Gardening Tips

"In the driest whitest stretch of pain's infinite desert, I lost my sanity and found this rose." - Rumi

The ancient Muslim poet, jurist, and theologian, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, may not have stumbled madly upon the very first rose back in 13th century Persia but he certainly immortalized it poignantly in his writing.

Roses are believed to have originated in ancient Persia but their cultivation quickly spread across the Northern Hemisphere, first from China to Europe and finally to North America. Rose enthusiasts throughout time and geography have helped to spread the cultivation and the adoration of this arrestingly lovely flowers to the point that, today, there are more than 20,000 varieties available.

Today's roses run the gamut of the color spectrum. Roses come in every color, including the elusive blue and black ones that have dogged rose breeders for ages. Every shade of every color is represented, too, with many rose blossoms sporting multiple colors or shades.

These enchanting plants have been bred to grow straight and tall or trail over slopes and fences. Some roses grow close to the ground while others become bushy. Many rosebushes bloom once in the spring or summer, others bloom again in the fall, and others still bloom from early spring until winters frost.

Diversity aside, a few rose gardening tips might improve your rose-growing success.

Planting is the first step to consider when compiling a list of rose gardening tips. Folklore tells us to plant flowering plants when the moon is in a waxing phase. Indeed all plants that produce their most desirable growth above ground are said to be best planted during the time the moon is growing into its biggest, most visible, phase.

(In turn, plant carrots, potatoes, and other plants where underground action is most desirable when the moon is waning, or becoming less visible.)

Trim your hair, visit your barber, or comb your dog the day before planting your roses. This, another of folklore's rose gardening tips, ensures you’ll have a bit of hair to mix in with the soil in which you plant your roses. Decomposing hair is said to provide excellent fertilizer for thriving roses.

Sunshine is one of the most important rose gardening tips. Make sure to plant your roses, always during their dormant phase, in a spot where they can get at lease six hours of full sun every day.

Rose gardening tips include trees, too. Keep your roses away from tree roots, especially deciduous trees, or they will divert the soils nutrients from your hungry roses.

Roses need lots of room to breathe fresh air so add plenty of space to your rose gardening tips. Fungal infections are persistent problems with roses and room for adequate air circulation might help minimize this problem.

Aphids like your roses as much as you do. You might include a thriving population of ladybugs in your rose gardening tips. Ladybugs (also known as green fly) like your aphids as much as aphids like your roses.

Pruning is a tricky item to add to your rose gardening tips. Proper pruning will either make or break next seasons blooming phase and proper pruning depends upon which type of rosebush you’ve got. Trailing roses have different needs than bushy or stately roses. Those that bloom once each year require different pruning techniques than those that are ever blooming.

When your thriving rose garden makes you want to dance with insane joy, thank that ancient poet, Rumi. He gave us the Whirling Dervishes, too. Inspired maybe by joy experienced in his own rose garden.