ROSE ‘Queen of Flowers’

Article on roses

                                                         ROSE      ‘Queen of Flowers’

Rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing or trailing with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and northwest Africa. Species, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and often are fragrant. Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach 7 meters in height. Different species hybridize easily, and this has been used in the development of the wide range of garden roses.

Roses are best known as ornamental plants grown for their flowers in the garden and sometimes indoors. They have been also used for commercial perfumery and commercial cut flower crops. Some are used as landscape plants, for hedging and for other utilitarian purposes such as game cover and slope stabilization. They also have minor medicinal uses. Roses are a popular crop for both domestic and commercial cut flowers. Generally they are harvested and cut when in bud, and held in refrigerated conditions until ready for display at their point of sale.

Roses may be planted throughout the summer from nursery containers. However, the current season’s stock is to be preferred rather than container stock held over from the previous year. With the exception of miniatures and smaller cultivars, roses generally do not perform well when maintained in nursery pots for more than one season.

Planting sites may have full sun to partial shade; however, roses do best with 6 hours or more of direct sun.

Roses need to be irrigated in most locations. Drought stress leads to defoliation and sunburn of canes, and may contribute to spider mite problems. However, overwatering or poorly drained soils may lead to root disease and nutritional deficiencies. Frequency and duration of irrigation

depend on weather conditions and soil texture. Roses do best when 50% of available water is depleted between irrigations. 

Roses prefer well-drained soil with a pH near the neutral value of 7.0.  so electrical conductivity (ECe) values, which measure the level of salt ions in the soil, should be less than 2.0 dS/m.

Pruning provides an opportunity to direct growth and invigorate rose plants. A starting point in pruning is to remove diseased and damaged wood Between one-third and two-thirds of healthy wood may be removed through a combination of heading and thinning cuts, which should be within 1/4 inch above outwardly growing lateral buds or branches.

Weeds are common in many landscape situations including around rose plantings. In extensive plantings or professionally managed public or commercial landscapes, mulches and hand-weeding may be supplemented with herbicides. The preemergent herbicides oryzalin (Surflan) and pendimethalin (Pendulum) can be used around roses before weeds emerge or after weeds are removed, but before others germinate. While these herbicides control primarily grasses, they also control broadleaf plants such as chickweed, fiddleneck, knotweed, lambsquarters, pigweed, prostrate spurge, oxalis (from seed), and purslane. These herbicides will not control established weeds. To control established grasses, the postemergent herbicides fluazifop-p-butyl (Fusilade), sethoxydim (Sethoxydim), and clethodim (Envoy) may be used when the grass plants are small.

Roses are harvested at different levels of maturity, depending on marketing and cultivar. For long-distance transport or storage, roses should usually be harvested with some of the sepals reflexed. Flowers harvested before the sepals reflex may fail to open, or may be more susceptible to bent neck.

Objective grading is based on stem length; subjective grading is based on flower maturity, stem straightness, stem caliper, and quality of flower and foliage. The number of stems per bunch, and bunch pattern (single layer, staggered two-layer) depends on market preferences.

Roses should be stored, dry, at 0-1ºC. Roses intended for long-term storage should be packed in polyethylene-lined cartons and pre-cooled. They may be held for up to 2 weeks in dry storage if the temperature is maintained steady and close to the freezing point.

A variety of plant pathogens may attack outdoor roses from time to time. Although powdery mildew(Sphaerotheca pannosa) is perhaps the most common disease problem, a number of other diseases, including rust(Phragmidium disciflorum), black spot(Diplocarpon rosae), botrytis, downy mildew( Peronospora sparsa), and anthracnose(Sphaceloma rosarum), may affect roses where appropriate conditions prevail.

Besides this some nutritional defficiencies and physiological disorders may also occur.

REFERENCES

Flint, M. L., and J. F. Karlik. In press 2008. Pest Notes: Roses in the Garden and Landscape–Insect and Mite Pests and Beneficials. Oakland: Univ. Calif. Agric. Nat. Res. Publ. 7466.

Flint, M. L., and J. F. Karlik. 2000. Healthy Roses. Oakland: Univ. Calif. Agric. Nat. Res. Publ. 21589.

Karlik, J. F. 1998. Weed management for roses in landscape plantings. Proc. 50th Annual Calif. Weed Sci. Soc., pp. 12-14.

Karlik, J., and C. Harwood. 1991. Landscape roses bred for performance. Calif. Landscape Mag. 16(3):28–29.

Karlik, J. F., and M. L. Flint. 1999. Pest Notes: Roses in the Garden and Landscape–Diseases and Abiotic Disorders. Oakland: Univ. Calif. Agric. Nat. Res. Publ. 7463.

Karlik, J. F., and S. A. Tjosvold. 2003. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for Roses. In Encyclopedia of Rose Science, A.V. Roberts ed. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier Science.

Wilen, C. A., and C. L. Elmore. Mar. 2007. Pest Notes: Weed Management in Landscapes. Oakland: Univ. Calif. Agric. Nat. Res. Publ. 7441.

Dreistadt, S. H. 1994. Pests of Landscape Trees and Shrubs. Oakland: University of California DANR Publication 3359.

Dreistadt, S. H. 2001. Integrated Pest Management for Floriculture and Nurseries: Oakland: University of California DANR Publication 3402.

Flint, M. L., and J. F. Karlik. 2000. Healthy Roses: Environmentally Friendly Ways to Manage Pests and Disorders in Your Garden and Landscape. Oakland: University of California ANR Publication 21589.

Mohammad Adnan (Author)

About Guest Author:

Mohammad Adnan, student of Agriculture in University of Agriculture Faisalabad and he is a guest author for Agriculture Information Bank