Blunders and bloops keep us humble in the rose garden

Let’s be frank. Rose gardens keep us on our toes. Sometimes it is the pests that do it, but sometimes it is our own actions.

There are days that if my roses could talk, they might gently tell me that had I just stayed inside and read my book, they would have been better off. Ouch!

Here are some of the inadvertent blunders I have made in my garden that eclipsed the good that I accomplished in the garden that day. You may relate.

The ‘biggies’

Here are the big boo-boos that justify packing up your pruners for the day and going inside for a timeout.

Damaging a basal break: Our roses put energy into rejuvenating themselves by putting out basal breaks. A basal break is a new cane that sprouts from the bud union on grafted roses. It is usually reddish in color. We must always be on the lookout for it, treasure it and protect it as it is very tender, and this new growth will produce and flower more than older canes. When we prune or saw out dead, damaged or worn canes down at the bud union, we open up space and encourage and stimulate the opportunity for this new basal growth. Topping the list of the worst blunders we can commit is when we accidentally nick, bump into or drag a hose through the roses and break this fresh basal growth. All the energy our rose put into the new growth is gone. So, too, is the new cane. Timeout for the gardener!

Cane damage: We should saw out old, dead and damaged canes. But while vigorously sawing off the old cane, pay great attention. This is not the time to be pleasantly daydreaming about how we are "making way" for new canes. Our saw can very easily and inadvertently wound other canes on the bush. Wounding a cane can be a serious and critical issue, as it potentially creates an opening for penetration and infection by disease. Most cane cankers are associated with wounds, often during pruning, that open the inner cambium to disease. Sharp pruners make cleaner cuts, so we should also ensure that our pruners are sharp and clean.

Removing a ‘sucker’ … but it was a new basal break: A sucker is growth that usually sprouts at a distance from the bud union. It must be wrenched out, as it will eventually sap energy from the plant. Usually, it is easy to distinguish a sucker from basal growth. On a sucker, the growth is not originating from the bud union and the leaves or prickles do not look like that of the rose we planted. This makes our decision easy. We wrench out the sucker right away. But sometimes on our older roses, the bud union "spreads" out. When the new growth is a little distance away, we might be unsure. Is it a sucker or a new cane? If you are really in doubt, wait it out. Keep an eye on it. If it grows whippy, starts to outgrow the rest of the plant and gets a bloom of a different color, remove it right away.

Compacting the soil — tiptoe through the roses: There are many reasons we should space our roses. Overcrowded roses compete for sun, water and nutrients which can make them more susceptible to disease, and when air circulation is hampered, fungal dissemination becomes easier and more efficient. But there is another reason which is rarely discussed and that is the issue of compacting the soil whilst we care for our roses. I read a really interesting article by Portland Master Rosarian Rich Baer. In it, he states that research in the 1980s at the USDA’s National Tillage Machinery laboratory found that walking on your garden soil could restrict root growth by as much as nine-tenths of what it could be.

Our plants’ roots need oxygen for good root growth, and every step we take on our soil decreases the air in the soil. In addition, it harms our soil’s structure. It also decreases the number of microorganisms in the soil. Gardeners need all the help we can get in growing our plants. Microorganisms in the soil help our soil remain porous and allow the free movement of air and water through the soil. Try to do your rose care whilst treading only on the steppingstones in your garden. You’ve heard of tiptoeing through the tulips. We need to pamper our roses, all our plants and our soil with that same care.

Read the labels on pesticides: I don’t spray my garden, so I get a pass on the many horrors, pitfalls and hazards that can easily occur with the use of pesticides. Here are a few inadvertent but serious blunders you can make and must be mindful to avert.

• Be sure to read the label carefully when mixing up a pesticide.
• Don’t spray on a windy day.
• Wear protective clothing including eye protection.
• Don’t use a container that was previously used to spray Roundup.
• You should identify the pest first and use a pesticide that targets only the pest in question. Do not use broad spectrum pesticides.
• Spray only at a time of day when bees are not active.
• Never dispose of pesticide by pouring the residual down the drain.

Read the labels on fertilizers, and get the math right: Sometimes we learn from the mistakes of our fellow gardeners. Overfertilizing in the garden is a common problem and results in burnt leaves and roses that need to recuperate, so I practice great caution when fertilizing. I use liquid fertilizers such as fish emulsion and seaweed to fertilize my roses. I fill a 30-gallon trash can with water and, since math was never my strong suit, I use my smartphone to figure out how many cups of liquid concentrate to add when the label specifies that I should use 1 tablespoon per gallon. And then, out of an abundance of caution, I use a little less product. You can skip redoing the math each time by using a Sharpie to write the dilution ratio on the bottle.

Less serious bloops

The following are merely frustrating blips.

Knocking off a new rose stem: You are trying to cut blind shoots out from the center of the bush and your elbow inadvertently knocks and breaks a beautiful new rose stem bearing a promising new bud. You have lost a bloom. Aaagh! Frustrating, but no time out required.

Cutting off blooms instead of deadheading: Our shrub and floribunda roses often bloom in clusters. How often have you decided to deadhead the older blooms on a cluster and ended up clipping the buds instead? Annoying but not a biggie, move on.

There is a truism that all rosarians know and that is that our roses are forgiving. Don’t beat yourself up too much when you make mistakes. Our roses will survive. Just never prune under the bud union on a grafted rose. In this situation, there will be no rose left to forgive you.

San Diego Rose Society Rose Show and Auction

The San Diego Rose Society is hosting its 96th annual Rose Show on Saturday, May 4, from 1 to 5 p.m. and Sunday, May 5, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Center, 195 East Douglas Ave., El Cajon. A Rose Auction will be held at 2 p.m. on May 5. More information on both of these free events is available at sandiegorosesociety.com.

Perwich is a member of the San Diego Rose Society , a consulting rosarian and a master gardener with UC Cooperative Extension .

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .