Water spray hydrates roses.

By Carolyn Parker

ROASTED ROSES with crispy, sun-scorched leaves are a sad sight—don’t worry—they always recover.

In sweltering heat, flip-flops replace my garden clogs. And I discovered that spraying my feet and ankles, as I hand-water some of my roses, relieves heat stress for me too.

During triple-digit heat waves, water your roses early in the morning and give them more than usual. They also benefit from a good hydrating spray. Some people are shocked when I mention spraying my roses with water, because it’s contrary to what many books suggest. If your roses receive plenty of sun, water spray, in our dry climate, is a benefit. As I’ve mentioned here before, it’s also important that your roses are well mulched. Three to four inches of shredded or mini bark on your rose bed, insulates the soil and cools the root zone.

Potted roses also benefit from mulch. During a heat wave, roses in pots often require watering twice a day, especially if they receive full sun all afternoon. Try mulching them with a thick layer of spaghum moss to retain moisture. You also might consider moving the pots temporarily to a cooler spot. You’ll be surprised at what a difference it makes.

More than thirty potted roses on our asphalt driveway were gasping, wilting, and miserable as they awaited the preparation of a new garden site. After several days of record temperatures, my husband, Leroy, came to their rescue when he suggested we move them to the back patio, which receives some shade in the afternoon. Placing the pots on concrete, rather than heat-retaining asphalt, also made a difference. In only a day, there was a marked change, and in the evening, the roses still looked fresh.

Have you ever noticed that red roses are especially prone to singed petals? Red pigment on roses is like wearing a black shirt in the sun. In a perfect situation, red roses, especially Hybrid Teas, would prefer their required six hours of sun in the morning and a nice dose of shade in the afternoon.

Good summer perennials for the rose bed

Aside from burning blossoms, wonderful summer plants are coming into bloom amongst my roses. I’ll mention a few you might like to consider.  

This morning I picked the first bloom of Blue River II Rose Mallow. It’s a Monrovia plant that I purchased last year for my white area. Picture an exquisite, perfectly flat, pure white hibiscus the size of a dinner plate! Floating amongst the roses whether they’re blooming or not, this hibiscus has a magical effect in the garden. As the white roses move toward the red ones, there’s another large hibiscus called Luna TM Blush Hibiscus—it’s white with a red eye, and then amongst the red roses is the intensely brilliant Luna TM Red Hibiscus.

In my yellow-gold-orange section the fabulous ‘Solfaterre’ and ‘George Davidson’ crocosmias are fully in bud and ready to burst. ‘Solfaterre’ is a stunner with its butter-gold flowers displayed against indescribably beautiful, slender brown leaves. ‘George Davidson’ has similarly colored blooms paired with lemon-lime tinted leaves. The vertical tapers of leaves and delicate flower stalks offer a contrasting and welcome texture to the roses.

The last plant I want to mention is phlox. I acquired my first phlox plant at a garden club sale about five years ago. As always with a new plant, I eagerly anticipated its blooms—they turned out to be a rich magenta. I was pleasantly surprised to find the plant bloomed all summer. The key is to deadhead the lead flower spray as it dies to keep the blooms quickly regenerating.

With the tall magenta spires swaying companionably amongst my purple-red roses, I went to the nursery to find other colors. Now in my white section, under the Himalayan birches, blooms phlox paniculata ‘David’ and a white phlox with pink centers, p. paniculata ‘John Fanick’, is placed throughout the pink border. Before blooming, the expanding mound of soft, pointed phlox leaves is lush and attractive amongst the roses.

Keep your roses well mulched

As the summer perennials come into bloom for the first time, many roses are in or gearing up for their third bloom cycle. Keeping roses deadheaded mulched, and well watered will ensure success despite high temperatures. On the other hand, roses watered just once a week, if they’re well mulched, will do fine, they’ll just have fewer blooms.

COLUMN ARCHIVE