Our neighbor's daughter came over with newspapers. We give them the Sunday paper for coupons; they send it back with interest. I said, "Thanks. I will turn these into roses and vegetables. Do you want some roses now?"
No one turns down roses.
Although I cut about 10 roses for the altar, I still had four perfect roses left with long stems. She decided to hold them for the walk across the street.
The Germans have a saying, which is literally "A cut joy is a doubled joy." People translate it as "A shared joy is a doubled joy." The Jackson Literal Translation fits rose gardening the best.
When roses are cut just above a five-leaf cluster, they produce more blooms. That is where I normally prune. Dead wood (brown and dry) is always pruned. Spent flowers are trimmed away and so are thefurtive attempts at going to seed.
Knock-Out roses bloom profusely and open quickly, but I can get those roses to open slowly if I cut them early in the blooming stage. The whites, pinks, and magentas have delicate little buds that are perfectly formed when pruned early.
 |
| These sepals need a little more time before cutting the rose for the vase. |
The best rose in a vase is not the fully opened bloom, but the bud where the five sepals around it have opened. Then the bud will open completely, slowly. If one of the sepals is still tightly bound to the bud, the cut bud will not open. I wait until the sepals are at the equator (my term) or below it.
Given adequate moisture and nutrition below, heavily pruned roses will bloom profusely. I do not add rose food after a bloom cycle because I have the earthworms and mulch for that. Besides, inorganic fertilizers are like steroids. They can promote immediate change but long-term damage. I water extra because these roses are on a slope and it is difficult to over-water them.
 |
| The crepe myrtle bush got a Lyle Lovett haircut. |
I wanted to shape the crepe myrtle bush so the horizontal branches were pruned away. The bush was engulfing the mailbox, and neither object could be moved. Although the bush can take on a graceful umbrella shape, I wanted a tall vase with a narrow base - like my distant neighbor's, which is now 20 feet tall.
When we were done, I thought of Lyle Lovett. All the lower branches are bare and only the top is leafy. All flower heads are trimmed away in hopes of a second bloom this year. As my mother used to say after cutting our hair with her electric trimmers, "It will grow out."
Our timing was good. A storm front moved over the region and dumped rain on all my projects, with more to come. The bush is mulched by cypress and cut up fragments of the pruning. I placed solar faerie lights in the top. I set them to flicker on every so often instead of blinking steadily and making the neighbors go crazy.
Gardeners realize that one effect of pruning is waking up the roots. If the plant is pruned, the roots start growing more - the secret to healthy, robust, drought-resistant plants. Gardeners will spade into the roots of an old bush to cut them, to promote new growth.
I have no qualms about trimming the roots of bare root roses to fit the hole I have dug for them. I know the roses will not accomplish much until the roots grow out and form their extremely delicate root hairs. Until that happens, the rose will be fragile. The rose will wobble in the soil and not take in much moisture or nutrition. The root hairs vastly increase the surface area and the efficiency of the plant.
Digging up a rose bush means damaging the root hairs. That is why transplanting can be difficult and will always result in a delay after replanting.
God created entire plant groups with specific characteristics. If we know how they relate to their surroundings, we can have great results with relatively little labor.
 |
| Has anyone improved on Mr. Lincoln? Velvety petals, rich perfume, beautiful foliage. |