Question:
I’m revamping my rose garden and would like to know when I can successfully move established roses to another location.Answer:
- The transplanting season for roses and various other plants begins in mid-November when daytime temperatures are under 70 degrees.
- This includes ornamental landscape trees and shrubs but not citrus.
- Citrus are moved after the danger of frost passed in March.
- It concludes in early April. It's also the ideal time to root-prune established container plants and replant them in the same pot.
- With roses, I'd prune them first to make the move easier. You reduce the height, bring in slides, and finish the pruning next year.
- If the new site isn't ready, you can temporarily transplant the roses into plastic or paper mache pots.
- The roses can thrive for six to eight months in pots. Suppose Mother Nature disrupts your plans with wet and muddy conditions.
- In that case, the temporary containers are an excellent Plan' B.'
- If the temperature has cooled off, under sixty-five degrees, you could bare root the bushes, lay them on shady concrete, and cover them with a Tarp. You replant them when it's convenient.
- The Grandiflora and Hybrid Tea varieties are placed at the rear of the space, with four feet between varieties.
- These varieties grow to five to six feet. You don't want them to block the shorter-growing floribunda varieties If you don't know, google the name to find the rose type.
Question:
Last winter, I planted several bare-root blueberries. They've done very well and nearly doubled in size but have grown leggy. Should I prune them back to encourage branching or wait until January?Answer:
- Blueberries are very popular today, as they're easy to grow and require little care to be successful.
- However, an annual pruning is recommended to maintain size, shape, and productivity. While they could be pruned today, I'd recommend waiting until mid to late January for pruning.
- This timing is beneficial as it helps train blueberries into the desired shape for fruit production. Pruning back the leggy branches in January will help shape the plant and improve fruit production.
- You'll also want to remove any crisscrossing branches to allow more sunlight into the center of the plants, increasing the air circulation along with any branch whose berries would touch the ground.
- In addition, remove any damaged canes or twigs and the soft basal shoots that develop late in the season. Removing two of the oldest and usually least productive canes yearly is recommended. After pruning, one application of an acidifier is made to keep the soil on the acid side.
- GreenAll True Blue or Aluminum Sulfate are two acidifiers available at your favorite garden center. It's also applied to Hydrangeas to turn the flowers blue or maintain a blue color. Finally starting in March, an Azalea, Camellia, and Rhododendron fertilizer is applied.