Regional Growing Guide: Northern California Coastal & Inland Valleys

Mild, rainy winters are a signature of this region, which stretches from Seattle to San Francisco, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Cascade and Sierra ranges. Fall through spring, the northernmost parts may see more rain than sun. The experts advise a two-prong approach: select the many disease-resistant roses now available; and drench the soil and spray the canes and emerging buds in early spring with a generous dose of compost tea. Gardeners will be rewarded with a first flush of blooms in late spring, followed by waves of perfect buds and flowers all summer, and a final round of flowering in October and November.

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Early Fall in the Rose Garden

It's time to do nothing in the rose garden. Well, practically nothing, anyway. We have seen the breathtaking first big, beautiful blooms of summer. And now we marvel at the smaller, but perfect last roses of summer. Enjoy. Roll up the hose. Put away the pruners.

Fall Rose Care Means Few Cares
Roses, like everything else in the garden, have noticed our shortened days and cooler, longer nights. That's their first clue that winter is coming and it's time to shut down for the season.

You should make your very last cuts about the first of October. No pruning beyond then at all, not even deadheading. Remember that every cut you make encourages new growth. That's the last thing you want right now, because any new, tender growth will be nipped by the first cold snap.

Cut your last, perfect roses for the dining room table or for drying , then put the pruners in a safe place, where you won't be tempted to use them for a while.

Fall Brings Change
Left alone, roses will bring a different kind of beauty in fall: brilliantly colored hips. Those are their seedpods. Let the leaves drop off and the seed pods decorate the rose garden. If you haven't used a systemic insecticide, try making tea or jelly with rose hips later. They're very high in vitamin C.

Black spot Still Lurks
One drawback of fall is the ever-present black spot fungus. If you've been following a preventive spray program, continue it into fall to discourage fungal spores from overwintering in your garden.

Now sit, and smile. Sip your tea as you admire the last, most perfect roses of the summer.

Transplanting Roses

Do you need to move a rose bush, or transplate a rose from one spot to another for some other reason? Perhaps you are rescuing a rose that would be harmed by a building or landscaping project, for example. If so, here are some techniques. Note that the best time of year to transplant roses in this region is January and February, before the leaf buds break.

  1. If possible, prepare the planting hole in advance.
  2. Dig up the rose bush on a cloudy, cool day. Or, dig it in the early morning or evening when the weather is cool.
  3. Dig up as large a rootball as you can manage, and place the plant in a container or wrap it in a tarp. It's important that the delicate feeder roots don't dry out. Trim foliage to make a compact plant.
  4. Water the plant thoroughly. You want the rootball to be completely moist. If you won't be planting it right away, store it in a cool, shady spot.
  5. Prepare the planting hole. Dig a hole two to three times as wide as the container, but only as deep. This will give the plant lots of easy-to-navigate space to extend its roots horizontally. However, digging a hole too deep can cause the plant to settle too much.
  6. Fill hole half-full with water and let it soak in. You want to make sure the surrounding soil is moist, too.
  7. Trim any extra long roots.
  8. Set the plant in the hole so it sits at the same height or just slightly higher than it was in its original location.
  9. Refill the hole halfway, incorporating up to 25 percent compost into the backfill soil. Water thoroughly.
  10. Fill in the rest of the hole with soil, then form a donut-shaped berm at the outer edges of the hole, to hold water.
  11. Water to fill the berm two more times to thoroughly saturate the refilled soil.
  12. If the weather is hot and dry, provide shade from noon until dusk for one week or until leaves stay perked up all day long.
  13. Fill the berm with water each day over the next several days.
  14. Water the plant weekly if nature doesn't provide, and observe the plant daily for signs of wilting or insect or disease problems.
  15. Add an organic mulch, such as bark chips, to help hold in moisture, keeping the mulch a few inches from the rose canes.