If you live in Fremont, check out Regan's Nursery on Decoto Road. They specialize in roses and probably have everything you are looking for (although you can probably get a lot of it more cheaply at Home Depot or other garden center).

wanda

Hi there crazy rose, and welcome! Be sure to check out the rose forums.

To answer your question on planting technique. I have great results when I use 1/2 native soil and 1/2 Miracle Grow Rose Soil. I then use Supersoil Mulch on top to help keep the soil from drying out and to keep the soil temperature even (lots less stress on the plants). These products are found at Home Depot and Lowe's stores.

The empsom (sp?) salt is cheaper if you buy it at a drug store such as Long's---it's the same stuff as the garden stuff.

Not sure on the other stuff. Sounds like you are off to a great start with the alfalfa pellets and fish emulsion etc.

I like to use a slow release fertilizer formulated for roses, such as Miracle Grow Shake 'n Feed continuous release fertilizer. When one has many roses, it can become very tedious to fertilize monthly. The slow release fertilizers will last 3-4 months. Just be sure never to overfertilize. Buy at HD or Lowe's as well.

I've rambled on enuf...

Oh, and don't forget to tell us what roses you bought?

Happy planting to you.

Becky

What a list just to grow roses. My roses must be terribly deprived as I only add water and they respond with beautiful blooms. Al

Hi,

Wanda, I brought my rose plants from Regan's Nursery on Decoto Road. I even brought garden soil for roses from there. But I am not sure if it was a great selection. I have read comments on their site that their customers use Mills Magic Mix. But I am not aware if they sell it or not. May be this weekend I will check with them. I have seen people giving high recommendation for Mills Magic Mix, so wanted to use it. Thanks for your planting technique.

Becky, I have brought the following roses:
Ambridge Rose, Gentrude Jekyll, Ole, Rouge Royale, St Patric, Teasing Georgia.
This weekend will be getting Abraham Darby, Baronne Prevost, Double Delight, Jude the Obscure, Mister Lincoln and Sharifa Asma.

crazy_rose

Crazy rose. Your new rose selection looks good. Of those, I too have DD and Mr. Lincoln. They both are good roses and smell heavenly! Mr. Lincoln is my favorite red HT rose. Your selection also includes some fine David Austin roses, especially the Jude the Obscure (I am told JtO smells heavenly!). Lucky you!

By the way, besides the Rose forums, the Cottage Gardens forum has quite a few rosers (rose lovers). They are a real friendly group, and you will be sure to receive a warm welcome over there.

Happy gardening to you.

Becky

You also might want to check out the South Bay Heritage Rose Group

http://www.heritageroses.us/SBHRG.htm

Great list of roses! Good luck and come over to the rose forum!

Julie

You have one of the best areas for growing roses without having to resort to heavy pesticide/fungicide usage. Improve your soil -- like they say, if you have $1 spend 90 cents on soil and 10 cents on the plant -- and water regularly to get them established. Roses will take a surprising amount of drought once established. They also DO NOT need to be pruned back here; they can be evergreen year round. Pruning just helps shape them, and in crowded conditions keeps the plant open to good air circulation which helps prevent blackspot and rust which our humid fogs bring.

There is an article in the SF Chron Home & Garden on growing roses organically. It points out that growing organically is not subscribed to by rose exhibitors because they are always seeking "the perfect blossom". A homeowner doesn't have to care about that, and I can attest that in our Oakland hills neighborhood, virtually all the roses are growing with relatively little pesticide and they do very well indeed. An excerpt of the article follows:
==================
Cultivator explains how to grow roses organically
Laramie Trevi, Special to The Chronicle
Saturday, October 1, 2005
Full article at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/01/HOG11EVC131.DTL

Growing roses using organic methods is the thrust of Orin Martin's new book, but the veteran educator also takes the mystery out of rose cultivation.

In "A Rose Primer: An Organic Approach to Rose Selection and Care" (The Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden, 2005, 40 pages, $10), Martin casts a wide net and covers topics that strike fear in many gardeners' hearts. He compares old garden roses with modern roses, tells you how to select a location and plant, offers step-by-step directions on general rose care, and recommends a summer-care program that encompasses deadheading (removing spent blooms), summer pruning, fertilizing and leaf patrol. Since 1977, Martin, the manager of the 2-acre Alan Chadwick Garden on the UC Santa Cruz campus, has looked after the old garden roses the British founder established in 1967 on the site.

Martin will lead an organic rose growing workshop at the garden's annual harvest festival next Saturday. Martin also leads workshops on organic rose care, a practice alien to many gardeners, who think the plant can be cultivated successfully only with the use of chemicals.

Martin's 40-page book highlights and summarizes the main points at the end of each section under the heading of "In a Nutshell." Busy gardeners can appreciate that. And his Rose Almanac/Calendar for the Santa Cruz Area, whose data is transferable to gardeners in other regions, is the ideal cheat sheet for both novices and longtime rose cultivators.

Each month lists the tasks associated with roses. For example, in April: "Despite what T.S. Eliot said, April is not the cruelest month, but rather, the most spectacular month in the rose garden in the central coast. Almost all classes of roses bloom, unfurling in profuse progression. Aphids often coat succulent tips of new growth -- a blast of water or Safer's insecticidal soap is the remedy, although in a sadistic mood I've been known to squish by hand."

The second half of the book is devoted to rose classifications, and readers can learn the basics and then some about old garden roses, modern roses, hybrid tea, floribunda, grandiflora and David Austin roses.
-----------------------
Rose growing workshop
-- Date and time: 3 p.m. Oct. 8
-- Location: UC Santa Cruz Farm & Chadwick Garden during Harvest Festival, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz. Visitors must hike in. Free shuttle at the campus Carriage House off Coolidge Avenue.
-- Admission: Free with $5 festival admission
-- Information: www.ucsc.edu/casfs or call (831) 459-3240.

New book
"A Rose Primer: An Organic Approach to Rose Selection and Care" is scheduled for release Friday. The book will cost $10, plus $2 for shipping and handling. Orders can be sent to Attention: Rose Book, care of Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, UC Santa Cruz, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, Calif. 95064. Checks should be written to UC Regents.

For additional information, visit the Web site of the UC Santa Cruz Farm & Garden at www.ucsc.edu/casfs or call (831) 459-3240.

Menlo Park writer Laramie Treviño is a master gardener with the University of California Cooperative Extension and co-publisher of the Chile Head Sampler, Volume 1. E-mail her at home@sfchronicle.com.

In my garden I have clay soil. What needs to be done for planting roses? I have brought 'GreenAll Organic Rose planting Garden Soil' and 'Supersoil Mulch'.

I am planting my rose plants most probably tomorrow, Tuesday (10/11).

After planting in the rose plants using 'Organic Rose Planting soil' (it has lot of stuff in it as per the label) and mulching, do I need to give fertilizers (plant food), etc? I have got the organic plant food "Mills Magic Mix'.

When do I need to first fertilize (with Mills Magic Mix) after planting?

Mulching with peat moss or using 'Supersoil Mulch' from HD, which is the good option?

Appreciate all your suggestion.

crazy_rose

Crazy rose, other than some mulch, a good set of bypass pruning shears and a book on roses (that includes pruning instructions w/ pictures) I don't think you need anything for now. When you're planting in the ground nature does its thing and you don't need to do much to help - mother nature figured all this out a long time ago.

The idea that you should make a $5 hole for a $1 plant has been debunked. It turns out that plants do much better if you backfill with the local soil, rather than filling the hole with improved soil.

You can improve the overall condition of your soil by mulching with 3-4 inches of redwood bark or other organic mulch (not rocks). Do not use more than that or you will restrict air circulation into the soil. Organic mulch will break down over time and the resulting loam will be incorporated into the soil by the earthworms and other creatures that live there. This process will provide most or all of the nutrients needed for healthy plants. Refresh the mulch every year or two and you will notice a difference within a couple of years.

>>The idea that you should make a $5 hole for a $1 plant has been debunked. It turns out that plants do much better if you backfill with the local soil, rather than filling the hole with improved soil. Unfortunately, it depends on your soil. For instance, here in the Oakland hills, we have solid, gray, incredibly dense, adobe clay. Hideous stuff, and no amount of top mulching is going to have any great effect on it unless you've got a few decades to spare.

On the opposite side, my MIL lives in SF and has almost pure sand. Great drainage, but nothing grows well unless she brings in topsoil.

Crazyrose,

Deep breath, I think you're over thinking this, and especially on Mills Magic Mix, it's not that important. I have not seen it anywhere locally and believe me, I've been to every nursery within a 50 mile radius :-) also, nobody I know uses it.

I've planted 7 roses in the last two days and I:

Dig a hole, (if you want, mix half of the dug out soil with soil amendment, Bumper Crop, Happy Frog, Fox Farm.)

Plant rose, Water in very well.

Mulch with an organic mulch. The end.

You can buy some Liquid Kelp, and water with that once a week, it's organic and low NPK. We usually stop fertilizing about Halloween.

Get thee to the Roses or Antique Roses forum. They will help you. OK, Deep Breath :-)

Hi,

Finally I have planted 7 of my rose plants in my garden. I took the help of my gardner (who takes care of the lawn / fruit trees) for digging hole. We had dig big holes, put the plant and covered with "Green All Organic Rose planting soil'. Watered little as the soil has clay. Today or by this weekend I would cover it with 'Supersoil Mulch' and water again.

Two of my rose plants are planted in a shaded region. And the soil appears to be very watery. Do you think I need to take special care for them.

crazy_rose

When you say 'shaded region' how much shade exactly? Optimally roses will take as much sun as you can give them.

There is a space in my front-yard which is covered with the shade of the house throughout the day. Is it good to plant roses in this space.

crazy_rose

Roses should be planted in an area where the absolute minimum of direct sunlight is four hours (and that would be for only certain types of roses), but six is normal and preferable. You can try it if you want but you will notice that the roses in the shade don't bloom as much, don't grow as much, and get a lot more fungal diseases. I'm sure everyone would agree that you should find a different spot for them.

That shady spot will do much better with azaleas, camelias, or hydrangeas.

Good luck!
Julie

Hi Crazy_Rose,

I had over 30 roses from hybrids to David Austins when I lived in South Pasadena 10 years ago.

We had CLAY SOIL and went the frugal way for amendment. We used playground sand from Home Depot. And then some slow release rose fertilizer.

SUNNY LOCATIONS...well we found out that some of the English roses could not take the extreme heat all day long so we had to put in areas that get less sun.

I've never seen roses do well in shade.

Also, don't be alarmed if some roses are duds. Some just were bad plants to begin with and that doesn't mean that the rose variety is bad.

For example, I have an Iceberg left over from last tenant and it is not prolific or bushy like the one I used to have. Yet the David Austin Mary Rose I transplanted from last house is doing the best ever!

You'll love Double Delight. Big perfumed blooms, flowers all the time. Mr. Lincoln is an ol' standby. Lovely.

Work in coffee grinds under the roses, chopped up banana peels and crushed egg shells. If you need coffee grinds, it's free at Starbucks. Worms love coffee grinds and that should also help with amending your soil from clay to loamy.

Like a previous poster, don't over fertilize.

You might want to join a Yahoo group I belong to...it's for California gardeners and there are a lot of members in Northern California. CASAPE (CAlifornia Seed And Plant Exchange). We haven't discussed roses yet :0)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Casape/

Susan, Altadena, CA

Thanks for all your responses. I would avoid planting my roses in the shade.

In the front yard, close to the entrance of my house is always shaded due to structure of my house. I am usually putting annuals in there (I change based on the season).
Are there any fragrant flowering perennials (looking like roses) which could go in there and give a welcoming effect?

I have read that some shade resistant roses like (Madame Isaac Pereire (bourbon), Buff Beauty (hybrid musk), Lavender Lassie, Mary Rose, New Dawn (climber) (Rouge) and Maiden's Blush (alba).) grow well in shade too. Please let me know if this information is wrong.

crazy_rose

crazy_rose,

Yes, there are some roses that are said to be good in shade. What that really means is at least 4 hours of full sun. Roses do not like shade and don't do well there. There's no getting around that.

Mme Isaac Pereire does better in morning sun, or at least with shade from the strong midday sun so the dark-colored blooms don't 'fry'. So does Francis Deubreuil for the same reason. Hybrid Musks are supposed to do well in less than full sun, that does not mean full shade! It means at least 4 hours of sun a day.

Yes there are shade perennials and climbers that will do very well in the shade, try the Perennials Forum here.

If you are new to roses, which it sounds like, don't try to plant everything all at once, hang around a while on the Rose and Antique Rose Forums here on GardenWeb (have you visited them yet?) You will learn a lot. Also, buy some good books or go to the library. The Ortho book on Roses is excellent for a beginner, as is Liz Druitt's "Growing Roses Organically" or something close to that title.

Good Luck

For shade, camellias and azaeleas come to mind. Not much fragrance there though. Although you could put cyclamen in at the base of the taller plants---cyclamen has a nice scent in the cool months when it blooms (usually goes dormant/semidormant in the warm months though.

Becky