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Please note that Michigan Gardener has a new schedule in 2023. We will publish one Print Magazine in the spring. This Spring issue will be in stores in early May 2023. We will also publish 10 E-Newsletters from spring through fall. Click to sign up for our free E-Newsletter.

Simple steps to keep roses healthy for the summer

June 20, 2022   •   Leave a Comment

Photo: Cathy Holewinski

by Nancy Lindley

You can prolong the fabulous show that roses put on in June just by following a few simple steps to keep roses healthy for the summer. Here’s how.

Look at your garden. Are your roses receiving at least six hours of direct sunlight? If not, consider thinning out overhead tree branches. Are they planted too close to other plants? If so, relocate those plants and give your roses some space.

Maybe your roses are planted too close to a wall. Did you know it’s easy to move them by root pruning in summer to get them ready for transfer in fall when they’re dormant? To root prune, cut a circle around the shrub with your spade, much like you were digging them up. However, don’t do that final thrust that rips the roots out. Fertilize as usual, and keep the plant well watered. Do this several times throughout summer. This will create dense, compact roots that respond well to moving. In the fall, dig out your rose with a root ball slightly larger than your pruning circle cut, then transfer your plant to its new home.

Roses need much more water than they receive from typical rainfalls, and more water than home irrigation systems provide for turf grass. How much is enough? It depends on your soil, mulch and air temperature. To determine if your roses need watering, dig a small hole a few inches deep near the plant’s base. Check the soil’s moisture content. If in doubt, water.

Unless your spring fertilizer was a slow-release type, fertilize your roses every month or so during the growing season. To promote repeat blooming, deadhead (remove) spent blooms to prevent the formation of rose hips (seed pods).

Hybrid tea roses have long stems and are good for cutting. Make your cut about one half inch above a leaf cluster with five or more leaflets. A new shoot will emerge above that cluster and just below your cut. To prolong the life of cut roses, take a bucket of warm water into the garden. Immediately after cutting the rose, hold the stem underwater and make a new cut about an inch above the end of the stem. Doing this brings water, not air, into the stem. To condition the roses, place the bucket in a dark, cool room for several hours. Now they’re ready to be arranged in a vase.

Common Michigan pests

While working with your roses, watch for pests or unusual growths and immediately correct any problems. Here are some common insects and diseases that can attack Michigan roses.

Aphids. Small insects that congregate near the tops of roses and suck the life from tender, new growth. Their “honeydew” (waste) is ideal for mold and mildew growth. Remove aphids by hand, or blast them off with a high-pressure water spray daily. On the ground, predators will feed on them. If you must use a pesticide, select a low environmental-impact product, like neem oil or insecticidal soap.

Spider mites. Unlike aphids, spider mites lurk on the lower leaves of a rose. They are difficult to see, but not the problems they cause: lower leaves take on a bronzed, crispy appearance. Spider mites prefer miniature roses and thrive in hot, dry areas. The best treatment is a daily, high-pressure water blast. These mites resist insecticides, but they can be smothered with neem oil.

Japanese beetles. These large, shiny green beetles are common in Michigan and prefer feeding on roses with yellow and white fragrant blossoms. Remove these pests from plants by hand and drop them into a jar of soapy water. Stepping on them may help females release their eggs. Also consider treating your turf to kill the grubs that will become this year’s Japanese beetles. Beetle traps are not recommended because they lure the pests into your vicinity where they might feed on your roses before reaching the trap. Most effective insecticides are fairly toxic and need to be reapplied every few days. More friendly neem oil products are recommended.

Two common types of fungal infections 

Powdery mildew. This gives new foliage a powdery, sugar-frosted appearance, usually in spring or fall. Red roses are prone to this fungus. The best treatment is a daily high-pressure water blast. If you grow varieties susceptible to mildew, consider applying a fungicide every 10 to 14 days. Read application instructions carefully. If your plants are located in an area of poor air circulation, consider moving them.

Black spot. This dreaded summer fungus appears as black spots on lower leaves and occurs because leaves are left wet continuously for seven or more hours. Soon the leaves turn yellow and fall off, then new leaves higher on the plant become infected. Nothing will cure the spots once they develop. However, you may help save your plant by removing all infected leaves and begin spraying regularly with a preventive fungicide.

Perhaps your best “cure” is to prevent this problem (and powdery mildew) from ever occurring in the first place. To do this, bathe your plants with an early morning shower. That way, leaves can dry quickly as the day wears on. Also consider planting rugosa roses, which are highly resistant to black spot. Talk to garden center professionals about other resistant varieties.

Summer pruning of climbers, rugosas, and once-a-year bloomers

Some roses, such as hybrid teas and miniatures should be heavily pruned in late April or early May, before their first bloom cycle. However, the best time to prune climbers, rugosas, and once-a-year blooming antique roses is June. Each year, remove about 25 to 30 percent of their total wood to keep them looking fresh. Do this by sawing out their oldest, woodiest canes at the plant base with a pruning saw. This thinning process encourages new growth from the base and reduces plant size. You can further reduce the plant size by cutting it at the top of the plant, but do this after the major thinning cuts.

Climbers benefit from this late-spring annual thinning. Also in late spring, prune back a climber’s side shoots that emerge along the length of lateral (horizontal) main canes. New blooms will develop at the end of these shoots. Once your climber completes its first bloom cycle, prune these side shoots down so that only a couple sets of leaves are left on each side shoot. This will encourage new side shoots (and blooms) to form.

Follow these few simple steps, and you will be rewarded with beautiful bouquets from June to October.

Nancy Lindley was the co-owner of Great Lakes Roses.

RELATED: Pruning and fertilizing roses

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Filed Under: Raising Roses Tagged With: aphids, japanese beetles, keep roses healthy, roses, spider mites, summer

Website Extra: Reviving a historic home and garden

May 29, 2022   •   Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note: The following are bonus photos from a profile of Shane Eason and Jac Blanco’s garden featured in the June 2022 issue of Michigan Gardener. To read the full story, pick up a copy of Michigan Gardener in stores or see it in our Digital Edition, which you can read for free by clicking on “Digital Edition” in the upper right corner.

The walk leading to the welcoming yellow front door.
This greenhouse door opens into the yard.
A raised bed garden produces the veggies and herbs.
An antique gazebo dome was the finishing touch to the pergola.
Pink phlox and orange daylilies provide a burst of front yard color.

Filed Under: Website Extras Tagged With: Jac Blanco, Shane Eason, Website Extra

Vivid summer mornings at the farmers market

May 29, 2022   •   Leave a Comment

Tomatoes are just one of many things to look forward to at the farmers market.

by Christine Jamieson

Every Saturday morning from May to October, and sometimes during the week, I plunge into a pool of color at the farmers market. In an instant, the world changes from green grass, gray roads and blue sky to vivid technicolor, with sheets of bright annuals—red, yellow, pink, purple, and silver. There are gorgeous perennials and mounds of vegetables in every shape imaginable, a feast for all the senses. Pick up cool, firm green asparagus, feel the hot, sun-ripened smoothness of tomatoes and peppers, the soft downy skin of a tawny peach, the gentle roughness of potatoes and carrots. The whole world is here!

And where did all these people come from at six o’clock in the morning, and all enjoying themselves? It’s as though a film director has gathered everyone together for a crowd scene: the elderly, the young, the middle aged, toddlers stooping to pick up fallen flowers, babies in strollers, dogs tripping up people and barking, geese honking overhead. It’s a summer fashion parade too: exotic hats, shorts, pretty dresses, as well as the more normal jeans, T-shirts and sweats.

Market season begins with the flower growers. In the first few weeks you can buy Michigan wildflowers, early spring-blooming perennials, marigolds, petunias, begonias and more unusual annuals, as well as cut bunches of daffodils, tulips and pussy willow with its furry white paws. The earliest produce includes spinach, asparagus and rhubarb. Sometimes there is a bag of dandelion leaves for salad—a wonderful system toner and tonic. In France, asparagus and artichoke salads rest on a bed of greens, which includes dandelion leaves as well as melt-in-the-mouth goat cheese tartlets, all garnished with sprigs of myrtle, rosemary and violet flowers—a delight to the eye as well as the palate.

Every week at market there is something new, as strawberries are followed by cherries, raspberries and blueberries. Then in the height of summer, the nectarines, apricots and peaches, and eventually the best-tasting apples you will ever find in the state. There are some unusual varieties, ones grown by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, as well as the more usual Golden Delicious, McIntosh and Granny Smith. If you get the opportunity to sample a russet, Winesap, or an Arkansas Black, go for it. And try the yellow and white cherries in addition to the more traditional black. Occasionally someone will have gooseberries, but if you can’t find them, grow some yourself—one of the best is Poorman: a juicy, fat, red berry which is delicious in pies and crumbles.

Vegetables come and go, English and sugar snap peas, green and purple runner beans, tomatoes, corn, peppers and various brassicas with the last delight of the season, Brussels sprouts, always better after a touch of frost. If you look carefully, there are fingerling potatoes for salads, and sometimes lovely fresh laid eggs.

The perennials are different from week to week. There is a great selection of hardy geraniums and campanulas, unusual hellebores (H. foetidus and argutifolius, as well as orientalis and niger), burnets (Sanguisorba) with flowers like miniature bottlebrushes, and fern-leaf peonies. I searched for years for the potentilla ‘Primrose Beauty,’ a delicate creamy yellow color, and eventually found it, along with a variegated kerria.

Markets have been around as long as man has lived in towns and cities, farmers bringing in their produce to the agora in Greece or the forum in Rome. In Europe, meat, fish and cheese are available as well as produce. In colonial America too, markets were commonplace. When the state capital of Virginia moved from Williamsburg to Richmond in 1779, an ordinance was passed for the establishment of a ‘publick market.’ We are particularly fortunate to have so many in Michigan.

Many of the vendors are professionals, but there are some who have become so passionate about their hobby that they want to share it with others and make a little money while they are at it. The markets attract the young also. I talked to one young man selling strawberries and raspberries who was studying philosophy in college, and to another young couple who enjoyed the market so much that it became their livelihood. There are vendors turning sun-ripened olive oil and the essences of lavender and rose petals into soap; others displaying beautiful photographs of flowers; still others making wonderful dried flower wreaths and arrangements.

There are specialist growers also. At one market, small perennials are sold by an amateur enthusiast who wants to share the exciting plants he has grown from seed. There are people specializing in heirloom roses, Japanese maples, dahlias so perfect you cannot believe they are real, hard-to-find shrubs, and wonderful herbs.

So go to them all—the big markets as well as the smaller ones. Each has its own unique character and soon you will find your favorite. It’s the best way I know to spend Saturday morning.

Christine Jamieson is a Michigan gardener and writer.

Filed Under: Clippings Tagged With: Farmer’s Market

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