Showing posts with label Roses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roses. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Planting Roses at Home - The Basic Tips

Even if you are an avid gardener or a beginner, everyone needs to know the essential tips on how to grow roses successfully. The first and most important step to starting a rose garden is planting them. Rose planting can determine the amount of blooms and how quickly your rose bushes thrive in your home garden.?

The most important step in rose planting is location. Rose planting locations will go beyond just how deep to dig your hole and whether you use fertilizer or not. The first and more important key to remember is that no matter what care you provide, if your roses are not planted in the correct location they will not grow.

Most roses require at least six hours of natural sunlight per day. There are some roses that can still thrive in shade, but they still require up to four hours of natural and unfiltered sunlight each day in order to bloom. So the first step in rose planting would be to insure you are selecting a location that gets 4-6 hours of natural sunlight each day.

Nutrient rich soil is the key to a healthy growing rose bush. If your soil has too much clay or sand, or is nutrient deficient, your roses will most likely not thrive. Always do the "hand mold" test prior to rose planting. The test involves clumping the soil into your hands and making a mold with it. If the soil does not crumble, you most likely have too much clay. If the mold does not hold its shape, then you most likely have a sand issue. A good soil is one that holds its shape but will still crumble easily. Always test your soil for chalk and limestone as well as the acid content prior to planting. You can purchase kits that will test your soil at your local nursery or garden center.

As you consider where to plant your roses, you should also consider how close your roses will be to other plants in your yard. Plants that have longer roots and are planted close to your roses may actually take water and nutrients from them. The best way to tell if you have other plant roots that could steal from your roses is to dig a hole and insure there are no visible roots from neighboring plants. Try to plant your roses adjacent to non-invasive plants. That way, if their roots do begin to come close to one another, you will know your other plants will not steal from your roses.?

When it comes time to finally dig your hole, be sure that it is only slightly deeper than that of your roots. If you are living in a colder climate, dig a deeper hole to insure your roots do not frost come winter time. You can always ask neighbors and other rose growers in your neighborhood just how deep they dug their holes to insure you are in line with the rest. Always be sure to loosen the soil at the bottom of your hole. This allows for water drainage, but also proper room for your roots to grow.

Rose planting comes with experience, but the more you know from trial and error, the more successful you will be. Always research the species of roses you are attempting to grow and know their specific needs when it comes to water, soil, and sunlight. You can easily grow roses at home with the right rose planting tips.


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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

How to Shade Roses and Still Grow Them Successfully?

Having lovely shade trees inside the garden can be a wonderful experience. If you take a walk in the morning and / or evening in your yard you will feel rejuvenated with the fresh fragrances of various flowers in the air. However, it is not very easy to grow flowers, particularly roses, in shady areas because those plants require adequate exposure to sunlight. Nevertheless, if you are ingenious you can successfully shade roses and still have a stunningly beautiful yard. Since you would grow various plants in your garden, it is important to pay attention to the placement of the plants and the shades that they cast. A critical component of growing plants properly is sunshine. If a person considers the example of a forest he would find that the high trees / plants overshadow their shorter counterparts.

The growth of smaller plants is thus stifled by the lack of light under the tall trees. In such conditions, it is very difficult to shade roses and grow them. Hence, even though various wild flowers, bushes, mosses, and ferns grow here and there, there is total absence of rose plants in those regions. A rose plant can enhance the beauty of any garden manifold times. There are different varieties of roses and each type of plant has its own requirement of light. In order to get a bounty of lovely blossoms, a gardener needs to make sure that sufficient sunlight is being received by the rose plants. You must select an appropriate location for your rose flowers so that a minimum of four hours of sunshine is received.

Though it is possible to shade roses and grow them, complete shade is simply not going to work. The rose plants would not survive in such conditions, just like any other plant. If you do not have any option and need to shade roses, trim the trees and the plants in the vicinity so that excess shade is avoided. You can select either climbers or rose bushes but in both cases take into account the period for which the plants would be under the shade. The location of your city also influences the amount of sunshine received throughout the day. Another factor that determines the location of the rose plants is the hue of their blossoms.

An inexperienced gardener can obviously feel confused about all these. In such scenarios, it is better to consult with experienced gardeners and experts in local nurseries. Some of the varieties that can grow in shades are floribundas, shrub roses, and roses. Among floribundas Marmalade Skies, Iceberg, Seafoam, Passionate Kisses, and Gruss an Aachen are very popular. Among the shrub roses Ballerina, Anthony Meilland, Playboy, Mary Rose, and Carefree Wonder are planted extensively. Among the actual roses, Eden Climber, Golden Showers, Zepherine Drouhin, and New Dawn are in vogue. The Zepherine Drouhin is a climber-rose without any thorns and it can be conveniently trellised. Notably, Hybrid Masks are capable of tolerating a significant amount of shade for many hours and these plants are resistant to diseases as well.


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Friday, September 24, 2010

Therapy of Roses

When you look for more reasons to plant those beautiful roses in a garden, courtyard or even on you veranda in containers, think of the therapeutic value these roses can have for you and your family. Roses truly have much more to offer than just beauty or something "pretty" to look at. Roses can increase a feeling of well being, thus improving our overall health. Rose water, as well as rose oils come from these flowers. Even rose hips have many valuable aspects and properties. It is known that people used roses for oils and water since 10th Century Persia - the main source of these products still today.

When making rose oil, you need a large quantity of roses to get a little amount of oil. For this reason, you hardly find pure, concentrates rose oil. It is rather mixed with almond, jojoba and grape-seed oil to make it more easy to access and less expensive. Rose oil and rose water (gotten through distillation) is used internally in aromatherapy - where rose essences are inhaled through steam or diffusion - but is mostly used as a topical medicine. The different types of commercially used rose oils are Rosa Centifolia, Rosa Gallica and Rosa Damascena. The different oils differ in colour and strength of aroma, but they all ultimately have the same therapy value. These oils are made, because roses offer soothing effects on the nervous system and can uplift an emotional state of mind. It has also been classifies as an anti-depressant and a mild sedative. Roses treat many different stress conditions, such as nervous tension, heart diseases and peptic ulcers. They even help with digestion issues, circulation and womb problems. Rose petal tea (250ml boiling water with 1g rose petals) can sooth sore throats.

Beautiful Roses in a garden are not just used to relax people and cure illnesses, but have also been used in other remedies and medicinal products since the earliest centuries. A main benefit of a rose is that if you make a skincare product out of its petals or waters, it will suit any skin type and not have any adverse effects. Especially drying, aging or sensitive skin can benefit greatly from rose remedies, because they have a tonic and astringent effect on capillaries just below the surface of the skin. This means that the products can reduce redness that one finds when these vessels are inflamed. Rose water has even been proven to act as an antiseptic in eye infections. You should, however, be aware that synthetic or fake rose ingredients will not have these effects and for this reason, planting your own roses and making water and oils (by mixing your roses with other oils) can be the least expensive and the healthiest option. You will find that manufacturers actually label products as "containing rose essence," but this does not mean it is real.

Rose hips - flowers swollen to the seed - are a great source of vitamins B3, C, D, E and A, as well as citric aced, flavonoids, fructose, malic aced, zinc and tannin. This means that they can eliminate infections and diarrhea if drunk in a tea form.


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