Rivercities Garden Club

Meeting 1/4/2009

Program - EarthKind Landscape Roses  - Lou Osborne

The EarthKind concept has been developed by the Texas A&M Agriculture Program

The goals of the EarthKind development are simple:

• Beautiful, productive landscapes  

• Require only minimal maintenance                                                           

• Provide maximum protection for the environment

The holy grail is to find roses that anyone can grow which will use a minimum of insecticides.  They can be grown by anyone even those new to gardening.  They are drought tolerant and can grow even in alkaline soils whereas the modern hybrid Tea Rose requires well drained acid soil, frequent spraying, heavy pruning and have a limited life span.

Some of the varieties that are available are:  Marie Daily 3 inches in diameter and bloom all summer;  The Fairy covered by hundreds of small blossoms;  Caldwell Pink 4x4 inch flowers, repeat blooming; Perl d'or peach, double, repeat blooming, very fragment; Brenda's Dream pink, very large 5x5 inch, fragrant, double, repeat blooming;  Knock Out 5 x 6 foot bush, red, semi double, repeat blooming.  Many more varieties are available, some for potting, some bushes, some climbing.

The planting sites have few requirements:  Sunny for 8 hours a day and have good air movement over the leaves.  They are intolerant of nighttime irrigation and predisposes them to fungi infection.

Bed preparation:  The bed should be well drained and sandy.  Use three inches of compost then add another three inches of mulch.  Add more mulch as the older mulch turns into compost.  No need to disturb the soil.  Water when the root ball is dry down one inch.  This will generally between 10 and 14 days even in the hottest of summer days.  Consider drip watering especially if the water is somewhat salty.

EarthKind web site http://earthkind.tamu.edu/

EarthKind Rose web site:  http://earthkindroses.tamu.edu/

The Speaker - Lou Osborne

She is a member of the North West Louisiana Master Gardeners. In fact that in 1998 she was a member of the first class of Northwest Louisiana Master Gardeners to have graduated.  

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