2018 Diary of Activities in
the Rose Garden of Kitty and Bob Belendez
Santa Clarita, California
Master Rosarian
December 30, 2018 Winter has finally arrived! For the past week, night temperatures have been in the mid-30’s to the mid-40’s. It’s good for the roses to take a nap for a little while so they can go dormant and refresh themselves for the new blooming year.
December 26, 2018 Just when tamale-making time began, Bob became ill on December 21, so I had to take him to the emergency room. They had to do a bunch of tests to figure out the problem, but it turned out that he had to have emergency gall bladder removal. Because of complications, he had to stay in the hospital 5 days, which meant Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Family rallied round, and we all worked together to get our traditional tamales cooked. We all spent time visiting Bob at the Hospital for the past week. He is home now and recuperating well.
December 18, 2018 Today we heard the news that David Austin has passed away. He was the creator of many beautiful English shrub roses, of which I grow a nice collection. Some of his roses I grow are Perdita, Golden Celebration, Abraham Darby, Fair Bianca, and Radio Times.
December 15, 2018 I’ve been dragging my feet trying to decide where to plant some roses that Bob had budded on Fortuniana earlier this year. It’s been a month since Bob dug up some roses that I wanted to recycle, but I couldn’t decide on the perfect place to plant each new rose. So he’s been nagging me because he’s chomping at the bit to get them planted, and besides he can’t stand potted roses sitting around without a place to go. So, I finally decided where to plant Pink Kitty, Striped Cajun, Rusty, Hot Princess, Stainless Steel and he is beginning to plant them. I’m saving space for the new Frida Kahlo floribunda if I am able to obtain a bush in January.
December 12, 2018 Here it is almost Christmas, and this is the first year in many years that the weather has been warm enough (60’s) to have been able to go outside into our spa on the patio in the evening after dinner. Although we had heavy rain last week, the days and evenings for the past week have been calm and warmer than usual. Of course, I would prefer that evenings would be 80 or so degrees like in the summertime, but we and our roses do need some chill time. We plan to begin pruning our roses starting mid-January, so let’s rest now.
December 2, 2018 After over 20 years of using our mist box propagation system, we are finally giving it up. I gave Bob permission to dismantle our mist box and misting paddle, which he’s been wanting to do for years. The system was simply becoming too labor intensive as it had become unreliable during the insanely hot weather we’ve been having the past few years. Also our breezy weather and alkaline water made it more difficult to use our mist system. For the past couple years we’ve been experimenting with a different method of propagating roses by cuttings, and it is much simpler. The difference being we now do most of our rooting during the cool months of November, December and January, and the cuttings go right out into full sun. We have experienced a 95% success rate with both hybrid cuttings and rootstock cuttings. During cool months we only need to water the cuttings once daily for the first few weeks, and then occasionally thereafter. We still make some cuttings during the warm seasons, but the cuttings are placed in partial shade and need to be watered several times a day for awhile.
November 26, 2018 It looks like we are quickly getting deep into the fall season. The weather has finally cooled down, we had a little rain last week, and of course the winds have arrived. Foliage from neighborhood trees are finding a home throughout our garden and into our swimming pool. Not only the big-leafed types that turn yellow and blow all over, but neighbors on both sides of us have palm trees so pieces of palm fronds end up in our swimming pool. This is a big chore at this time of year, but it gives us excercise. It’s too cold to swim in the pool now, but Bob has a Hayward “TigerShark” which is a robot pool cleaner that cleans all over the pool and even climbs the walls of the pool.
November 17, 2018 We are getting a head start on digging up and giving away roses we no longer want. We have a number of empty holes throughout the garden. Gone are Moonstone (I’ve given up after 25 years of trying and failing to grow this rose), Miss Katelyn (spotting and no exhibition form), Takao (pretty color, no form and not enough petals), Pinnacle (never blooms at show time), Louise Estes (no form 2nd time around even on Fortuniana), Fired Up (pretty blooms but fade in an insant). Plus we decided to get rid of potted roses on the driveway as our recent intensely hot summers badly burned them. Where possible, we have found new homes for them, and some will go on the raffle table. Even though these roses don’t please me, they may very well excel in somebody else’s garden. The empty holes won’t stay empty for long ... there are other roses waiting in the wings for their turn.
November 13, 2018 Well it looks like fall is finally here, and the blustery winds prove it. We had a lovely meeting on November 11 when our Speaker, Burling Leong, gave an informative presentation on how to breed roses. I've been letting some of my roses set hips over the past several months, and now it is time to harvest them. So that is what we are doing this week, besides keeping the roses watered in this extremely dry and windy weather. Bob is helping to shell the seeds and he is really getting into it. Who knew that he would like shelling rose seeds? We have stopped deadheading the rose blooms this time of year. They are shedding their petals in the winds, and our swimming pool is covered in rose potpourri.
November 6, 2018 The past 2-1/2 weeks have been a whirlwind marathon of fall rose shows. I've been so totally immersed in concentrating on the National Rose Show in San Diego on October 27th, and our own very successful 25th Anniversary Rose Show on November 3rd at Hart Park, that I haven't had time to think about anything else. But of course I did take precious time to make sure that our roses were watered and groomed properly for the important competitions. A successful rose exhibitor has to be completely focused on the goal. For San Diego my main goal was the National Nicholson Challenge that required 9 hybrid tea stems, each a different variety, all in separate vases. We were successful in winning the Nicholson as well as four other National Challenge Classes, and six PSW District Challenges as well. Icing on the cake was winning the Best of Show with our Nicholson entry. San Diego was especially exhausting, because grooming and prepping our roses was an all-nighter, so when we returned home to Santa Clarita it took a couple days to recuperate before we could get going on our own show.
October 21, 2018 Well, I said to heck with it, and decided to sleep in late instead of setting the alarm for 6:30 AM so I could get up at the crack of dawn and spray the roses one more time. The weather has been dry, warm and breezy, and the temps will be in the 80’s all week. Besides, it’s Bob’s birthday today so that would have been mean to make him get up so early to work. Instead we went out to breakfast and he gets the day off to do nothing. So we are done spraying and feeding for the rest of the year ... until mid-January when we will begin pruning
October 17, 2018 Now that it is a beautiful sunshiny day, we took advantage of the great weather and liquid fed all of our roses. This will be the final feeding of the year, but we will most likely spray for mildew and chilli thrips one more time in a few days. Then all of the feeding and spraying gear will be put away until we do a dormant spray in January after we are finished winter pruning. Meanwhile, we continue to disbud side growth daily, and I am beginning to trim off spent blooms so that newer buds have space to open. Here it is only October 17, and I have already finished the November issue of Rose Ecstasy. I have intensely studied and marked my mail-in ballot for the California election, so it is ready to be mailed early in a few days. I can now concentrate on the upcoming rose shows.
October 15, 2018 It was inevitable. The Santa Ana winds have arrived in Santa Clarita. I’m glad that I am chained to my computer again today, working on the November Rose Ecstasy. I’m afraid to go outside and see what damage the winds have incurred. But then as Bob says, there is nothing we can do to control winds. So I’m trying not to think about it. Later this afternoon we will have to go out and water the potted roses because roses can become dessicated from the Santa Ana winds, even more so when it’s warm like today.
October 14, 2018 After that much-needed rain, the roses are growing by leaps and bounds every day. Disbudding of side growth needs to be done twice a day ... once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. Bob does a great job of keeping up with the disbudding while I work on the newsletter and website on the computer. I love to help with the disbudding whenever I have time as I feel that it’s very relaxing. Although sometimes I cannot always reach to the tallest canes, especially very tall hybrid tea roses such as Randy Scott, Hot Princess, Black Magic, Big Time and Let Freedom Ring.
October 13, 2018 I had planned to get up early at 6:30 am to spray the roses, but it had rained heavily last night, so I put off the spraying until tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to apply some grass seed to the lawns. I’ve been working the past week on the November Rose Ecstasy, and it has been challenging learning how to use my new Mac Computer. I feel like I’m in kindergarten trying to learn the upgraded QuarkXpress software that I use for producing the newsletter, and processing photos in Photoshop. I would rather be out in the garden just lollygagging around, but Bob has taken up the slack with disbudding and getting ready for exhibiting at the national rose convention in San Diego at the end of October. Oh yes, and getting ready for our own Santa Clarita Rose Show on November 3rd.
October 8, 2018 We took some time off to head over to Ventura Beach on the coast. It was a lovely day and there were only about 12 other people at the beach. It was so deserted, that even the lifeguards had closed the tower for the season. Our favorite fish & chips place has closed permanently, so that was a disappointment. When we came back home in the afternoon, we did a little disbudding on the rose stems, to remove side growth from the long-stemmed hybrid teas.
October 5, 2018 While making daily inspection of our garden every day, I am beginning to feel pleased when I see a rose blooming here and there. It’s always a pleasure, especially when I see a lovely fragrant bloom such as ‘Barbra Streisand’ and ‘Secret’. ‘Crescendo’ was another pleasant surprise although I don’t really detect much fragrance on it, and the bush isn’t growing as fast as I would like after being in the ground for three years. But the large, gorgeous, symmetrical blooms will give ‘Crescendo’ another year’s reprieve from the shovel.
October 3, 2018 It rained last night! Cannot complain because we needed that rain. We had turned the automatic sprinkler sysem to the OFF position since we had planned to liquid feed the roses this morning. But, the rain caused everything to be so wet that we decided to postpone fertilization until next Monday.
October 1, 2018 The roses seem to be growing well, although there is a lot of spindly growth probably caused by too much hot weather immediately following fall trimming. I have cut off any growth that doesn’t meet my standards. Every day we snap off unwanted green side growth from the hybrid tea roses. For floribundas, we remove the central bud from the clusters, although most floribundas produce few clusters in the fall. Springtime is when floribundas are in their glory. All other roses are left to grow freely.
September 27, 2018 On close-up inspection of my garden today, it appears that I have gotten those nasty chilli thrips under control after four applications of spinosad alternated weekly with imidacloprid. New growth is looking good. I’m looking forward to fall blooms.
September 22, 2018 In between caring for the roses, we managed to have a little rest and relaxation this week. We went out to the Ventura Beach for a beautiful sunny day, but not hot nor windy. The beach was deserted so it was very quiet. Bob took a nap while I walked in the sand along the water’s edge. Lots of seagulls and beautiful waves. Later we ate lunch at Margaritaville at the marina.
September 20, 2018 Today I got up at 6:00 am and sprayed the roses, then with nothing else to do we drove out to Otto & Sons Nursery in Fillmore and bought another Love Song tree rose. I had hoped to buy another Twilight Zone tree rose but neither Green Thumb nor Otto & Sons had it in stock. Apparently Twilight Zone is so fantastic that they fly off the shelves. So I will have to wait until January to get another one (I already have two). We got lucky as their fall sale began today so we got a 40% discount on the tree rose.
September 22, 2018 In between caring for the roses, we managed to have a little rest and relaxation this week. We went out to the Ventura Beach for a beautiful sunny day, but not hot nor windy. The beach was deserted so it was very quiet. Bob took a nap while I walked in the sand along the water’s edge. Lots of seagulls and beautiful waves. Later we ate lunch at Margaritaville at the marina. Today I got up at 6:00 am and sprayed the roses, then with nothing else to do we drove out to Otto & Sons Nursery in Fillmore and bought another Love Song tree rose. I had hoped to buy another Twilight Zone tree rose but neither Green Thumb nor Otto & Sons had it in stock. Apparently Twilight Zone is so fantastic that they fly off the shelves. So I will have to wait until January to get another one (I already have two).
September 19, 2018 We have gotten ourselves back into the weekly routine of feeding and spraying our roses. Luckily, the weather has begun to cool a little bit, which makes garden work much easier. Thus far this month we have sprayed for bugs and diseases twice and fertilized twice, each once a week. It takes four 60-gallon barrels of liquid fertilizer to feed all of our 300 roses. Our submersible pump makes application of fertilizer so much quicker and easier. A typical feeding recipe contains GrowMore 8-10-8, liquid fish, liquid kelp, iron, SuperThrive, and epsom salts. About a gallon is applied to each large bush, and a 1/2 gallon to small potted miniature roses. The spraying of fungicide and insecticide is applied with our 14-gallon, battery-powered Spray Boss that is pulled on wheels. One 14-gallon tank is enough to spray all of our roses. The good news is that our roses seem to be coming out of their brutal summer funk, and the chilli thrips seem to be subsiding. Feeding and spraying will continue weekly for another 7 weeks until one week before the fall national rose show in San Diego at the end of October.
September 15, 2018 Ever since I retired four years ago, I don’t like to set my alarm clock or get out of bed earlier than 8:00 am. Going to rose shows or getting up to spray the roses is the only reason that I will set the alarm. So this morning I got out of bed at 6:00 am and went about spraying all of the roses, both front and back. This week I sprayed with imidacloprid to combat those dreadful chilli thrips that have attacked my roses this year. But first, I spent the past few days cutting off the most deformed new growth. This will most likely delay the timing of the bloom production. I’m guessing that this deformed new growth was there hiding beneath the lush foliage so I was only able to see it after we pruned the top growth. So it was lurking inside the bush. But even the newer 1-week old growth appears stunted. I learned a valuable lesson this year ... I need to spray for chilli thrips at end of July, which is 60 days after the May 1st application of slow-release granular Bayer Advanced 2-in-1 with imidacloprid.
September 11, 2018 We finally finished our fall rose pruning yesterday. But I was shocked to see the chilli thrips damage running rampant on the new growth that has emerged since we first began pruning in the front yard 14 days ago. It took us longer to prune than it normally does because of the intensely hot summer, so we could only trim during several hours in the morning for the heat sent us running into the house. So I got up at 6:10 am to spray the roses. I decided to use spinosad to attack the chilli thrips. I was horrified to see the extensive damage on the newly emerging foliage, especially in the front yard where we first began the pruning. Some of this new foliage will need to be cut off as it is useless. So my plan of action is to spray imidacloprid in 5 days, and not wait 10 days. I want to make sure that the chilli thrips are stopped dead in their tracks. I normally do not spray insecticides in less than 10 days interval, but with the chilli thrips I feel that I need to alternate different products every 7 days. The chilli thrips seem to thrive on intense heat, which we have had for the past two months. I have never seen chilli thrips damage as bad as it is this year.
September 8, 2018 As of today we still have about 40 potted miniature and miniflora roses that need to be trimmed. The heatwave has returned, and also I got side-tracked with the purchase of my new computer and downloading and installation of all the new software. I don’t have a personal geek to do this for me but Bob helps where he can. Since he does not use a computer, he doesn’t know how to install the software, but he is good at setting up the hardware. I am thankful for that. He also gives me much needed moral support, and he does his share of rose trimming. I help with some of the rose trimming, and also help him to rake up the debris as he trims the roses with his Ryobi battery-operated hedge trimmers. Because the fall heat wave continues, we need to water almost every day. Most of the roses are watered by our automatic sprinklers, but we also have about 100 potted roses (in 5-, 7-, or 10-gallons), and another 100 that are cuttings in small 3-inch pots that need to be hand-watered every day.
August 29, 2018 We have been trimming roses for several days now. The weather has become nice all week, in the mid 80’s and into the low 90’s. Those temps are very welcome, after the horribly hot triple digit summer we’ve had. We only work in the garden in the morning between 9 to noon, usually 2 or 3 hours. We want to avoid getting overly exhausted, and drink plent of water to keep hydrated. I wear 100 SPF sun protection cream as I easily burn. We began in the parkway because we saw a lot of chilli thrips damage on the floribundas, so we wanted to get it knocked down as soon as possible. The parkway rose bed is the hottest location in our garden because it is located right next to the asphalt street where it radiates intense heat onto the roses. Most of the chilli thrips damage is on the newest growth at the top of the rose stems. Bob has been using his battery powered Ryobi hedge trimmers to shorten the bush height. Meanwhile, I use my hand pruners to come back after him and thin out the twiggy growth and trim off any ragged ends on each stem. The plan is to apply rotations of imidacloprid and spinosad sprays as soon as we are finished trimming in about a week. As of today we are almost finished with the front yard, and plan to begin trimming the back yard in a couple of days. All the potted miniatures and minifloras will be last to be trimmed since they grow faster in pots.
August 25, 2018 The heat this past summer has been brutal but most of my roses are surviving. Some of the potted roses are still suffering so we have decided to remove the potted roses that bake in containers along the cement driveway. At 10 am this morning there was a cool, light breeze and the temperature gauge read 74. I can feel autumn in the air, and it feels very good. We will begin lightly trimming our roses a week early this year because of the National Rose Convention that is being held in San Diego a week before our own rose show. So on August 28 we will begin trimming the roses in the front yard, and do a dozen or so every day for the next 10 days. Potted roses will be done last since they recycle quicker than large in-ground rose bushes. I applied Bandini 16-6-8 granular fertilizer to the lawn today, but spraying and fertilizing of the roses will wait until mid-September.
August 13, 2018 In about two weeks we will begin lightly trimming our roses to encourage bloom to be produced for the fall rose shows. Let’s hope that the weather will cool off a bit before we have to begin fall trimming. Meanwhile the constant watering required by the intense heat is making the foliage look chlorotic light yellow even though we had applied Osmocote slow release fertilizer over the summer. So we will need to wait until September to apply the liquid fertilizer regimen.
August 4, 2018 This morning we woke up to the sound of water running but it was too late for the automatic sprinklers to be on. Went outside to see water gushing from one of the sprinkler water valves. Bob's been working on it all day, and had to replace two valves but one keeps leaking so he will try again tomorrow after he exchanges the valve for one that works. If Bob can't fix it, I will need to call my sprinkler geek on Monday.
July 28, 2018 I’ve been wanting to feed my roses some organic meal such as Grow More BioStart, but it’s been too dang hot to add more fertilizer now. It’s been 100F+ degrees with high humidity (30% to 45%) every day this week and the roses are still suffering from the heat. We’ve been watering the potted roses twice a day for a couple of weeks, once in the morning and again in the evening. Some of the rose foliage look a little chlorotic (yellowish) again. Probably caused by overwatering, but they still have Osmocote 14-14-14 slow release fertilizer inside their rose rings, so I’m not going to worry about it for now. The lawns are going to need fertilizing again soon, but I want to wait until the heat subsides a bit. We’ve hired a new gardener for the lawns and weeding, but he doesn’t begin working until August 3rd. My backyard hose broke today so we had to take it back to Home Depot for exchange. We always keep our receipt so it is easy to return and exchange at Home Depot or Lowe’s.
July 17, 2018 We continue to water all of our roses every day since the temperatures continue to hover around 100F degrees for the past 5 days. This is especially important for the potted roses, but when it gets higher than 100 we need to water the pots daily. Two areas in our garden, the potted roses on the driveway, and the potted roses on the pool deck have been hard hit from the high temperatures. Roses simply fry when the pots are sitting on cement, especially during the hottest months of July and August. Although we had switched to some cooler white plastic pots, the life span of those are barely 5 years. They are already beginning to disintegrate. Sadly we will eventually need to return to black pots as the whites need to be replaced. We cannot find the white pots anymore anyway, and besides they are twice as expensive as the plain black pots. We also have many terra cotta colored pots and they last about 10 years, but they don’t make them with rims anymore which makes it difficult to move them or repot them. So I recently bought a supply of the large black nursery pots from Crop Production Service in Oxnard. These people are very helpful to deal with, and the prices are excellent. Be advised that you must order your desired pots in advance, so you need to know the size and specifications you want. They emailed photos and specs to me, and then I ordered the pots I wanted. They also sell large bags of Osmocote and epsom salts.
July 12, 2018 I got up early this morning and by 8:30 am I began applying Preen weed preventive throughout the garden. It was ONLY 80 degrees, which seems cool compared to 118 degrees last week. But it was 40% humidity here, which is high compared to our normally dry climate, especially since I wear a plastic suit whenever I apply materials like Preen. It took almost an hour to get it applied and watered into the soil, both front and back yard. I was drenched when I was finished, but worth the time and effort to help prevent weed seeds from germinating, since many of our neighbors let their weeds get out of control so the seeds blow into our yard.
July 8, 2018 Today we held our rose show planning meeting. I gave all attending Board members their choice of a small rose plant. We got quite a bit accomplished in just two hours. So glad that we have many helpers for so much to do. I am excited that we decided to order some T-shirt with our 25th Anniversary Carousel of Roses theme imprinted on the front. Sample imprints have been emailed to the board and we have settled on a design. They will be shown at our September regular meeting. Meanwhile, I have been working on the show schedule. Our Chairman of Judges is Bud Jones who will enlist the judges, and Barbara Grimm will be organizing the luncheon. I’m very pleased that Beverley Wexler will again serve as our calligrapher, and Charles Maness will be in charge of Placement with Beverley helping. Teresa Mathers will be in charge of making bouquets, and Debbie Bragdon will be in charge of tracking sales. We sure have an awesome team! Now to enlist clerks and runners.
July 6, 2018 Weather reports claimed it was going to be hot today, perhaps up to 110. They were so wrong! By 3:00 pm temperatures here were 118 degrees! News reported this was record heat. My poor roses. Even though I had watered everything very well the evening before at 7:00 pm, but 4:00 pm today many potted roses were severely wilted. As soon as I saw the damage I drenched them all thoroughly, and then watered them again at 7:00 pm. Roses planted in the ground are faring much better, although all the blooms are fried, and there is some wilting of the foliage. Hopefully, I won’t lose anything.
July 4, 2018 We celebrated the holiday with family. Daughter and her family, granddaughter and her family all came over to our house for swimming in our pool. Bob grilled burgers, Tina made avocado dip and chips and sliced watermelon, and Nani made pasta salad. The weather was nice, not too hot, not too cold. It was a fun day. Although fireworks are outlawed in our City now, some people in our neighborhood shot off illegal fireworks. Oh sure, they were beautifully outrageous, but dangerous with our dry brush in the surrounding hills. We had just gotten out of the spa around 10 pm when pieces of hot rocket from just a few houses away came crashing down onto our roof and then bounced into the spa and sizzled in the water. As we wondered what the sizzling sound was caused from, little 7-year old Bryson called “fireworks”. And he was correct as we found a pile of ash in the spa. Thankfully nobody was hurt.
June 28, 2018 Since I am beginning to see some chlorosis (yellowing) on the rose leaves, I decided to go ahead a week early and apply Osmocote 14-14-14 3-month slow-release fertilizer to all of my roses. The chlorosis is probably caused by daily watering that we have to do almost every day in our garden because we’ve had temperatures averaging between 90 and 100 for the past month. An occasional 80 degree day is much enjoyed.
June 27, 2018 Had to call a plumber to fix our main water line leading to the house as it was leaking under our kitchen window. It took the guy about an hour to get the job done, which included a half hour to wait for the glue on the pipes to dry so he could do a pressure test and make sure the leak was gone.
June 18, 2018 We spent a wonderful 4 days with family. We were busy but it was fun-filled. Day 1 swimming all day, then brought in pizza and sub sandwiches. Day 2 adult kids went to Magic Mountain amusement park with the little kids, while we rested. Father’s Day we had swimming all day in our backyard swimming pool with family & grandkids, then a BBQ, and just relaxing. On Monday we all went out to Ventura Marina Beach and spent a wonderful day, capped off with dinner at Margarita Villa with a splendid view of the marina. After dinner we all went to the arcade for fun games, which both the kids and adults enjoyed.
June 9, 2018 Gave in and pulled the sump pump and 60-gallon feeding barrel out of the garage to liquid feed the roses one more time before heading into summer. The hungry wenches were screaming out to be fed. Their foliage is beginning to turn a lighter yellow than I would like. So they got some Grow More, kelp, fish, iron, epsom salts, Jump Start, and SuperThrive. That should take care of them until mid-July when I plan to give them some BioStart, alfalfa, and some Osmocote 14-14-14, which should hold them until fall. Meanwhile, just light deadheading since we will have visitors during June. No spraying over the summer even though there is a little mildew in the shady areas. For spider mites, we just see a tiny bit, so we are beginning to wash down the foliage every time we water the pots. Went to Crop Production Services and picked up some Osmocote and a stack of 2, 10, and 15-gallon black pots. We are not adding more roses, it’s just that some of our older pots are beginning to crack and fall apart, so we are beginning to replace some as time and energy allow. Those lovely white pots we got a few years ago do not hold up to the California sun.
June 5, 2018 I call this yo-yo-weather. 95 degrees one day, 80 degrees the next. Keeping the potted roses and cuttings watered almost every day so they can thrive. The cuttings from January were not happy to be split off from their group cuttings so we had to put them in the shade for awhile until they get used to their new individual 3-inch home. I see a little bit of thrips damage on the blooms but don't see any thrips, so apparently the Bayer Advanced with Imidacloprid did its work. Also seeing the most mildew on my roses than ever before. Mostly only in the backyard near the swimming pool and shade, plus we had some foggy mornings. But still, I refuse to spray the roses this time of year when there is no rose show until October. As soon as the weather warms up, the mildew will disappear for many months. I'm not worried about it because the blooms are still being produced and opening up nicely, enough so that I can shoot a few photos. Except for one hybrid tea (Lanvin), I see virtually no mildew in the front yard. Doing a little bit of deadheading every day, which I normally don't bother with this time of year ... but we are having family coming for a visit and I want the garden to look pretty for them.
May 25, 2018 We are taking advantage of the very cool weather (65 degrees) this week and repotting some of our rose cuttings. The individual cuttings that have been living in a 3-inch pot for the past 1-1/2 years are now moved up to 4-inch pots. These cuttings are for our monthly rose raffle and silent auctions at our rose society meetings. I also give many away to friends and family. Also, it is now time to move up the group cuttings from 3-inch pots and move each cutting to its own separate 3-inch pot, because we rooted 6 stems in each pot last January. Plus, we had to make a name label for each separate plant. This is time consuming, but better to move them while the weather is cool, and give each rooted cutting (about 6-months old now) its own pot so it can spread out and grow.
May 19, 2018 Just puttering around a little bit today. Appreciating the lovely weather. Wandered around the garden and did a little bit of deadheading (removing spent blooms) to encourage more blooming, taking care to not trim too deep as I don’t want to encourage chilli thrips that love to attack new foliage. Fed the lawn to make it greener, not that we have much lawn but best to keep it looking lush. Bought some Bandini 16-6-8 slow-release lawn food (no weed killer in it) at Home Depot. I avoid getting weed killer near my roses, therefore NO RoundUp allowed in our yard. But it will soon be time to apply Preen weed seed preventative again.
May 15, 2018 No rest for the wicked. I am seeing a lot of thrips damage on the blooms. Thankfully not much chilli thrips! And the foliage is beginning to look a little chlorotic indicated by light green foliage, which means they need nitrogen and other nutrients. So I applied Bayer Advanced 6-9-6 (granular) combination rose food containing imidacloprid for insects. I’m done liquid feeding and spraying until early next fall because those methods are very labor intensive, but we plan to apply dry organic meal over the summer. Probably some Osmocote slow release as well.
May 14, 2018 Last November 11, 2017 I discovered a pink sport (mutation) on one of my four very red ‘The Squire’ English shrub roses. It just sort of jumped out at me when I was scouting the garden to cut a bouquet of roses. I was doubtful that this sport would stay pink but I took a gamble and had Bob bud an eye from the tiny stem onto Fortuniana rootstock. The graft was successful and began to push up new growth by February, but it took 6 months after grafting before it produced its first bloom. Wow! The sport bloom remained a delightful light to medium pink. Looks like I will need to think of a name for it so I can get it registered. I have several other sports that are still unnamed many years following their discovery. A pink sport of Miss Kitty. A striped sport of Cajun Moon. A coral and yellow sport of Peggy T. No name seems to be deserving of these lovelies, so in the meantime I enjoy growing them in my garden.
May 10, 2018 I was invited to speak about “Fabulous Floribundas” at the Sacramento Rose Society. So I accepted, and updated my PowerPoint presentation, which includes 175 color slides. I took the opportunity to make a side trip to visit family in Grass Valley that is only about 50 miles north of Sacramento. My presentation went well and the Sacramento group were very friendly and receptive. While in Grass Valley we visited the Empire Mine State Park. It was fun to visit with family for a couple of days, and take this educational side trip. The weather was terrific while we were there. Big thanks to my sweet granddaughter Puanani who watered all of my 100+ roses in pots while were away.
May 4, 2018 We have been busy this week deadheading spent blooms. We also spent some time checking the water sprinklers and it turned out that one on the lawn had been broken when the lawn gardener ran over it with his mower. He is not allowed to touch our roses, all he does is mow, blow, and go. He tried to fix the sprinkler and made it worse and didn’t bother to tell us. So the entire hybrid tea bed along the driveway was not getting water at all, so the other front HT bed was flooding. For who knows how long? Fortunately, Bob and I check out the sprinklers about once a month to make sure they are working properly.
April 29, 2018 Even though we were exhausted from yesterday’s rose show, and prior to that 3 days of cutting roses for the rose fridge, getting up to the alarm at 4:30 am, we dragged ourselves out of bed at 8:00 am so we could be first in line for the Hendrickson Garden Visit. Wow! We were not disappointed and sure glad we could see his rose wonderland. I had visited and photographed the Henrickson Garden two years ago, and it had already changed considerably. There was so much to see on his one-acre property in Castaic, that we stayed the entire time and shot dozens of photos. It was fun to see his wife Joan who worked many years at the same School District where I also worked. I will feature many photos in the June issue of Rose Ecstasy.
April 28, 2018 Our roses did not perform to their expected peak bloom in time for the Pacific Rose Show on April 28. Oh sure, we did have some mediocre blooms to get in the game, but most were not worthy of a trophy. And yet, we did manage to garner 12 trophies, most with blooms with their stems lopped off since the stems were extremely short. This is why rose shows have the English Box Class, the Rose in a Bowl Class, and the Picture Frame Class. I had wondered if I had done something wrong to my roses ... did I use a new fertilizer? Did I feed the roses at the wrong ratio? After discussions with other exhibitors at the Pacific Rose Show, we determined that weird spring weather was the culprit. As the saying goes ... “You cannot win unless you play the game.” Thus, we brought whatever few depressing roses we had. We had pruned, fed, and sprayed our roses with our usual dedication. The good news is the weird weather that prevented spring growth and blooms is now coming alive with a large number of basal breaks (new canes) on the roses. So they will be fine after all.
April 22, 2018 As usual, the polyanthas will be the last to bloom, even though they were the first to be pruned. Perhaps it’s because they produce so very many big clusters of blooms. I am very disappointed with the floribundas this year, as they have produced very few clusters. The miniatures and minifloras are mostly looking very good, producing lots of blooms. So there’s that. Shrubs and Old Garden Roses are a mixed bag. Some are producing heavily, such as Francis Dubreuil, but others such as Rose de Rescht are simply pooping along at their own pace. Yolande d’Aragon and Baronne Prevost are not happy this year. We are done spraying and feeding liquid fertilizers for the spring. We will spray again after Labor Day as it is too hot to spray over our very hot summers. And we will apply dry granular foods over the summer. Yes, there may be a few bugs, but mildew and spot diseases are mostly gone now as the weather warms up.
April 16, 2018 My hybrid teas are coming along very slowly this year. The early birds are the yellow Lanvin, and the brilliant pink Big Time. Both of these hybrids were not fazed at all by our weird weather this year. In fact, they seem to have loved the cold since they have many more blooms than usual this time of year, and their stems are nice and long. Their color is very intense too. Hollywood Star is very pretty but as usual it produces very few blooms. Affirm is doing well, but won’t open its bloom until next week. The blooms of Ring of Fire are nicely formed with brilliant orange color although the stems could be a bit longer. Both bushes of Red Intuition decided to defoliate itself, including the bush in the front yard and the bush in the back yard. My other hybrid tea roses are very sad, only producing short stems, ugly deformed blooms, and freeze-damaged foliage. The worst are St Patrick (it hates the cold), Hot Princess, Black Magic, Cajun Moon, Randy Scott.
April 14, 2018 The first roses to bloom this year were the old garden roses (antiques). Some made it through the winter quite easily, while others seemed to suffer from freeze damage, and are slow to produce new canes. For example, Yolande d’Aragon and Baronne Prevost are very slow to begin producing growth, with only a few blooms with stems beginning to emerge. On the other hand, Francis Dubreuil and Archiduchesse Elisabeth d’Autriche do not seem to have been bothered by this year’s erratic winter. Mystic Beauty, a very short Bourbon Rose, grows in a 20-gallon pot so it has already bloomed out.
April 12, 2018 We are back to the erratic yo-yo weather here in Santa Clarita. It was 91 degrees just 3 days ago, and today it is 61 degrees and very windy. Even at this low temperature, we need to keep the potted roses watered almost daily because the winds can dessicate them quickly. We are disbudding almost daily, and picking at the little weed seedlings whenever we get a chance. We never let the pulled weed seedlings lay on the ground because they are already producing seeds even on tiny seedlings. Weed pickings are always thrown in the green waste barrel.
April 9, 2018 I had planned to get up early and spray my roses to prevent insects and fungus. But, as luck would have it, wind had another say in the matter. When the alarm sounded at 6:30 am, I peaked out the window and could see the neighbor’s trees blowing in the breeze. So I went back to bed and slept in until 9:00 am. I will try again tomorrow. Instead, after breakfast we spent a half hour disbudding the side growth on the hybrid tea roses. The foliage is a very dark green, but the erratic spring weather has not been kind to the roses. Blooms are late, and many stems are short.
April 8, 2018 Today is meeting day and I was pleased that we had a lovely meeting with 30 members in attendance. Since our President, Teresa Mathers, was out of town, I filled in as President for the day. Our members said that they enjoy having roses offered on the Silent Auction, which we have been testing for the past few months. Not many people have roses blooming this early in April, but Vicki Wanek brought a bunch of gorgeous blooms for the Little Rose Show and swept all the prizes.
April 6, 2018 We finally found an opportunity to feed the roses again and they are looking hungry. So out came the big 60-gallon barrel and we once again fed the roses with lots of organics. I like to feed them weekly with liquids during the spring, usually from early March to the end of April. After feeding, we took 1/2 hour to pull a few tiny weed seedlings before they get out of control.
March 29, 2018 The weather is beginning to stay nice (80 degrees yesterday, but the nights are still a bit chilly), so we fed the roses yesterday, and sprayed them this morning at 6:30 am before the birds, bees, and humans are around. I do not like getting up that early but it must be done. I would have delayed it one more week but I’m on call for jury duty next week so I don’t want to get further behind. A few green buds are developing, but mostly it’s just ugly “poodle growth” of the foliage caused by erratic weather.
March 20, 2018 We are taking advantage of several days of clear skies to get some work done in the garden. We got a bit behind last week because of the rains. On Sunday we applied 9 bags of 1 cubic foot composted chicken manure (Gardeners brand) all around the garden. We were lucky to find the chicken manure at the local Home Depot since OSH was the only place until they closed the Santa Clarita store a couple years ago. Yesterday we applied liquid fertilizer throughout, consisting of Grow More 8-10-8, fish emulsion, iron, seaweed, and SuperThrive. We went through four 60-gallon tanks of liquid fertilizer that we apply with our submersible pump (aka sump pump) with hose attached. It takes about 2 hours to liquid feed 240 gallons to our 300 roses. This morning we set our alarm for 6:35 am and quickly jumped out of bed to see if we have clear skys conducive to spraying the roses. Weather predictions say rain later today so as long as the spray material dries well, it will do its work. I sprayed for mildew and insects, especially to control chilli thrips this time of year. Of note is the “poodle growth” at the top of many bushes that was caused by the extreme cold snap immediately following very warm weather in January. Poor roses simply do not know what to do. This will cause many short-stemmed roses, but hopefully with sunshine longer stems will eventually push through and reach for the sky.
March 14, 2018 There hasn’t been much going on this week. I wanted to feed and spray the roses again but we’ve had drizzly days and nights so further rose care will need to wait until we have sufficient sunshine. Meanwhile we’ve been puttering around in the garden, pulling a few weeds, and checking on the rose cuttings. Because of the colder weather now, foliage growth has come to a screeching slow down. We can’t worry much about it because the roses will bloom when the weather is how they prefer it. I’ve been spending most of my time this week on the computer, working on the April issue of Rose Ecstasy newsletter. Had some technical issues that I’ve been struggling with for a couple of days, but I think I have found a work-around. PDF imports are not always compatible with Quark Xpress.
March 8, 2018 We took advantage of the nice 75-degree weather to get a few things accomplished this week. Yesterday we fertilized with a concoction of fish emulsion, liquid seaweed, iron, 10-8-10 Grow More water soluble, and some SuperThrive. We used our sump pump in the 55-gallon container, and filled it up 4 times to cover our entire front and back gardens. Today we got up at 6:30 am to spray all of the roses with my Spray Boss (14-gallon battery-operated sprayer on wheels). I applied a mixture of Compass for mildew and spot diseases, and Merit for chilli thrips and aphids. While making my rounds I noticed that St Patrick got the brunt of the frost damage from two weeks ago. All four bushes have damage on the emerging foliage. Also, I noticed some odd-looking black markings on the foliage of Neil Diamond, which is the only rose in my garden affected. It looks like either downy mildew or cercospora. I'm doubting it was caused by dormant oil +Orthene that I sprayed last month to combat San Jose & Red Scale insect damage because I have seen a little bit of that on other roses that were dormant sprayed in my garden. Dormant spray damaged causes new emerging growth to look puckered and splotched with yellow circles caused by the oil when the weather got too hot when sprayed (it hit 85 degrees last month).
March 2, 2018 We are getting some rain today. We need it to wash through the soil since I plan to begin feeding and spraying next week. So far I have not seen any insects nor disease indications but I need to keep a diligent eye on things. I suspect I might see a tiny bit of chilli thrips damage beginning to surface, but I don't know for sure since they are not visible without a microscope. I do see a tiny bit of dormant spray damage on the foliage, but it was necessary to spray for scale insect, so it was worth the risk of dormant spraying when it was warm late January. Meanwhile, Bob has my sprayer and the sump pump feeder at the ready for when the weather clears next week. And I picked a small amount of emerging weed seedlings. Get ahead of it.
February 21, 2018 After enjoying warm weather all winter, often in the 80-degree range, winter finally arrived in Southern California on February 20, 21, and 22. Mornings have hit as low as 30 degrees. So far, no damage to the rose foliage that’s been pushing out for several weeks. But we had to move some newly budded roses onto the patio to keep frost off of the bud graft. As we did in past years, we put the 1-gallon pots onto our little red wagon, and put them into sun during the day, and pulled them back onto the patio at night.
February 17, 2018 We had to move the pots away from the pool temporarily while the pool is being refurbished. The pool had to be completely drained before they could work on it. We didn’t have to cover the roses, but there was a little plaster dust around the yard from the pool sanding. Not to worry, it washed right off with the hose. Of bigger concern, after we refilled the pool, is getting the chemicals adjusted to the correct pH, calcium, and chlorine levels. Apparently, our water has changed over the years, depending on rain and water source, so this can adversely affect our pool. I never knew it is so complicated. But thankfully, our guys at Mac’s Pool & Spa have been very helpful in getting it done correctly.
February 13, 2018 Well, it did indeed drizzle a little bit last night, just enough to wash in the Preen so it can get to work preventing weed seeds from emerging. Preen is NOT at all like RoundUp that kills weeds. In fact, RoundUp is not allowed in my garden because it also kills roses. So instead we try to pull weeds when they are tiny and apply Preen that does not hurt our roses. We took some time to go to Home Depot and bought some new wood to refurbish our rose container rack in the back yard. Bob is very handy, so he whipped it out in about an hour. It took more time to go to Home Depot than it took to refurbish the rack. The project cost less than $100.
February 12, 2018 I applied the Preen weed emergent this morning before it got too breezy. It only took an hour to get it applied to both the front and back yards. The timing was great because the breezes didn’t kick up until I was finished. It is supposed to rain later today, so instead of watering the Preen in, I am hoping it will drizzle a little bit tonight.
February 10, 2018 We’ve been busy all week tending to our swimming pool, trying to get the chemicals corrected. We will need to have the plaster sanded and then acid washed. Geez, like we have nothing better to do. Well today we applied epsom salts (a handful to every bush), and 1/4 cup of Gardner & Bloome organic fertilizer to every bush as well (1/8th cup to miniatures and small bushes). We did a little weeding here and there throughout the front garden, and will do the back tomorrow. Hope to apply some Preen weed pre-emergent this week if the weather allows.
February 7, 2018 Received my order for 100 pieces of Tall Rose Labels from Paw Paw Everlast (in Michigan). These are my favorite signs to make rose labels for my rose bushes because they last for years unless “somebody” whacks them with a weedwhacker or a power hedger! I buy the better quality version that costs a little bit more, about 63 cents each. The stakes are stainless steel, and the plates are heavy duty zinc. Then I use a Brother labeler to make labels with an adhesive backing. If you buy the correct refill tape, they never fade and will stick on the name plates for many years. I have some that are 25 years old and only had to replace the name plate because the stake either finally corroded or the plate was bent out of shape by the gardener. So that’s why I buy the heavier duty version they offer now.
February 5, 2018 The weather has been very warm, in the 80’s, and even 85 one day. This is unseasonably warm for this time of year. Bob applied dry alfalfa pellets today. We bought a 50 lb. sack at Fox Feed. A big handful around every rose bush and inside the containerized roses. We used up almost the entire bag, just a little bit remaining. I might as well finish it off, no point in storing a gallon of alfalfa pellets. When he was done, then I waterered it all well so that the alfalfa could begin disintegrating and do their good work. Earthworms love the alfalfa pellets. I have put the water sprinklers back on but so far only 3 times a week. This waters most of my roses except we still have to hand water the containerized roses.
February 2, 2018 Today Bob applied 10 large bags of Kelloggs Gromulch, a large shovelful around each rose bush. When he was finished, I watered it all in real good so that the mulch will not blow away. Every large rose bush has a plastic ring placed around it, and the pots don’t need rings. The rings keep all the water and nutrients up close to the roses. We bought a little battery-powered saw to remove old dead wood from mature rose bushes. Bob loves his tools, and this is a great one that makes quick work of removing old wood.
January 30, 2018 Following a visit from my favorite entomologist, I applied two applications of dormant spray a week apart. Both contained horticultural oil plus Orthene. Hopefully, this will knock down the scale insect over the winter that have decided they love my rose garden. Both San Jose Scale and Red Scale. I sometimes also get Cotton Cushion Scale too, but they are easier to knock down and don’t seem to be as destructive as the others. This dormant spray will also help to control chilli thrips, but not entirely as I know I will have to spray imidacloprid and spinosad when April rolls around.
January 21, 2018 We are finally in the home stretch of pruning our 300 rose bushes. We’ve had great weather all month, with only one day of rain to damper our enthusiasm, so we have gotten a lot accomplished. As of today we still have about 65 roses remaining to prune, but most of those are the smaller miniatures and miniflora roses in 7, 10, or 20 gallon containers. This morning is around 42 degrees, but by 1:00 it finally “warmed” up to 55 degrees so that Bob could feel comfortable enough to go outside and whack away at more roses. Just a little thinning out and fine-tuning to do over the next few days, then I get the sprayer out of the garage to apply a dormant horticulural oil to all the rose bushes.
January 14, 2018 We had a very huge and successful Rose Care Seminar at the Senior Center today. 65 persons were in attendance and they enjoyed watching Bob trim rose bushes with a battery-powered hedge trimmer. Of course, they all stared in disbelief at how he could be so cruel to roses. So I explained that we had been doing this method for years and our roses survive despite our “brutality.” Lots of roses and other rose goodies were on our raffle table.
January 13, 2018 Yesterday we had our annual gig at Green Thumb Nursery in Newhall. The weather could not have been more perfect. It was nice and sunny and lots of people stopped by to talk roses. In fact, a crowd was waiting for us when we arrived at 10 am. Bob demonstrated trimming roses, while our other Consulting Rosarians and assistants helped customers to select packaged bareroot roses. The folks at Green Thumb were gracious hosts and had an hourly drawing where customers could win roses, or fertilizer, or other garden items just by writing their name on the visitor’s list. All of our members got their annual 10% discount cards as well. Thanks to manager Bryan Payne for his kind generosity and to all his staff that helped out. We also want to thank the generosity of Kelloggs for donating bags of Gardner and Bloome fertilizer when customers bought a rose bush that day.
January 12, 2018 We finally began pruning some of the tall hybrid tea roses in the front yard. Of course, Bob is using his battery-powered hedge trimmer which makes the job a lot faster and easier. We are cutting a bit lower than last year because they grew too tall this year so the winds whipped the tall canes to shreds. Then I follow behind him and rake up the debris, and put it in the large green waste barrels, whick by the way we borrowed some barrels from our friendly neighbors. Four 80-gallon green waste barrels last week. Then I trim off the frayed edges of the canes. We also trimmed some of the potted miniflora roses that are located along the driveway. I was horrified to find more scale insect on some of my roses in the front yard, so I sent a sample cane to Baldo Villegas so he can look at it up close. I’m guessing a combination of San Jose Scale and perhaps something else along with it.
January 9, 2018 We are off to a great start to the new year. Although we already had two days of rain and some high winds last week, our weather is sunny this week so we jumped at the chance to get some pruning done a little earlier than usual this year. We finished almost all of the floribundas in the parkway (except the single-petaled roses such as Puanani and Playgirl, which we will save until last. We got all of the polyanthas trimmed, finished most of the shrubs except several huge shrubs such as Golden Celebration and Abraham Darby. I always enjoy pruning some of the tall antique roses such as Yolande d’Aragin, Baronne Prevost, and Anna de Diesbach because I can prune them standing up without bending over which hurts my back. I’m hoping we can finish pruning by the 20th so that I can apply the 1st dormant oil spray before the roses begin producing foliage.
January 2, 2018 Happy New Year Everybody!!! So far winter has not yet arrived here in Santa Clarita. Most days in December have been in the 70's and some days even into the 80's. Nights have often been dipping down into the 50's and 40's. Nothing in the 30's yet. Our roses don't know what to do. They are wanting to go to sleep and lose their foliage, and much of it has yellowed, but are hanging onto the bushes. The weather has been so very nice that we are tempted to get outside and begin pruning. But for us rose exhibitors, who are targeting an end of April rose show at the Arboretum, pruning now would further encourage an early spring blooming period. We don't want a garden full of blooms on April Fool's Day. Meanwhile we have found a few things to do in the garden. First, I potted a bunch of cuttings to begin rooting. I did 15 different rose varieties, 6 of each. They should be ready to given away on our raffle table around June. Then Bob removed two sickly tree roses and threw them in the trash. We already have two replacement tree roses that we bought at Otto & Sons last April. Neil Diamond and Sparkle & Shine. They have been patiently waiting for their space in the ground. He planted them today. Now we sit and wait, and will probably have to begin pruning just about the time the weather gets cold or windy or rainy.
Photos © Copyright by Kitty Belendez
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