Prepare your roses for the winter

As late autumn arrives you will want to begin preparing for winter hibernation. This is sort of an odd time for gardeners as their rose bushes have not yet begun their hibernation but the growing season is over. You will still need to provide a lot of water and give them a good occasional soaking.

You can stop all of your pruning and deadheading at this time because you do not want to encourage new growth. You will want to stop applying organics in October, so you don’t need to apply fertilizer either. The goal is to keep the roses healthy, while allowing them to become dormant. You can continue spraying to keep black spot away and spider mites may still be active. Spritz the bushes whenever you see spider mites coming up. Aphids may also be active and you can get rid of them with soapy water.

Be sure to remove any diseased leaves and rake away fallen leaves. This removes any disease residue that may be present. This is also a good time to prepare new rose holes and beds for your next garden. There are also several varieties that will require mulching, these include:

• St. Patrick
• Color Magic
• Oklahoma
• Signature

Hardier varieties will not require mulching until next month. If you do everything right your roses will look great next spring, but there is still work to do during the winter.