Time for a House Call

Some Consulting Rosarians still make house calls.   Special thanks to Jim Harrell who donned his lab coat and came on by.

I had called him after I made the rounds of my rose plantings, and like a befuddled baseball coach or general manager, I looked at my current line up, and realized I was just plain befuddled on how to tackle the makeover of my rose team.    

Had plants ranging from almost new to 12 years old, some ok, some struggling some failing some real prizes, and then thinking about the deadline for ordering new roses, I decided to consult with  the General Manager of the best rose garden in town.

It was better than setting up a team for fantasy baseball.   First we went through an overall assessment concluding 1: Get your soil tested  (in progress)   2: 2-3 times more water.  and 3  Take Jim's feeding program and double up on everything. (sort of like the er doctor telling you to take 6 Tylenol instead of 2 to get through it.

Next we looked at each specimen.    The end results were pretty tough.    Had a few that will not be on the roster for next year (out they go, replaced with some new acquisitions)   A few are getting sent to the minors for rehab.  and the rest, apparently are somewhat out of shape, so a thinning workout plan is the order of the day.

Also, btw, as you may have guessed I really do like yellow blends.  Have been growing some new Arizona Sunsets from cutting's and I ordered another large yellow blend to go with my Rio Samba.  All that was missing for one of the really great show classes (small medium and large)  was to find a great mini flora.  (he brought over a cutting of Shirley Raye. It was love at first site).  It's on my order list now, and the cutting has been root toned and is  in the peat pot/freezer bag combo hoping to get one started for the Spring.
Yes there are times you really should call the rose doctor for a house call.    


btw.... I have a handful of soil test bags I'll bring to the Jan Meeting.  Call me if you want one sooner and save the trip to the extension service to get one.  You can make one trip if you bring two cups of soil in a freezer bag and a check for $12.  They will email you the results or call you to come pick them up.  New office location.  Glynn County Extension Service  Our Agent is Rodger Gardener, at 554 7578.