|
|
|
|
|
The
The long awaited
rose is here. Elizabeth Park Centennial is in the
Rose Garden. It is a beautiful, pale pink, with a raspberry or deep
pink picotee edge, hybrid tea. The form of the bush is upright and
it is of medium height. It has a fairly fast repeat and it seems to
always be in bloom.
Elizabeth Park Centennial was hybridized by John Mattia of Orange, Connecticut. John is an amateur hybridizer, but he is no amateur when it comes to roses. John is one of the top three rose exhibitors in the United States, having won all of the top national awards including the prestigious McFarland and Nickelson trophies. John is one of the founding members of the Connecticut Rose Society, he is both a consulting rosarian and a master consulting rosarian for the American Rose Society, as well as being a Horticultural Judge. John is also a member of the Board of Directors of Friends of Elizabeth Park. In 1998, John accepted the challenge of hybridizing a rose to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Elizabeth Park rose Garden. He met the challenge well and Elizabeth Park Centennial was chosen out of all his seedlings. The original introduction of Elizabeth Park Centennial was unfortunately delayed because of production problems with a small commercial grower. Luckily, John still had a few bushes in his garden. He contacted Tom Carruth, the head hybridizer for Weeks Wholesale Roses, who agreed to produce Elizabeth Park Centennial. The Friends knew that they would have Elizabeth Park Centennial, we just had to wait. The stock or mother plants would be available for planting in the 2006 garden and the orders would be ready for purchase in May, 2007. John has exhibited his blooms of Elizabeth Park Centennial this spring in two New England rose shows and has won the coveted Best Seedling award in each show. This rose, planted in pots, is a limited edition and will be available for pick up in May of 2007. If you would like to have a commemorative Elizabeth Park Centennial rose, you may reserve it by sending your check and the order form to the Friends.
Text: Donna Fuss
|
* * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * *
|
Roses that grow in warm climates shoot out thicker canes than you will see in New England. These bushes, by growing in a warm climate, tend to set stem buds that will break into new stems the following year higher on the stem. These bushes actually do the same thing in Connecticut, but unfortunately those buds further up the stem suffer winterkill along with the stem due to our winter temperatures. There is a logical explanation to the reason some people have found their Elizabeth Park Centennial roses in poor shape this spring. The major reason is inadequate winter protection, but there are some well established cultural reasons for the dieback and established ways to bring most of these bushes back to life. I know everyone was elated when they saw the truckload of robust bushes with super thick stems at our distribution day last spring. Frankly, I never have seen such a collection of thick cane roses in one place like that in my 42 years of growing roses. But, I also know that thick canes on bushes grown in California are not necessarily the right bushes to grow in New England. In fact, when I buy bushes at local nurseries, I always look for bushes with clusters of thinner canes than most of those EPC roses had. I brought home six bushes from our distribution; I gave the three with the smaller canes to friends, and they survived the winter. I planted the remaining three in my garden. (See the photos below that were taken this afternoon right after the rain stopped.) When I pruned the EPCs back in early May, those bushes with the thick stems were dead down to 2-4 inches (Photos #1 and #2). The remaining 2-4 inch stems showed some green, but I immediately noticed no viable buds swelling. In contrast, the bush with the thinner stems had about 6 inch green stems, and they showed buds starting to swell. (Photo #3) I have seen this problem many times in the past with big bud unions--thick stem bushes in their second year. There may be no growth starting in the stems, but the odds are that the knot is still alive, and awaiting the conditions to revitalize items. What are those conditions? 1. Warm weather. (This is mother nature's job.)
2. Sunshine hitting the knot. I carefully remove
all the soil away from the knot to prevent
knocking off a 3. I water the bush heavily every day. Within two weeks, if there still is life within the bush, you will see basal buds forming on the knot. The pictures below will illustrate this.
Another factor which compounded this problem with thick canes is the warm fall we had last November into early December. I had to delay hilling my roses by two weeks, because for the first time in more than a decade, we had cuttable roses on my bushes up to the week before Thanksgiving. This is unusual because I have a very shady yard in mid fall which normally pushes my roses into dormancy earlier than most gardens. Here's my advice on what to tell people who call about their roses. 1. Spring is still early, and if they are not seeing any buds breaking on the stems, and even if the stems are dead down to the bud union, the odds are that there still is life in the bud. 2. Tell them to carefully remove the soil around the bud union, all the way to below the knot, Care is need to avoid breaking off any possible buds just starting. 3, Then water it regularly, every day if it was dry like last week. 4. Within 2-3 weeks, basal breaks (buds on the union) should start to appear like in the photos above. When I lecture on rose culture and winter protection in Connecticut, I tell people the purpose of winter protection is to keep life in the bud. If a rose enters the winter season after a healthy growing season, the odds are there is still life in the union even if all the stems are dead down the bud union. It takes a little work to get the rose growing again, but in most cases, this works. I hope this information helps. John Mattia |
 |
*********************************** |
|
