Isn't it remarkable how our plants once were sleeping, looking almost dead and are now sending up tender shoots with shiny green leaves eager to convert the sun's rays to new energy that will produce buds and blooms. This phenomena occurs because God created through nature the desire of all living things not only to survive but to reproduce themselves.

With roses, we can use these facts to our advantage when we "Prune with a Purpose." When we remove the buds and blooms from our roses, we are also taking off the seed which is in the base of the bloom. This process is telling the plant to send up more stems with buds. Should you have a weak plant with few stems and leaves, the only way it can catch up with your more productive plants is to pinch off the buds as soon as they become visible. The plant saves the vigor normally used to produce blooms and instead sends up more stems and leaves. The greater the leaves and leaf surface the more vigorous the plant becomes. After following this procedure three or more times, you will have a plant with many small stems. Cut these off at the ground. The plant will now replace small stems with a few large ones with big blooms that you have been waiting for.

In our area, May is the beginning of what we call "Rose Care Maintenance." A routine or discipline to be followed for the rest of the year.

• Watering - Sufficient to keep the soil moist at the depth of the roots. Since the soil dries out from the ground level down, the more shallow the feeder roots the more frequent the need for water. A rule of thumb is one gallon per plant weekly. If you're going to water, why not include a liquid fertilizer?
• Feeding - A balanced fertilizer…..one in which the three main elements…Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potash are relatively equal in strength (10-10-10). You should apply one quarter to one half cup monthly if it's a dry granular material. There are many fertilizer brands. They do basically the same thing. You pay extra for fertilizers that work over a period of time or that have trace elements that you may or may not need. You may lose some of the value of the nitrogen if it is left on top of the mulch or soil. Working it into the soil with a hard stream of water works well. Always apply the fertilizer to the soil as far from the center of each plant as is feasible…two to three feet if possible.

FACT: "The farther the roots reach out to get the food, the larger and more vigorous the plant will become."

• Spraying - We need to control insects and prevent disease. There are many choices. Read the label and act accordingly. Begin when the buds are "pea-size" and continue on a routine basis. Focus your spray efforts on the underside of the lower leaves. Fungal spores attack the rose leaves closest to the ground when the leaves stay wet for eight or more hours. Overnight dew, rains that persist all day and don't allow the leaves to dry before dark or conditions of 100% humidity are the susceptible times for disease spores to adhere.

An organic spray with only three items may be just what you're looking for:

• 1 gallon of water (use an empty milk jug)
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 2 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil (i.e.., corn oil, Crisco oil, etc.)

Shake well and add this mix to a hand sprayer.  Agitate hand sprayer while in use.  Spray weekly and after every rain, trying to mist the lower leaves, particularly their underside.  If you can't spray under some leaves, pick them off.  Spray the buds to control insects.

As temperatures reach mid 80's the latter days of May, rose plants will love being washed off by your hose using a fine, hard water spray once or twice weekly.  Do so during the hot daytime period and try to wash the underside of the lower leaves where spider mites tend to gather.  They suck the "green" chlorophyll from the leaves.  An infestation of these critters can take only one week to devastate plants if left unchecked.  Loss of vigor and therefore fewer blooms result.

Remember to avoid cutting long stems when taking blooms into the house.  Taking only 20% of the foliage this first bloom period is a good rule to follow.  Remove the blooms when they look weary and no longer show their earlier beauty.  Do this by what we call "dead-heading."  Pinching off the bloom but leaving the neck of the stem and all of the leaves beneath is this pruning technique.
 
The plant will re-energize itself and you will be rewarded with more stems and blooms for the second cycle of blooms if this method is followed.