Tips for Growing Roses in the Phoenix Metro area
Christina Roperter, Consulting Rosarian, gives us monthly tips for taking care of our roses.
This Month
Hello Everybody!
Well folks all our hard work since August is about to pay off. Big and beautiful ROSES are in bloom! Enjoy these next
several months because come January you will have pruning chores to do. For now, go out into your gardens and smell
the sweet smell of success!
This is also the month for our many Rose Shows. The first is the West Valley Rose Society, being held at ASU West on
Saturday November 4th. The next day, Sunday November 5th, is the Green Valley Rose Show. On November 18th is the
Mesa-East Valley Rose Society Rose Show held at Mesa Community College. This Rosarian hopes to see many of our
club members showing off their roses that you worked so hard to grow!
Speaking of chores, even though our average high temperature for November is 75 degrees and our average low temperature is 48
degrees with an average precipitation of 0.6, you still have chores to do! Here is a condense list of what you should be
doing at this time:Continue to water deeply 1 to 2 days a week depending on rainfall. Continue your disease and pest
control program until December (as always READ & FOLLOW instructions on dosage and frequency). Recommended
products: Immunox "Plus", Copper Fungicide, E-Rase, Orthene WP 97 (these two can be purchased at Rosmania.com),
and Systemic Insect Killer (Previously called Isotox) Check out your local nurseries or Home Depot or Lowe’s for other
products). This Rosarian still uses the organic mixture of 3 tablespoons of baking soda added to a 8 oz water bottle with
a couple of drops of dish washing liquid.
CONTINUE your fertilizing program until the middle of November. Start taking stock of what roses have NOT been producing
and are no longer happy with. Take a look at new roses for planting or replanting.
WATERING
Depending on our rainfall, continue to water one to two times of week at a minimum of 3 to 4 gallons each time. This Rosarian
cuts down her watering cycle to 3 days week (Monday; Wednesday nd Friday for about 30 minutes per day) until the last
week in November. You want to monitor your own needs like I said depending on what Mother Nature gives us for rainfall.
FERTILIZING
You still want to feed your roses until the middle of November. Than you want to ease off towards the end of the month.
You can use my recipe from past fertilizing articles or you can use your own program that you have developed. There is
no right or wrong; it all works! Just remember to water before you apply any product.
PRUNING
Your pruning chores are done until January; but, do cut roses for showing at the many Roses Shows or cut roses for your house and friends.
TIS THE SEASON FOR NEW ROSES
This is the time to decide if you are happy with the way your roses have been producing. Check out the many On-Line
Catalogs like www.rosemania.com, www.heirloomroses.com or www.jacksonandperkins.com. Also check out the newest
ARS and AARS winners that were presented in last month’s American Rose magazine.
As always, you can contact this Rosarian at 623-882-0688.
Happy Gardening
Christina Ropeter
Consulting Rosarian