073 How to Plant a Rose Bush. Why Cut Back Bare Root Trees? Plant of the Week: Holly.

Today, we have tips from a Master Rosarian on selecting and planting roses. Listen to this before you go out to buy your roses, because what you’ll hear just might change your mind about where to shop for rose plants now. 
Are you planting a single variety bare root fruit tree? Did you remember to cut it back by half after planting? We’ll tell you why that is necessary in a backyard garden (P.S. don't do this to multi-budded fruit trees!). And the Plant of the Week is one that’s popular throughout the country: it’s holly. And it’s putting on a show right now.
It’s February and we are back to our twice a week schedule for our podcast. Episodes come out every Tuesday and Friday. 

It’s Episode 73 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. And we will do it all in under 30 minutes!
Pictured:
The "Double Knock-Out" shrub rose. Prolific bloomer, easy care, does well on a reduced watering regimen.

Links:
Farmer Fred Video: How to Plant a Rose
More about the Canadian Explorer series of Cold-Tolerant Roses
Dave Wilson Nursery Fruit Tube Video: How to Cut Back a Newly Planted Bare Root Fruit Tree
The Top Fruit Tree Taste-Test Winners
UC Davis Arboretum

More episodes and info available at Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

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Transcript

GB 073 Planting Roses, Cutting Back Bare Root Fruit Trees, Holly 

SPEAKERS

Farmer Fred Hoffman, Charlotte Owendyk, Phil Pursel, Warren Roberts 

Farmer Fred  00:03

Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, well, you've come to the right spot. 

Farmer Fred  00:15

It's February and we're back to our twice a week schedule of podcasts. They're coming out every Tuesday and Friday now, and today we have tips from a Master Rosarian on selecting and planting roses. And I want you to listen to this before you go out to buy your roses. Because what you'll hear just might change your mind about where to shop for rose plants in late winter and early spring. Hey, are you planting a single variety bare root fruit tree? Did you remember to cut it back by half after planting? We'll tell you why that's necessary in a backyard garden. And the Plant of the Week is one that's popular throughout the country. It's Holly. And Holly is putting on quite the show right now. It's Episode 73 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. And we'll do it all in under 30 minutes. Let's go.

Farmer Fred  01:16

It's rose planting time as the season progresses, the winter season. Here in California, We've already started seeing roses appearing in nurseries and you're going to start seeing more bareroot roses appearing at a nursery near you, wherever you may live as February and March come along. What's the best way to plant a rose? Should you use special soil? Do you have to dig a really deep hole? How do you do it? We're talking with Charlotte Owendyk. She's a Master Rosarian with the Sierra Foothills Rose Society here in Northern California. Charlotte, let's talk a little bit about bringing that rose home from the store. Now for a lot of people, it depends where they buy their roses. Some nurseries will pot up their roses and sell them that way. If you go and buy roses, though at a mass marketer, chances are they're tightly wrapped in plastic at the big box stores. Let's talk about that. First. If you pick out roses from a big box store, and you take them home, and they're basically a stick wrapped in plastic, how do you prepare it for planting?

Charlotte Owendyk  02:19

We have another name for that plastic bag, we call them body bags. What they've done is and a lot of times you get them, they're at a great price. However, we found that they are problematic. One, they're using not the best grade of roses. Normally, we recommend you get a grade one because you have more success. There is going to be a better rose all around. The ones in the body bags, they're not grade one quality, they have to trim the roots significantly to get them in those body bags. And the roots are what contain the food for the plant to break dormancy. And so it doesn't have as much food available. Secondly, many of the roses in bodybags, they've had a waxy covering on the canes that you see which have also been trimmed down quite a bit. They put that waxy covering on it. They do that so the plant doesn't dehydrate as much. You don't know how long these plants take to transport, how long they've been stored, and what kind of a treatment they've had. So consequently, that's why they put wax on. What we've tried here, and we tried growing them and it's hard to get the wax scraped off. There's no way you can really get it off. And the problem is, at least we found, that the sun intensifies and it it sometimes will burn the outside epidermis of the cane and then it adds another hit to the cane. So it we don't recommend that you buy body bags.

Farmer Fred  04:04

Nice try, Charlotte. But fortunately, here on the Garden Basics program, people are gonna buy quantities and sometimes when you're starting a garden, you're gonna buy a lot of roses and the best place to buy roses cheaply is at a big box store.

Charlotte Owendyk  04:19

Well I've seen some. My brother just called me up and he said, 'guess what I found'. He found an older rose which he really loves because he likes the fragrance of that particular rose. It was for like $10. it was in a pot. It looks fabulous. There are some great buys on some of these roses. if you can get that, you're much better off than getting a bodybag.

Farmer Fred  04:44

Okay, but let's talk strategies for resuscitating that body bag Rose. First because people have successfully planted those over the years. And I would think water is a necessary ingredient for that rose before you plant it, at least to free it up. Get it in some water.

Charlotte Owendyk  05:02

Well, you can say that for bareroot, roses and bodybag roses. Dehydration is a major issue when they harvest all the roses that we eventually get to purchase and produce in our yard, they store them in a climate controlled, very cool place, it's like Apple storage, and they get dehydrated, they try to keep it, you know, humidity at certain levels. But, you know, over time, if it's been in there for really long, it has more issues. So what we do is, you take a pail of water and maybe add a drop or two  of bleach, so you don't have to worry about anything growing in that water while you're soaking the roots. I have put the entire plant and soaked it up to its neck, if not little bit more, and so it gets fully hydrated.

Farmer Fred  06:01

And how long will you leave it in the water?

Charlotte Owendyk  06:03

Oh, a minimum 24 hours, if you do it. Two days, three days, but I don't like to go too long. From that point, I like to put them in a in a five gallon pot because I want to baby it at this point. I don't want to put it out in the full sun because I like to put in a pot so it gets some a little bit of limited shade, I can control its environment more. And then I will walk by and I will make sure it has a sufficient amount of water. If it's struggling sometimes we do a thing we sometimes wrap it. I'll put another pot around it that doesn't have a bottom to it. And I'll put like peat moss around the canes that help it continue to hydrated. And sometimes if a plant is refusing to break dormancy that will help. These are little tricks and that we've used in the past if we have problems.

Farmer Fred  07:01

I would think that to remove that plant from the water after 24 hours or so, it should immediately be planted.

Charlotte Owendyk  07:11

In a pot. Yes. 

Farmer Fred  07:13

You want to plant it in the pot first?

Charlotte Owendyk  07:15

I like planting in a pot first because that way I can control it. That way, I know it's growing, and it's growing well. All the plants I have, even the ones if I buy a peat pot plant,  that I bought at nursery right now, it's a stick in a peat pot. I wait till it has its first bloom. I know it's got good roots at that time. In a pot the soil's warmer than the ground. When it's put out its first flower. I dig the hole in its permanent location and then I plant it.

Farmer Fred  07:48

Wow. So,you sound like you're looking for a little rose insurance there. You planted in probably a good sized container and then you wait to make sure that what blooms is what was on the picture when you bought it.

Charlotte Owendyk  07:58

That's that has happened. We go this is you know, I bought it Julia Child and it's a red but I was I don't want this red rose. I don't know what it is. I don't want it. So yes, that's that. Yes, you're saying that's insurance because things like that do happen.

Farmer Fred  08:15

 Now remember, folks, Charlotte is a rosarian. For the rest of us, they may want to just stick it in the ground and hope for the best, but I like it. I like the idea of putting it in a good sized pot first. What sort of soil do you put in that pot?

Charlotte Owendyk  08:31

Any good potting soil, good potting soil work sometimes I put you know in all potting soils that you can buy at anywhere they have a built in fertilizer in it so it has everything what the plant needs.

Farmer Fred  08:44

What if you're planting the rose in the ground? Would you use the native soil? Or would you dig that soil out and use a special soil?

Charlotte Owendyk  08:52

Ah, I dig that soil out. I usually when I dig a hole I usually do about 18 inches and 12 inches deep 18 inches wide. And then I mix it with some compost or some amendments because I want maybe a third of that soil to be organic compost

Farmer Fred  09:13

And the rest of its the native soil.

Charlotte Owendyk  09:15

Yes. 

Farmer Fred  09:16

All right. That's a good tactic for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact if you take out native soil which is usually a heavier clay and doesn't drain as quickly, and use a really nice premium potted soil instead in that hole. The water from the surrounding soil is going to flow into that area. And basically you've created an underground bucket full of water.

Charlotte Owendyk  09:38

Yeah, you have a pot in your soil. And the other thing I like to make sure that I don't have are nice, neat sides to my hole. I want it a little bit of rough because I want the roots to go out. That's just the way I am.

Farmer Fred  09:59

Okay, I mean, basically, you know, score the sides of that hole in order to rough it up a bit to give the root someplace to travel because you want those roots to travel through the soil,

Charlotte Owendyk  10:10

Especially if you have some clayish type soil. I'm fortunate I have decomposed granite and sandy loam, and whatever organic matter I have, but if there are some spots where I have more clay and I have to work a little bit harder at that.

Farmer Fred  10:24

I would think based on this end of the conversation that when you go to plant a rose, and by the way, it should be in a sunny area, the sunnier, the better, maybe, but it should be an area with good drainage.

Charlotte Owendyk  10:37

Yes, there's basically four things, you got to have enough space for the size of that rose. And then you need light, soil, and adequate drainage.

Farmer Fred  10:50

Mm hmm. Adequate drainage, very important. So save the low spots for growing your cattails or whatever.

Charlotte Owendyk  11:02

You need six to eight hours of sun minimum.

Farmer Fred  11:06

Okay.

Charlotte Owendyk  11:07

You can get away with a little bit less for what we call singles roses that have maybe six or eight petals to the rose bloom,  because it doesn't need as much sun to bloom. Even so, the Sally Homes, is one that  can handle the shade. And it's actually very pretty in the shade because it has a bit more of an apricot tinge. Where it's in full sun, it will bleach out to white right away. It won't bloom as much in part shade as if it was in full, full sun. But either way, it's still gorgeous in part shade, and that's why I put mine there.

Farmer Fred  11:45

and then we come up to the topic of irrigation and I bet a lot of people are thinking well, I'm gonna plant my roses on the edge of the lawn. So I'm just gonna readjust the lawn sprinklers to hit the roses too. Not a good idea probably.

Charlotte Owendyk  11:57

And oh, no, no, no, no, no. If you have to irrigate it, I prefer drip because that way the ground gets it, the rose plants don't get it. If I want to give my roses a shower, I'll do it with my hose. Sometimes we irrigate especially here in in the West. I know I irrigate my grass, early in the morning or sometimes late at night. It's damp all night. Roses shouldn't be damp all night they should be as dry as possible because that reduces the amount of any diseases they're going to pick up. We have Blackspot, we have a powdery mildew in some areas. Where you have more influence from the maritime influence from the sea, you get more powdery mildew, and that needs a certain cooler temperature and such to for it to get into the roses and produce some disease issues. So if you can keep your plants dry at night, then it reduces the amount of disease you see on your plants.

Farmer Fred  13:02

Exactly. And if you get spray from your sprinklers even though your lawn sprinklers may not be hitting the roses, it's possible the spray from the water might hit the roses, just reset your irrigation clock to water later in the morning. But still within the legal parameters, if you have watering restrictions. So if you are allowed to water from midnight to 10am, maybe move that clock for the sprinklers to come on at eight or nine o'clock in the morning that will allow the roses to dry off with the sun.

Charlotte Owendyk  13:31

And they like that. that's the way they want to be treated.

Farmer Fred  13:36

You have a lot of rosarian friends throughout the country. What do your east coast and North state rosarian friends do? How do they handle rose planting?

Charlotte Owendyk  13:48

Well, they have, depending on where, if you're in the colder parts of the country, their major issues are frost damage and the heating of the rose bushes. A lot of them, depending on how bad, how much frost they get, some of them will dig tunnels and then lay the rose bushes  into the tunnels and then cover them up with straw and such. Some put them in pots and roll them into the warmer garages. There's lots of different ways. But one of the things that is really important is you plant roses that are as cold tolerant for your weather, or there's some roses that don't do as well. Let's say if you've got more humidity there, they are more disease prone, so you plant and find those varieties that are best for your are. If you look at the rose catalog, sometimes they say this is only really good for a Western area. That means the Mediterranean climate. And sometimes they'll say this is good for East Coast. What the rose breeders and growers have done, they have test sites. They're located in different parts of the country. So they know how well that rose performs. Some roses performed rather well everywhere. But others are, they're a little bit more touchy. We're fortunate in our area, it's fairly easy to grow roses. So if we don't have too much of that, those kind of pressures, but if you are planting some of the roses, let's say in the cold area, you let's say you have a rose. And  if it's a grafted rose, where you have a different rootstock to the top, if you're in a cold area, that bud union, which is where the growing portion of it has to be planted below the soil line, because they otherwise may get damaged. But let's say if you plant a root rose that's on its own roots, you don't have to worry about it, because if you have a rose on its own roots,, it's going to send up anywhere from that. And there are certain hybridizers that actually hybridize for the cold. There's a whole series that's called Explorer roses, that I think it's a Canadian hybridizer that hybridizers that came up with those. Griffin Bach a one of my favorite roses of his is distinct drops. It's absolutely stunning. It said it's considered a shrub rose, but it looks a lot like a hybrid tea. It's mauve to tan, and it has a pink turn. It varies depending on what time of the year it is. And what stage of its open. It can be pinkish tan at the very beginning and then it can end out a pinkish red in the beginning and then it goes to yellowish tan in the end. It's interesting. There are so many types of roses, there are at least 6000 roses. So don't ask me to identify a pink for us. Because unless I've grown it I probably won't be identify it.

Farmer Fred  16:54

This is all leading to a very good piece of advice, which is purchase your roses from your local independent nursery because they're the ones that are going to be stocking the roses that do best in your area as opposed to the big box stores that may be getting roses in from some buyer they've never met. So shop local and chances are that your local independent nursery is going to have the right rose varieties for your locale.

Charlotte Owendyk  17:21

I would also like to put in another little comment. I find your local rose societies are the best people to contact and to find out what they really like and what really performs in their local area. When it comes to gardening. What you grow very well in one area and what I grow in my area, let's say the Bay Area versus Sacramento. It's two different microclimates. The roses grow very, very different, like our roses in the summer are very small compared to their roses in the summer, but they have more disease pressure. There's the American Rose Society, and it's at rose.org, you can find out where your local rose society is. Sometimes if they have consulting rosarians like myself, I have been to many people's gardens to help them learn about roses. A lot of people subscribed to my newsletter, I have never met them in person. But one of the things that a lot of and I get copies of newsletters from all over the country, we try to focus in what's going on now. So if you can, if you can contact them and learn and maybe subscribe to that you'll learn what works well in your area.

Farmer Fred  18:46

Can anybody subscribed to your rose newsletter?

Charlotte Owendyk  18:48

Sure can. It's the Sierra Foothills Rose society.org. And you can just send me a note that way. We even have a YouTube channel now we've been doing some video taping of climbing rose, pruning a tree rose. I'm in that one. But  just go to YouTube. Just put in Sierra foothills rose society. Our YouTube channel will come up. We, this year, because of COVID and such a lot. We couldn't see each other. We share pictures of our garden. So you get to see a lot of people's gardens. We had pictures of different roses that we really liked. And then we had one video of red roses. So it was fun. We had a blast. This is what we've been doing besides just chit chatting about roses. We want to share everything.

Farmer Fred  19:50

There you go. Sierra Foothills Rose society.org is the website for Charlotte Owendyk's home rose society, you can subscribe to her newsletter from there, but again, makes a lot of sense. Join your local rose society, and you'll get a lot of good tips about growing in whatever area you might live in. Oh, we've learned a lot about planting roses today from Charlotte Owendyk, Master Rosarian with the Sierra foothills rose society. Charlotte, I hope you have a rosy 2021.

Charlotte Owendyk  20:19

I do too. We may even have a roadshow the end of this year.

Farmer Fred  20:24

All right. We all hope so. Yes.

Charlotte Owendyk  20:27

Yes. Take care. And it's been a wonderful to be on your podcast. I really like this podcast, guys. Thank you.

Farmer Fred  20:38

The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast has a lot of information posted at each episode: transcripts, links to any products or books mentioned during the show, and other helpful links for even more information. Plus, you can listen to just the portions of the show that interest you, it’s been divided into easily accessible chapters.  Plus you’ll find more information about how to get in touch with us. Leave an audio question without making a phone call via Speakpipe, at speak pipe dot com. it’s easy, give it a try. And you just might hear your voice on the Garden Basics podcast! If you’re listening to us via Apple podcasts, put your question in the Ratings and Reviews section. Text us the question and pictures, or leave us your question at: 916-292-8964.916-292-8964. E-mail: fred@farmerfred.com . If you tell us where you’re from, that will help us greatly to accurately answer your garden questions. Because all gardening is local. In the show notes you’ll find links to all our social media outlets, including facebook, instagram, twitter, and youtube. Also, a link to the farmerfred.com website. And thanks for listening.

Farmer Fred  22:09

January, February, March, it's bare root fruit tree season at your local nursery. What you'll find usually, are sticks about six feet tall. Phil Pursel is with Dave Wilson nursery, they're a wholesale grower of fruit and nut trees. And he advises you if you want to keep that fruit within easy reach, when you take that stick home, cut it in half. I'm always amazed at the amount of shock and awe whenever you're demonstrating to a nursery audience about planting a bare root fruit tree and you take that six foot tall bare stick and you basically cut it back to half to maybe two and a half three feet tall, right?

Phil Pursel  22:50

By doing that, that's where you want the branches start,  it's you can go into, any type of retailer and they might have a 15 gallon fruit tree there. And it's it looks nice. It has an you know, nice tall trunk and the head starts up at five feet and you've got a big tree there. What people don't understand is that you're not going to be able to harvest food off that tree. It looks nice, it almost looks like a shade tree. That's not what you want in a fruit tree. If you ever go in the Central Valley and you look at fruit trees, all the branches start at around two and a half, three feet tall. The main scaffolding, because that's where you want the fruit, you want to be able to pick the fruit, from the ground. So that's why even though we send our trees out, six feet tall, we always recommend to cut it in half. You just got to start from the basics of keeping the tree branching low. So that you'll have fruit no taller than six, seven feet  10 years from now. That's the way I have it in my old backyard. My trees are 10 years old, the tallest tree I have is maybe seven feet. I get so much fruit off of it. It's unbelievable.

Farmer Fred  24:05

We like to highlight a plant of the week here on the Garden Basics podcast, talking about a plant that's widely available throughout much of the United States. A plant that is probably putting on a show this time of year. And Ho, Ho, Holly. Holly is such a popular plant throughout the United States. Warren Roberts joins us, he's the superintendent emeritus of the UC Davis Arboretum. Warren, I feel you know, as a Californian, we can plant so much here. But the folks back east and up north have an advantage when it comes to Holly, don't they?

Warren Roberts  24:39

Yes, many of the Hollies really do better with the wetter environment, the less alkaline soils. Hollies are pretty adaptable. And we have of course the traditional Holly, Ilex aquifolium which is native to us. Europe as well, it's native to other places around the Mediterranean but mainly Europe. This is the holly of the Christmas stories, the English holiday. The English holly, it's called, although it's native to other places as well. And interestingly, the name I liked it originally referred to the holly oak. So if you're reading Latin and it says "Ilex" you're actually reading about an oak, not what we now call Holly, with its beautiful, bright green leaves, spiny tips on the on the lobes. And it also comes in different fruit color forms, yellow as well. And to have a good berry crop, you need the male and the female plants. So you gotta have that going on. There's the American Holly, Ilex opaca, which is very similar in appearance, but it's a matte green rather than the shiny green. And that one really does better in the areas which have a wetter climate and more acidic soils. The Yaupon Holly, Ilex vomitoria, is evergreen, much used in the southeast U.S. where it's native, and it has red berries. In California, we use Ilex cornuta a lot. This is the Chinese Holly, and it has the red berries.  I think that that particular species has both sexes on it so you don't have to have the male plants to produce the the berries.

Farmer Fred  26:34

I think we better back up. Because there may be people wondering and asking themselves, did Warren say vomit? I think you did.,

Warren Roberts  26:43

 I did well, Ilex vomitoria is the Yaupon Holly and it's called that because traditionally in some of the Native American populations, to do a cleansing once a year, they make a very, very strong tea out of the plant and this would induce nausea. And so that was where the name comes from. Hollies  have caffeine in them, typically. Incidentally, there are about 400-480 species of holly, most of them tropical. So the ones we're talking about are ones that tolerate cold. And then I would like to also mention the deciduous Hollies, the Possumhaw,  the shrubs that produce their berries, when the leaves are missing. The effect is very striking. It's very beautiful.

Farmer Fred  27:43

I think one of those might be also commonly known as the Michigan Holly or winterberry. The Ilex verticillata.

Warren Roberts  27:51

Yes, the winterberry and I first saw them visiting Texas and then occasionally you'll see that in California, but Wow, very impressive and they are colorful of because of the colorful berries in wintertime. Quickly mentioned Ilex paraguariensis, which is a tropical Holly, native to South America can be grown in California and mild areas, lots of red berries and this is this is the source of Yerba Mate, which is brewed as a tea, particularly typically in Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil. It's very strong. It will certainly keep you from snoozing.

Farmer Fred  28:34

But it won't make you throw up, will it?

Warren Roberts  28:36

No I guess not.

Farmer Fred  28:39

It's Holly. And Ilex is the botanical name and there is a Holly for every taste that will grow in just about every section of the country. So when you visit your favorite nursery and you're looking for a plant that's putting on a show, in the middle of winter, look no further than the holly. Warren Roberts, Superintendent emeritus of the UC Davis Arboretum. And for more information about this fabulous botanical showcase, visit their website, arboretum.uc davis.edu. Warren Roberts, thanks for the help on the plant of the week.

Warren Roberts  29:14

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Farmer Fred  29:19

Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday and it's available just about anywhere podcasts are handed out. And that includes Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Tune-in… and hey, Alexa, play the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, would you please? Thank you for listening, subscribing and leaving comments. We appreciate it.