It’s Spring! Or at least it’s early spring and time to trim the roses. Remember we trimmed them to thigh high on Columbus Day, but now it’s President’s Day and time to trim them to shin high.
- Get your leather gloves out–roses leave painful sores if you don’t wear your gloves! I like these thorn proof gloves or better yet, these long line leather gloves to protect your arms.
- Sharpen your clippers. I like these 8″ clippers because they fit my hands and stay sharp. I have one pair I’ve used for 8 years without sharpening!
- Get your bleach bucket. 1 gallon of water to 1/2 cup of bleach. Dip your clippers in the bleach water between every rose so you don’t spread diseases from one to the other.
- When you’re done trimming, spread systemic granulas at the base of each rose bush to protect them from mold, fungus, aphids, etc. I only use Bio-Advanced Rose 2-1 care. It not only feeds my roses but it protects them from all forms of distruction. Getting it on early in the spring will protect best.
- Last but not least- if you have problems with weeds, before they rear their ugly heads, spread Preen around established growth. If my roses are brand new, I don’t Preen them. Remember, Preen doesn’t kill weeds, but it prevents new ones from growing. I buy it in the large container and use it all over my garden.
Don’t worry about trimming roses wrong, they’re very resilient and hardy. Cut the stocks at an angle so water doesn’t pool on the surface.
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