the honeydew because it is sugar water. The ants actually farm aphids for the same reason we farm cows. They protect them from predators and actually move them from one part of the plant to the others. The Wise Garden Encyclopedia advises that "dryness of the garden attracts aphids; they are less likely to attack where there is a good, rich, moist loam soil." They are attracted to the color yellow. Yellow sticky traps or yellow dishes of water can lure them, trapping them and either causing them to starve or drown. Insecticidal soaps and even garlic sprays have proven successful. I have used ornamental garlic planted through out the garden as I was told it would assist in preventing aphid infestations. I didn't notice any relief, but found the Society Garlic a very attractive companion planting.

Whiteflies have become a problem in the last few years. They suck the plant sap as do the aphids, also which results in a sooty mold and ants. A strong stream of water directed at the undersides of the leaves will dispatch many of these also. Insecticidal soaps and Pyrethrum sprays are effective against them. Spider mites love dry, dusty conditions. The usual pesticides won't work on them as they are mites, not insects. Miticides are rather expensive and usually quite poisonous. By purchasing a water wand and using it frequently to wash the undersides of your roses' leaves, you will remove the dust, and change the hot, dry conditions they love. I had sprayed for the usual insects in my original Granada Hills garden, and found that spider mites had moved in rather badly. By regularly using pesticides, I had killed the beneficial insects, the lady bugs, praying mantis, etc., and the mites reproduced unchecked. I quit spraying and began using the waterwand to water the plants. I have not had any mite problems in either garden since. The only other insect problem I have had to any extent has been flat-head apple borers. These are indigenous to the south west, and attack sunburned wood on many types of plants. By keeping the bushes vigorous and actively growing, the canes are protected from the sun by the leaves, thereby preventing the problem.

Pruning can be confusing until you see it done and understand the goals. Briefly, you want to prune when the plants are not actively growing. The instruction most often given is to wait until after your last frost date. In the San Fernando Valley, the usual time is mid January to mid February. In the Santa Clarita Valley, where I garden, it is a bit later, some years, even a month later. Watch the growth buds on your bushes. Try to get them pruned prior to their swelling and developing leaves. If the sap is actively flowing and leaves are forming, the cut canes will not heal as quickly and they will continue to "bleed" for some time. You may experience some die-back of the affected canes because of the loss of sap. You have worked to provide the ideal soil, water, sun and nutrients. Why waste the product of your efforts by allowing it to seep out the ends of the canes?

The actual mechanics of pruning are quite simple. It's best to remove any dead, damaged, diseased or weak growth. I can't give any dimensions as different types of roses produce different thickness' of wood. It's all relative. If the cane in question is significantly less vital, strong or sized than the majority of the rest of the plant, cut it out. You should usually open the center of the plant to allow air and sunlight in. If you have growth that crossed another cane, it may result in damage to either or both. Choose which cane you feel is more vital and growing where you want further growth to go. Remove the other as far down as you think it needs to go. The amount of the plant to be removed is a matter of debate and personal taste. Extreme, low pruning has traditionally been practiced by exhibitors. This results in a small bush, with many fewer blooms. Usually, those produced will be of larger size, which may be what you want if you are looking for a trophy from it. You will shorten the life span of the bush because you are taking away stored starches and sugars each time you cut the plant down. If the bush is budded as opposed to ownroot, you are forcing many new basal canes to grow each year. There are only so many available basal growth buds because of physical space around the bud union. By forcing so many to grow, and removing so much stored energy, you will actually reduce the productive life of your budded plant. Medium pruning will result in a larger plant, with correspondingly greater quantities of bloom. Each flower will be a little smaller, but that is compensated for by the increased production. High pruning will result in a much larger plant with the greatest number of blooms. They will be smaller, but you may appreciate the mass of color. It just depends on what the over-all effect and purpose you want. For general landscape effect, I personally prefer medium to high pruning in alternating years. Every third or so year, I cut out a bit more wood to promote new basals.

No matter which type you practice, at least one older cane should be removed annually to stimulate the plant into growing "basal breaks". These are new canes grown from the base or bud union of the plant. Our modern roses, those which bloom for the greatest part of the year, have wood that has a relatively short life span. It needs to be replace every few years to keep the plant youthful and vital. If it isn't, you end up with a bush resembling a tree with one or more woody trunks. These go through a similar life cycle to animals and people. They will only remain productive for a few years. As they begin to show their age, the canes become thicker and woodier thus able to flow less and less sap. Fewer new canes result. Those that do are of a lower quality than you might expect from the variety. These are subject to sunburn and attack from borers and even termites. Remove the older canes, one or two a year, to keep the bush juvenile. Otherwise, you end up with a garden of low producing, geriatric plants that will require ever-increasing attention to keep them growing, or even alive. Pruning demonstrations are usually given in January each year. Most of them are free. The Homestead Acre has presented them, as have Descanso Gardens and the Huntington Gardens. Many garden centers offer them as a service to promote sales. It is also a frequent event of local rose societies. Check it out and attend a few until it becomes logical to you.

I've heard it said that it requires thirty five perfect leaves to produce one perfect bloom. Logically, I can believe it. It points to the importance of creating the conditions that will encourage the formation of perfect leaves, and keeping them on the bush. What ever products you choose to buy, FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON THE PRODUCT PACKAGE. The manufacturer really does know best how his product is designed to work. READ THE LABEL. Many of us are lazy and prefer to have the salesclerk in the local store tell us what to buy and how it should be used. There are too many over lapping products on the market, and no clerk should be expected to know which is "best". Unless you are lucky enough to find someone who gardens for his or her own pleasure, they probably know less than you do. Many times, the best they can do for you is to tell you what sells and what customers have told them. ADVICE IS ONLY WORTH WHAT IT COST YOU TO OBTAIN IT. Check it out with other sources. Read books, join organizations that specialize in your interest, take classes in the subject, talk with others who have demonstrated an ability to do what you want to do. If they have a passion for the activity, they will gladly share with you. Don't make the subject hard and don't let it intimidate you. Roses really do usually grow in spite of what we do, or don't do to them. They've existed on this earth for millions of years without our help. Work with them and they'll grow just fine in your garden.