Yesterday I had two women in their early 30s over for free roses. One is raising young kids and brought her kid over for some small roses in pots. The other brought her mother to dig out two mature rose bushes. I joked that it is a lot easier to watch someone else dig them out of the ground. One was three inches in diameter and needed a saw or loppers to cut. I think she will be back for more.
I think she was surprised to see what I could predict what they would see as they dug the roses out of the ground. I told her they grow differently shaped and size root systems depending on what part of my yard they are growing. The roses in the front yard always grow deep tap roots and never need to be watered. I save a lot of time by not watering my roses. Haven't had to in years.
The great thing about inviting smart people to my home is that I can teach them a lot of stuff very quickly.
I can make observations that may be offensive in group settings, pointing out that I have two of a very hard to grow roses where we live.
I named names of two people I know that would like to grow that rose but have kill theirs. I also talk about a very good gardener that sprays whatever is necessary to grow her roses. That is fine for her but I only spray fungicides and rely on natural predators for control. I also mention the "scorched earth" option of killing all the new growth with fungicides during the first heat wave. Normally a gardening "Faux Pas," this kills off the nasty rose midge and lets my roses bloom without needing those nasty necotinids used by some gardeners to kill rose midge. One guy who uses the "nuclear option" was upset that I won all the trophies at a rose show by using this "scorched earth" technique! His roses refused to bloom during the heat wave no matter how much he watered them while enough of my roses kept right on blooming in the middle of the drought, just like cemetary roses.
Growing white roses means you need to trap or kill western flower thrips if you don't want the petals turning brown at the edges.
Much easier to grow pink roses without spraying. Or move the white roses to a protected area, much like a king hidden deep in a castle.
