Why I Oughta...

My Disneyland Roses have struggled all season.  Not a lot of blooms.  Yet...tons of LOST foliage.  They look bare.  The past week-or-so, I've tried to baby them with water.  And, I just applied the last feeding of the year - with this systemic granular.    I'm hoping that they'll have a strong Fall showing and get fat-and-happy with the weather cooling off a bit now that August is in the rearview mirror.  I'll do my part - and water them more regularly, but, I don't see a way that they get back to what they were last year - at this time - with BIG bunches of blooms and a happy Floribunda bush .  

What a difference two weeks make.  Earlier this month, I posted about our Disneyland Roses and described them as 'struggling '.  This is the second year where they 'struggled' - including an infestation of Sawfly Larvae.  The three bareroot ones didn't come back this season and I suspect it was the result of the pests.  As I've done in previous years, I've begun to feed the three remaining Floribunda roses with a combo fert + systemic insecticide on the first of the month (May, June).   But, that wasn't enough.  The leaves of the roses were lace-like and the plant seemed to be in decline. That's when I took drastic measures and first sprayed Neem Oil on them every few days follwing by  bombing all three of them with Eight insecticide dust .  The remaining foliage had a ghost-like quality with the white dust clinging to the leaves and stems.  For days and (now) weeks.     These Disneyland roses grow in 'flushes'.  At ...

This is the second granular feeding of the season for our Disneyland Roses that I've been trying to put down right around the first of the month - so this one is a day early.  See below for a few photos - showing the fertilizer application as well as the state of the three remaining rose bushes with blooms.  The one closest to the fence is having some trouble, so I've been spraying them every week with a Neem Oil brew to help kill whatever pests and/or fungus that is taking over. 

I'm posting this on May 9th, but these photos date back to May 1st - when I applied the first (monthly) treatment of rose fertilizer and systemic insect treatment.  I have just three Disneyland Roses left after the three that were planted last year failed to survive the Winter.  Roses are 'heavy eaters', so I try to feed them once a month.  I figure...there's no better day than the first of the month to feed them, right?   Below are a couple of photos - first showing the granules that I tossed around the base of the roses.  And then, below, a photo of the container showing the 2-in-1 product:

Earlier this growing season, I discovered that most of our Disneyland Roses were having their foliage destroyed by someone or something.  The leaves were spotted and some of them were eaten-up and looked like lace.  Here's a post from June 2023 that shows one of those eaten-up leaves .   I applied a granular fertilizer all season - starting in early Spring - and I wasn't sure if the foliage damage was a result of the granules clinging to wet leaves, but it seemed far-fetched.   The foliage-eating continued all season, but by July, I decided to take some action and switched from just straight Rose Fertilizer to a 2-in-1 feed and care product from BioAdvance .  My hunch was that SOMETHING was eating the leaves and the 2-in-1 is a 'systemic' product. That means it isn't something that takes root immediately and eliminates the pests.  Rather, it feeds the roses and - via the roots - takes up the insecticide and carries it to all the plant material....

Yesterday, I shared a few photos of the Disneyland Floribunda Rose in its native environment : a flower bed in New Orleans Square in Disneyland Park.  Today, I'm taking a look at the three (more) mature Disneyland Roses that we have planted in full sun on the southside of our house.  They, too are in bloom; having just started their third flush of pink/salmon/orange flowers on medium-length stems. Below are a few photos showing these floribunda roses: This is the third 'flush' of blooms for the season. Early June - First Blooms Early August - Second Blooms Late August/Early September - Third Blooms (this post) In 2022 (last season), I was seeing blooms last all the way into early November.   It seems that this third flush of blooms is a bit earlier than 2022 ( last year, I saw them all the way at the end of September ), so perhaps that fourth bloom will be pulled a bit forward, too.  While I was out there admiring the Disneyland Roses, I also sprinkled them with ros...

Roses are - they say - heavy feeders.  So, I've been applying a heavy-hand of granular rose food every month this season; starting in April.   This month - July - I sprinkled a combo fertilizer and systemic pest control that you can see in the bottom photo.  Posting this to mark down this as a 'seasonal task'; per my 2023 to-do list.   Photos below show the three new, bareroot roses with fertilizer at their feet. These three don't seem to have been infected with the same pest as the ones on the side, but I figure I can inoculate them a bit with this systemic treatment. 

I've been trying to feed our Disneyland Roses every month over the past few growing seasons.  In mid-April, I applied the first granular fertilizer and this past weekend, I laid down the second feeding using this Vigoro Rose Food granules.  I fed both the existing Disneyland Roses (3 of them) on the side of the house and a very light sprinkle around the three newly planted bareroot ones in the front porch bed . The three more-mature Disneyland Roses are leaf'ing out and growing vigorously this Spring - see below for a look at the one closest to the front of the house:

They say that roses are 'heavy eaters'.  That means that - if you have them in your garden - you should feed them every 30 days or so.  And that's what I've attempted to do over the past few growing seasons.  #16 on my 2023 to-do list is to continue with the seasonal projects - including feeding.   I'm trying to get to know these floribunda roses a bit more this season; starting with a hard prune a few weeks back .  I had a little bit of leftover Rose Food from last year, so I split the bag three-ways and sprinkled the granules at the base of the three roses on the side of the house.   If you look closely at the photo below, you can also see (in addition to the rose fertilizer granules) some signs of new, green(ish-red) growth from the canes of the floribunda rose. Here, below, is the brand (Vigoro) that I had on hand.   If the garden diary is any guide, it seems that I have seen a flush of blooms about 30 days after feeding.  With...

This application of rose fertilizer to our three Disneyland Roses (Floribunda Roses) on the south side of our house marks the fourth seasonal application of the granular fertilizer this year.  May, June, July and now....August.  (Despite this post publishing in September, I put down this rose food in late August).    The full archive of rose fertilizer posts are here .  Below, you can see how I spread this fertlizer around the base of the rose: And, here's a look at the bag of Vigoro food that I've been using all season.  I didn't use ALL of this bag this year, but came pretty close.   The timing of the blooms of these seem to follow the application of the food.  Right now (late August), these have just finished a bloom-cycle and should be putting on the final set of buds for a September flower show soon.  

I just put down some of this Vigoro granular Rose Food around the base of all three of our Floribunda Roses - Disneyland Roses - that are on the south side of our house in the sideyard.  The package that I'm using can be seen in the photo below: This is the third application of this same Rose Food this season. On May 24th, I gave them their initial application of Rose fertilizer . On June 25th, I gave them their second dose of Rose fertilizer .  I also feed a few other things with iron. #10 on my 2022 to-do list was to continue with some seasonal projects - like feeding roses.  I feel pretty good about the feeding part of that item. 

Tracking for the [ garden diary ] as well as the 2022 to-do list a couple of applications in the garden.  First up is iron. Fast-acting iron. Chelated Iron . I applied this to the rhododendrons by the back stoop and the Little Henry Sweetspire out front.  Below is a photo of one of the rhododendrons where I peeled back the mulch and sprinkled the pelletized iron.  I applied this iron to both. This is the product that I've used the past two seasons . (below)  Next up are the Disneyland Roses.  This is the second application of rose food to my three Floribunda roses.  This is the second application of the season.  The first was in mid-May .  In the photo below, you have to look closely, but if you do, you'll see the granular fertilizer. 

A week or so ago, right when they were putting on a bunch of their new growth, I applied the first treatment of fertilizer on our three Disneyland Roses that are planted on the south side of our house.  This is the second year that I've done a feeding program for them and something I mentioned I wanted to keep doing on my 2022 to-do list (#10) .   Last year, I used a granular product from Jobe's , but this year when I went to the orange Big Box Nursery, all I could find was this Vigoro granular.  I figured it was fine since the N-P-K were just about the same. I feed in early May, so this particular bag says that the next time I should feed them is two-to-three months from now, which would mean sometime in July.  And, then again sometime in September.   One of the other things that I need to remind myself is around companions for these Disneyland Roses.  I covered some ideas last year, when I mentioned Alliums and Nepeta as potential options ....

The journey this year with our three Disneyland Roses has been all about paying just.a.little.bit of attention to them.  Or at least MORE than I have ever done in years past.  It started with mulching them in to overwinter this past Winter.  Then, I transplanted the first one from the backyard to the southside bed before it broke dormancy .  I also decided to feed these roses - for the first time.  I used a bag of Jobe's Organics Knock-out Rose granular food and started the first feeding in late April ( posted in early May ).  Then, gave them a second feeding one month later - in late May ( posted here in late June, despite the feeding being in late May ).  Today, I'm posting in early July, but sharing a photo I took of the bag of rose fertilizer that I used in late June.   This was the third and final rose feeding of the season.  Late April, Late May, Late June.    When I was out there feeding the three roses - which have bl...

A quick look at our trio of Disneyland Roses that are in bloom during the month of June this year with photos below.  I transplanted the third (or first, depending on how you are counting) of these floribunda roses to the southside of our house earlier this year before it broke dormancy .  The other two were planted in the Fall of 2018 and have fared really well without much care.   So, that means that one of them is in the fourth (2018, 2019, 2020 and now 2021) season.  And the other two are in their third growing season (2019, 2020 and now 2021).  First, the two more recent ones - below- with the best performing one located near our gas meter.  It is stretching out and up. And here, below, is a look at the other two.  On the right is the other non-transplanted rose and on the left is the transplanted one - and it looks like the transplant stress has had an impact on the overall size. Below is a closer look at the transplanted Disneyland Rose....

Putting this post in the [garden diary] so I remember what I did in terms of feeding some of my existing shrubs and flowers in the beds.  First, I fed my Disneyland Roses for the first time this year - using this product from Jobe's below - called Knockout Rose food.  Mine aren't knock-out roses, but this is the only organic Rose food that the Home Depot was carrying when I was there.  I also fed all of my hydrangeas with Hollytone (no photo), but I used the entire bag.  I spread Hollytone around all seven of the Oakleaf Hydrangeas , the one teardown hydrangea and the two early ones ( Tuff Stuff and Everlasting Revolution ) in the backyard.  In the front yard, I hit the pair of Limelights , the four Vanilla Strawberry across the front porch and the one, lone Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea on the other side of the driveway.  Since this stuff is for acid-loving plants, I also put some in/around the pair of Rhododendrons by our back stoop. I also planted some ...