Rose Gardening

December 2005

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

Many people had their rose bushes pretty badly wind whipped, but not necessarily destroyed back in October’s storm. Most roses should have put out flushes of growth now and be well on their way to recovery, but you may need to do some pruning and shaping in the rose garden, but largely unless tree limbs or other debris hit the plants and crushed them most roses should be back to looking beautiful again before the end of the year.

Area nurseries suffered a lot of major damage so if you’re looking for replacement plants they may be in shorter supply for the next several months until inventories are replenished.

Check plants that are in the landscape, too, for signs of insect activity. Many insects have increased following the storm and this was because much of their other food supply was swept away or destroyed.

Some people are reporting increased scale activity in their garden and although roses aren’t a favorite target you can’t always say they won’t be on the roses. Check rose gardens weekly for signs of any pests or other unusual activity and control these when numbers reach numbers that require treatment.

If you have container plants, many people put those in protected locations so they had little if any storm damage and those plants should be completely normal by now.

If you have questions about rose plant recovery or just general questions about rose care at this time of year, check with fellow members at monthly meetings or call your Extension Service office.