Dealing with Rose Diseases & Pests Organically

To make sure that your prized roses remain in the best of health, follow these tips when you notice the following symptoms.

1. Black Spots on Leaves

Black Spot on rose leaves. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This disease is commonly known as black spot. Black spots appear as circular with fringed edges on leaves. They cause the leaves to yellow. Remove the infected foliage and pick up any fallen leaves around the rose. Organic sprays may be used to prevent or treat this kind of rose disease with varying success.

2. Stunted or malformed young canes

Known as powdery mildew, this is a fungal disease that covers leaves, stems and buds with wind spread white powder. It makes the leaves curl and turn purple. Spray with an organic fungicide to treat this fungal disease, and as mentioned in Tuesday's post, try to surround your roses with other kinds of plants instead of planting them close together with other roses, to prevent the spread of the disease.

3. Blistered underside of leaves

Known as rust, this disease is characterized by orange-red blisters that turn black in fall. It can survive the winter and will then attack new sprouts in the spring. Collect and discard leaves that are infected in fall. An organic fungicide spray may help if necessary.

4. Malformed or stunted leaves and flowers

This is caused by spider mites. They are tiny yellow, red or green spiders found on the underside of leaves where they suck juices. Ladybugs or an application of organic insecticide may help.

Aphids on rose (Photo credit: Scot Nelson)

5. Weak and mottled leaves with tiny white webs under them

This is caused by aphids. They are small soft-bodied insects that usually brown, green or red. Often clustered under leaves and flower buds, they suck plant juices from tender buds. Get some ladybugs for your garden - they feed on aphids and can help keep them under control on your rose bushes.

6. Flowers that don't open or are deformed when they open. 

Thrips could be the reason behind this problem. They are slender, brown-yellow bugs with fringed wings that also suck juices from flower buds. Cut and discard the infested flowers. Organic insecticidal soaps can sometimes help if the infestation is severe.

Remember that roses are hungry feeders that require much organic fertilizer to become healthy bushes. By keeping your roses healthy and strong, you can help them avoid or combat many common diseases and pests without having to resort to chemical methods at all.  

Organic Rose Fungicides & More:
   

How To Grow Roses Organically

A lot of people with organic gardens ask how to grow roses organically. The answer is often - with difficulty. While they are some of the most beautiful and traditional of all garden flowers, roses are not all that easy to grow in an organic garden. They suffer from so many pests and diseases that there is always a temptation to reach for chemical solutions. So in this article we will look at how to grow roses the organic way - without giving in to those temptations.

Climbing roses. (Photo credit: ukgardenphotos)

The first point is to start out with a hardy variety of roses if possible - that is, if you do not already have your roses growing in your garden. This means going for varieties that are closer to the wild rose and less hybridized, such as rugosa, gallica and ramblers with small flowers. The German company Kordes sells hardy varieties of rose that will do well in organic gardens without any spraying.

This may be bad news if you were imagining your garden full of long-stemmed tea roses with huge blooms, but if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense to go for the older varieties. Just like pedigree animals, if plants are selectively bred for their appearance they can start to have weaknesses. The principle of an organic garden is to take a step back from our human desire to control nature to that extent.

Besides, the smaller flowers can be beautiful too, especially if you deadhead them regularly so that flowers keep on coming.

Assuming that you have chosen your roses, let's now consider how to grow roses organically when those darn pests appear. First, it is better to plant your rose bushes in different places around the garden instead of having a dedicated rose garden where they are all together. This can prevent diseases such as black spot from spreading from one plant to the next.

Another important part of disease prevention when you are considering how to grow roses is the method of pruning. It is very important to cut stems cleanly, on a diagonal, when pruning. A straight cut edge or a ragged edge to the stem allows water to collect. Fungal infections will settle and thrive in the damp conditions and invade the plant.

If your roses still suffer from fungal infections or black spot, you can buy organic sprays for these diseases. However, they are not always the instant solution that chemical sprays will tempt you with. It is better to help your plants to avoid succumbing to the disease in the first place.

Aphids on a rosebush. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Apart from disease, roses have insect pests such as aphids. If you are unlucky, aphids can completely infest a rose bush. The best way to deal with them organically is to introduce a predator such as ladybugs (ladybirds) into your garden. You can buy a ladybug farm and a feeder so that they stay - although you should not feed them too well, or they will not need to go eat your aphids!

It is also a good idea to have small flowering plants and herbaceous perennials around your roses. This will create a barrier to prevent fungal spores blowing up from the soil onto the leaves of the roses.

Plants that are in flower in late spring and early summer will attract insects that feed on both nectar and aphids, providing another line of defense against the little green monsters. Nasturtiums will attract aphids away from your roses, while plants of the allium family (onions, leeks, garlic) will repel nematodes. Rosemary, thyme and geranium will attract beneficial insects.

If you let at least one of your rose bushes go to hips instead of deadheading, you will find that birds are attracted to the hips. The birds will be another line of defense that can help you to grow roses successfully in your organic garden.

And be sure to check back Thursday for some tips on dealing with common problems with your roses.

Ideas for Designing Your Rose Garden

The use of landscape roses can make the exterior of any house more graceful, fragrant and inviting. Selecting the right varieties to compliment and accent the home's style and your vision, will contribute to the success of your landscape and rose garden design.

Finding the perfect roses for your rose garden is not hard at all because of the the diverse varieties roses come in. The problem lies in choosing the right ones for your landscape needs and the design you wish to attain.

'Singin' In the Rain', a floribunda rose.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Roses come in a number of classes.  Each class holds characteristics that make them a great choice for use as landscape ornamentals. If you'd like to have roses growing up and over a trellis or archway or cascading from window boxes, the tall growing tea roses are a perfect choice. Tea roses are known for their wild growing blooms and all who walk under the archway enjoy a beautiful display of roses.

If a trellis is not available and you're looking to accent a wall, then choose a true climbing rose. The beauty of a true climbing rose allows you train the plant into many different looks and effects. In essence you can train it any way you want it to grow.

The Floribunda rose is an excellent choice when a vibrant splash of background color is what you're looking for. The popular Floribunda rose varieties give all this color in the landscape with their large and breathtaking sprays of blooms.

The versatile rose can also be used as a ground cover or planted in front of other plants to give color and accent. They can also be used as stand alone specimens and trained into a small tree or planted as hedges.  Rugosa roses are a good choice for this.

Lili Marlene floribunda rose (Photo credit: digiteyes)

The goal or impact of the rose is not the varieties or ways it can be grown but the colors they offer in the living gardening palette. What gardeners want are healthy rose plants that deliver impact in many sizes, styles, textures, colors and shapes. When considering your design for your rose garden choose the complimentary colors for your surrounding landscape. A simple arrangement of pink roses delivers the perfect compliment to a stone or marble entrance way or drive.  White tea roses offer a striking contrast against a dark red brick home. Roses come in so many colors it should be easy to find colors which compliment and enhance any decorating or landscape design you come up with.

Designing your rose garden will be exciting and challenging to say the least.  Incorporate your own color favorites and mix styles and textures for an interesting appeal.

Roses do well in a variety of temperature zones and climates so make sure you choose the varieties suitable to the area in which you live. This translates into fewer maintenance issues, and fewer pests and disease issues promoting overall a healthier rose garden.


More Rose Garden Design Ideas:
   

All About Roses

The most well-known of all flowering plants you could grow in your garden has got to be the rose.  The rose plant can spark a quick conversation amongst even the shyest of persons.  Almost anyone can tell you of someone they know who has grown beautiful roses or of someone who couldn't.  Almost anyone can tell you of someone who got or sent roses, especially around the holidays.  Even little children know what the rose plant is.

Cover of Beautiful Roses

Your local florist most likely has dozens of colors, types, and sizes of roses.  It would seem to be the best selling flower of all time.  The local discount store and even the local grocer carries some sort of rose these days. There are even books written just about roses! 

In my personal opinion, the best rose is one that has a strong scent.  A rose has a most distinct smell, and a scent welcome to most anyone.  The fragrance is like no other and has been reproduced in hundreds (if not thousands) of perfumes and air fresheners for years.  There are rose-scented oils and lotions, bath products, soaps, and shampoos.  There are rose colors and rose images galore.  You can find rose parades and people named Rose (like me!) :-).  You can even come out "smelling like a rose".  All because of a mere plant that reached enormous proportions of popularity.

The rose plant is available in a wide variety of colors, sizes, and types. It is known and grown worldwide.  The prices vary depending on where you buy or what type and size you want.

Do you want a rose plant already started in a pot?  You may have to repot it, so make sure you do your homework before you buy one.

Bagatelle Rose Garden (Paris, France). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you decide what type of rose plant you'd like in your garden, think of placement.  There is a plant called the thornless rose plant that will grow in the shade.  But most rose plants are known to have thorns, so you wouldn't want your small child or grandchild or frequent tiny visitors to happen upon something that is so pretty that they can't resist grabbing and end up with an unwelcome handful of thorns.  It may even sour them on the enjoyment of the rose plant for life because of a tearful memory.  And roses are too beautiful to allow such a thing!

There are climbing rose plants which you most certainly wouldn't want trailing across the ground to be stomped by animals or other foot traffic.  Some roses are delicate and unfiltered light would cook their leaves to an unlovely brown.  If your rose plant is the type that grows into a bush, you would want to place it in a spot that allows for it to spread.

As you can see, deciding where you would like to plant your roses is an important consideration that is largely determined by the type of rose you are planting, so it will require some research and careful planning.  But for rose-lovers everywhere, it is a job that is well-worth the work.


Rose Gardening Resources: 
   

Should You Try Rose Gardening?

Ask anyone who has a green thumb about rose gardening, and you may need a tape recorder to remember all the advice you'll get!  Almost anyone who has an interest in gardening flowers and plants will eventually mosey into rose territory.  It's almost irresistible because of the beauty and scent of one of the most popular plants on earth.

Cover of Rose GardeningA rose is like no other plant.  Rose gardening then will certainly open up grounds for controversy among fellow gardeners.  It's a subject like that of rearing children.  To the rose gardening crowd, their plants often become like their own children.  They must be fed and nourished and guided properly to bloom and flourish into their majestic beauty.

Gardeners have even been known to talk to their plants to coax them into perfect health. (I admit I've done this a time or two!)

Rose gardening is sure to involve getting your hands dirty.  If you want to truly enjoy the experience, you must dig in with gusto and heartily embrace your adventure.  Well, there are gloves, you know; but the earth welcomes the hands-on experience.  Some say it is quite gratifying to become like one with the soil.

There is surely an art to rose gardening.  The experience can be as simple or as scientific as you so choose.  You may want to stock up on things like mulch, a shovel, a hoe, weed-killer, a watering can or hose, and maybe some organic fertilizer or "food" for your rose plants.  Not to mention band-aids if your plants have thorns!  You're certain to get pricked at some point if you have the type of rose plant that produces thorns.  But it's all part of the true rose gardening experience.

Roses have been known to contract diseases, so you want to know your plants well to be able to recognize unhealthy changes in their leaves, color, overall health.  Some varieties are particularly susceptible to such and must be monitored.

Image by Carlos del Vaca via FlickrCertainly some research is recommended should you choose to begin rose gardening.  It would be advisable to research your particular type of rose plant.  The adorable miniature roses may need different care than another type of rose plant.  Also, a rose that grows well in one area of the globe may struggle in another.

Unsure where to start?  The internet has vast amounts of information for rose gardening.  There are gardening clubs in many areas.  You can search your local library or favored book store for the proper books or magazines.  Maybe it would be a good way to meet that neighbor you never knew how to approach.  There are also many elderly gardeners who would enjoy mentoring the right student in rose gardening.

Remember, when you choose your rose plant, you may want to share the beautiful blossoms with someone special, or many someones.  A child's teacher, some lonely person in a nursing home or hospital, someone who is unable to enjoy the rose gardening experience firsthand, a favored relative or friend.  So make sure you choose carefully and choose enough to share!  A rose just isn't meant to enjoy alone.