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♪ (upbeat music) ♪ <Amanda> Well good evening and welcome to Making it Grow.

We're so glad that you could join us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and SCETV.

And tonight our whole show is on roses because it's close to Valentine's day.

I went ahead and made a hat.

I'm wearing it for the whole program and fortunately these are thornless or else I would be sitting here very uncomfortably and squishing all around I move around enough as it is.

Jonathan Windham is a Clemson Extension associate Jonathan you have a great love of roses in your own personal life but with Clemson you have a special program area that you have been appointed to be in charge of.

Please tell us what that is.

<Jonathan Windham> Amanda thank you for having me.

I am now the program assistant for the South Carolina SARE program, Sustainable Agriculture Research Education program.

<Amanda> Explained how your participants decide what ya'll are going to focus on during the year, please.

<Jonathan> So, the SARE program provides funding for organizations in the state.

If your organization wants to put on a training program you can apply for a small grant from the South Carolina SARE program and each year, we host an annual forum open to all citizens of South Carolina where we ask for feedback about what areas they think we should focus on for the upcoming year and for 2021 one of the leading issues was soil health.

<Amanda> If people want to find out about the SARS program, they can contact you directly.

Is that right Jonathan?

<Jonathan> They can and we also have a web page.

<Amanda> Okay.

Terasa Lott is in charge of the master gardener program for Clemson across the state.

She's also kind enough to be an integral part of the Making It Grow team.

Terasa, you often have some beautiful photographs for us to start us off.

Do you have something this week?

<Terasa> Of course we do Amanda, since tonight's show is dedicated to roses, we put together a lovely montage for your viewing pleasure.

So, let's take a look.

♪ (gentle music) ♪ ♪ <Terasa> Thanks to everyone for submitting your rose photos and I noticed one happens to be from Jonathan.

<Jonathan> yeah that's some blue skies.

It's an older rose.

Not very well suited for South Carolina to be honest with you.

It's pretty to look at.

(laughing) <Amanda> I think almost all roses are pretty to looking.

You think they are Jonathan.

Terasa, you are so helpful with people who send in questions on Facebook and post them, asking for help from Making It Grow, have we gotten some questions about roses that Jonathan can help us with?

<Terasa> There is never a shortage of questions and our viewers - They feel confused about pruning roses and asked if we could put together some simple easy to follow information that will help them as they go about pruning roses in their landscape.

<Amanda> Jonathan I think want one reason we decided to do this program on roses, it's kind of ingrained in a lot of people's heads that February and Valentine's is when you prune roses but is that true for all roses?

Can you help us to understand it please?

<Jonathan> You can't prune roses in the Winter or early Spring.

For South Carolina, I cautioned that we do with an early Spring because we always have a late freeze.

We might have a mild winter.

I don't want to see anyone lose a rose bush from pruning too early.

As you mentioned.

there are two general kinds of roses.

There are your once blooming, old garden roses that bloom once per season There are the newer modern roses that re-bloom and you prune these differently and so for your old garden roses, These are things like your lady banks and your noisettes, you prune those lightly and immediately after they flower.

For your modern roses, these can tolerate more heavy pruning or more moderate pruning and for that you need to leave about, for South Carolina, you need to leave about a foot to maybe four foot of cane on your modern rose bush.

A good general rule of thumb is to leave about five to ten canes on this plant.

<Amanda> Jonathan, since you said we can do that in the early Spring this is something we do after we feel like the last frost has come.

Is that kind of a good way to decide when to prune the modern re-blooming roses?

<Jonathan> Yes and still no guarantee because we can always have a late freeze.

If you've pruned and you notice your roses are leafing out, you can wrap them in fur cloth.

Never use plastic to wrap plants if there's a freeze expected but yes after the last frost is a good time.

<Amanda> Tell me how you prepare to go out into where you have your roses and prune.

Are there steps you take before you start cutting?

<Jonathan> One of the biggest issues with roses is sanitation.

Sanitize your cutters.

You can make a simple 10 percent bleach solution.

That's one part bleach, nine parts water and either rub down or spray down your pruners before you get started The second thing you want to do is remove any diseased or dead wood or any cross rubbing canes.

What I mean by cross rubbing is if you notice two canes are side by side and the wind keeps rubbing them against each other those need to be removed because that's an entry point for disease.

So, those are the easiest things that a beginner could do.

Sterilize your pruners and remove the dead diseased and cross rubbing wood.

<Amanda> Jonathan, how far back should we cut these modern re-blooming roses?

And what can we do to try to keep them open so that sunlight and air can come in them?

How do we decide where on the branch to cut please?

<Jonathan> So, it depends on what you want if you are an exhibitionist and you want those fancy long stem roses with a large bloom, you typically cut those back hard.

You leave about a foot of cane left.

for an average gardener, home gardener you can leave about one to four foot of cane left on your plant.

That's perfect.

You won't have as long of stems, but you'll have plenty flowers that year.

<Amanda> I've heard things about outward facing buds Is that important?

<Jonathan> It is, because with rose pruning you need to shake the plant so that the center is open This allows for air flow through the plant and allows sunlight into the middle of the plant to make healthier foliage in the center of the plant So, with your outward facing buds, if you examine a rose cane, you'll see these little tiny dormant buds when you cut above those, they break or they start sending up new shoots.

So you only want to prune it in a way that your buds face outwards The new canes that grow grow outward away from the center of the bush If you prune so that those eyes or those buds face the center of the bush you're going to have a mess.

<Amanda> Jonathan, I know that the roses generally slow down in the Summer and then the Fall sometimes we get a spectacular, second blooming and some people tell me they do a light Fall pruning.

Is that something that you recommend?

<Jonathan> Again, it's what you want it wouldn't hurt the plant.

Again, after a season of growth in the Fall you need to go in and remove any dead diseased wood Disease pressure in South Carolina is really high so it wouldn't hurt to go in and remove any of those dead canes.

Again any cross rubbing canes should come out.

<Amanda> Okay.

It isn't that complicated, just as you go about it, you'll learn when you start looking for the outward facing buds and all, it becomes pretty obvious, I believe and you'll end up with a much healthier plant, won't you.

<Jonathan> You will.

It's a steal.

The more you do it, the better you'll get.

<Amanda> Thank you so much.

Now, we're going to go to a wonderful nursery in South Carolina that is dedicated to roses and that is Roses Unlimited.

And I'm going to speak with Bill Patterson.

♪ (soothing music) ♪ <Amanda> We are near Laurens, South Carolina at Roses Unlimited.

and I'm talking with Bill Patterson.

Bill, this is a glorious way to spend your day but I know it's not easy to have it happen.

How did you get interested in roses?

<Bill> Well, it was about sixth grade, my great, great grandmother had some roses in her garden.

She passed away in the 40's but I was allowed to take a few to my parents house and I just fell in love with all plants.

Roses and everything.

<Amanda> You said when you went to Clemson, you can transformed your mother's yard.

<Bill> Yes I had about a thousand, different types in the yard at that time, climbers, old garden, modern roses.

I really had a great time.

<Amanda> Now, this is a business and you and your partner in this business Pat Henry have really, Ya'll are not only do you propagate and offer these roses to people, but ya'll study roses.

<Bill> Yes we have we rose study days, this allows the public to come in and learn a little bit more.

If they don't know anything it's like roses 101.

<Amanda> I don't really know much about Are different divisions or classes of roses?

Let's talk about how they divided up.

<Bill> According to the American Rose Society or the ARS, they have 37 different classes.

These are taken out of three major divisions.

You have the species, the old garden roses and you have the modern roses.

To be an old garden rose, the class had to be in existence before 1867.

<Amanda> Ya'll grow 15 different classes here on the property.

<Bill> Yes.

Each year we try to grow different varieties, different classes so that we can offer just about everything.

We have about 12 hundred different varieties, but we never offer all those in one year.

<Amanda> Last year, Pat told me ya'll did 956 different ones that were offered to people.

That's a lot.

So, your stock plants are kept inside.

Tell me the process of growing them and making the cuttings and then growing them out so you can offer them to the public.

<Bill> We start with a six inch cutting and we put it in a little pea pot which is about the size of a two by two you would grow a tomato plant in.

<Amanda> You'd start taking the cuttings.

<Bill> Cuttings usually about the middle of May.

>> So you take the cutting, put it in a pea pot.

<Bill> Then we put it in our propagation house or a mist house and during the Summer months, probably about four weeks.

You'll see the little white roots starting to the pea pot and we move it from that into a one gallon container.

But you want to take the one gallon, We grow it off typically nine to ten months.

We use heavy greenhouses.

We try not to let the plants freeze they're continually growing.

<Amanda> So, they really are getting almost a full year of growth from the time that you took that little cutting until hopefully someone comes and says this rose is going to have a new home in my yard.

<Bill> Just what I want.

That's right.

<Amanda> We always hear that diseases and insects are such a problem.

How do you control those sorts of things.

<Bill> We do spray.

I use a fungicide primarily.

And this is in the South, a black spot is your major problem.

You may have mildew in the early spring white solid opinion weather conditions but primarily a black spot and if you'll keep your black spot under control the plants will grow better.

They will just really produce a lot more blooms for you.

<Amanda> You said that you can actually make some decisions about placing roses in the garden that will help with some of those situations.

<Bill> Yes.

Where you plant the rose.

It needs at least six good hours of sun.

It also needs good air circulation and it needs good drainage.

<Amanda> Now I understand that you don't have to be a slave to roses anymore and that there's been a lot of work going on developing new ones that don't require as much spray.

They have some resistance.

Let's talk about those.

<Bill> There's a group called the earth kind which was started out in Texas at the University of Texas and they mainly are the old garden roses like pink pad Duchesse de Brabant.

They're the ones that tend to do well without a whole lot of pampering and then there are those which we call the ADRs.

These come from Germany and they're some of the modern ones that are more disease-resistant.

<Amanda> And your partner in business Pat said she likes the Cordays that she particularly enjoys?

<Bill> That's right!

<Amanda> They have more disease resistance naturally.

<Bill> Yes...bred into the rose.

<Amanda> And what about size?

What sizes can roses come in?

<Bill> Roses come in all sizes.

Anywhere from maybe one foot.

Even some of them are ground covers and more or less run on the ground.

There's still about a foot tall.

Then your Chinas typically are three to four foot.

Then you have your hybrid teas which maybe be five to six foot.

Mr. Lincoln is a hybrid tea red.

It'll go probably seven foot if you grow it correctly.

Then you have your climbers.

Then you have your Ramblers which can go 30 feet or more.

<Amanda> 30 feet or more.

Up in a tree just a beautiful sight to see probably a one time bloomer, bet ya'll even have some repeats of those.

<Bill> There are a few repeat bloomers and your Ramblers.

<Amanda> One thing that I learned today is ya'll service the Germplasm Center for many roses and that breeders know they can look to Roses Unlimited right here in Laurens, South Carolina and find things that can't be found in other places.

<Bill> That's correct.

I consider myself a museum.

We have a lot of old roses.

We're probably the only nursery in the states that has so many different types of roses.

<Amanda> Pat told me that she spends a lot of time helping people, ya'll because of your experience that you know these roses individually when someone calls and has a certain situation.

She says I think that this rose will work in your situation or if someone's in another state.

And ya'll do ship all the way to California, even Alaska I understand.

So aftercare is something that ya'll pride yourselves on.

<Bill> They can email or call Stephanie at the office.

She'll be glad to help.

<Amanda> It sounds like becoming a rose person is kind of like getting a new child.

It's nice to know that we have such a nice support staff here at Roses Unlimited.

If people want to know more about ya'll or just come and find out about what's here, are there ways that they can get your information?

<Bill> Yes.

We have a new website.

It's rosesunlimitedSC.com Or you can call Stephanie at the office here 8-6-4 6-8-2 7-6-7-3.

<Amanda> Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful little piece of South Carolina.

It's a real treasure what you've done.

<Bill> Thank you for coming up and enjoying the roses.

Thank you very much.

♪ ({soothing music)} ♪ <Amanda> I have several roses that was able to bring home when I went up to Roses Unlimited one of them is Aloha, which is my husband's favorite.

And I must say it's going very, very well in spite of the fact, I don't do too much with it.

So that shows you that some of these new roses, roses don't have to be so hard.

Terasa, what are some other topics that Jonathan might be able to give us some advice on?

<Terasa> Some of our viewers have reported seeing commercially available roses that are wrapped in plastic bags and would like to know more about them.

Is this a good way to start roses in your yard.

<Amanda> Jonathan when it gets to be the time of year to plant things, often there's a flood of material on the market what do you know about these ones that just come in a plastic bag kind of tied up tight at the top.

Is that a good way to start your rose selection?

<Jonathan> Rose breeders call these body bag roses.

<Amanda> Body bag?

<Jonathan> Yeah, body bag roses.

So, if you want a quality plant, these are not what you're looking for.

If you want a good healthy plant you should go to a respected nursery and start with good stock.

If you're going to plant one of these roses in your yard, there are a few things you should know.

A lot of times they are mislabeled.

The picture on those bags might not be the variety you get.

And these roses are often grafted.

So, a lot of times what will happen is that graph will fail and what you're buying is just a rootstock instead of an actual cultivar which more often than not the root stock is probably Rosa Multiflora.

You'll be planting an invasive wild rose in your yard.

But again if you are going to buy one of these roses if you're going to care for it, after you buy the rose, take it home and remove completely remove all the sawdust that's been packed around these roots, then you're going to let that soak in a pail of water for 8 to 12 hours, no more than 12 hours and then after that's soaked you want to just flare up those roots because they've been scrunched up in that bag for so long.

You don't want a plant with grow over roots.

You'll flare out those roots.

They should be nice and pliable after soaking.

The hole you prepare should be more shallow than it is deep.

So you want a nice, wide hole to flare out roots evenly in the soil.

And then you're going to cover it, careful not to bury the graft.

You'll notice that the graft union on these roses is where the stem comes up and you'll see this bulge area with multiple canes coming out.

That's the graft union, the bulb union.

You want to protect that during the freeze, but you don't want to bury it.

<Amanda> If you go to your favorite nursery and find a beautiful rose in it, three or five gallon pot and you want to bring it home, how would you go about planning that?

<Jonathan> If you're a rose already has soil around, same for the procedure, don't remove all the soil but loosen the root ball some and you want to dig a shallow hole, wider hole than it is deep, roses don't like to be very deep.

They get most of their nutrients from that surface layer.

And so not too deep and mulch is very important.

Roses enjoy a good layer of mulch.

<Amanda> Okay.

Jonathan there are reputable places that send bare root roses and I think that can be a good choice.

Tell us how we will proceed with one of those please.

<Jonathan> So bare root roses are a great choice, especially when the weather's dormant.

Bare root roses are often cheaper than roses that are in soil because they're lighter and so the shipping rates are less expensive.

Bare root roses you would treat them like those body back roses, when they arrive, do not let them dry out let them soak in a pail for about 8 to 12 hours and then plant them in a shallowish hole, a wide shallow hole.

<Amanda> Jonathan, before you do any gardening we at clubs and always say "Don't guess soil test" and I would think that would be a good - because we know that PH is so important.

So I would imagine that people would - That would be a good choice a good first step for people is to find out the area where they're going to plant their roses and be sure they've got the PH and everything just right there.

<Jonathan> Right.

Soil tests is always a great idea.

And we actually have a rose category at the soil health lab.

<Amanda> Okay.

<Jonathan> A good sight selection for roses is important so after you - before you get your soil test you want to pick a site that's well drained, roses do not like to have wet feet.

They will drown.

And you need a site that has at least six hours of direct sunlight.

<Amanda> All right.

Because - we can have awfully hot summers down here.

It doesn't have to be full blazing sun all day long, but at least six hours <Jonathon> At least.

<Amanda> I hear you.

Thank you Jonathan.

We're going to go visit with our friends at Clemson.

Dr Jim Faust because if your sweetheart brings you some roses, there are a lot of old wives tales about what you should do to make them last longer and Dr Faust did some fascinating research with the students and we're going to find out what exactly is the best thing to do.

♪ (interlude music) ♪ <Amanda> I'm at my alma mater Clemson University and I'm speaking with Jim Faust who is a Professor in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences.

Floriculture is your specialty.

We're coming up on Valentine's day and nothing is more exciting than when you go to the store and after you've gotten all the things you're supposed to come home with a package of flowers which are so available now.

<Dr.

Jim Faust> Yes and everybody loves flowers.

You walk out to the parking lot and everybody looks at you and says wow.

Those are beautiful.

when you bring them home the first thing you need to do is put them in water.

If you want them to last long they need to be in water.

When you really have time to make your bouquet look nice.

take them out of the sleeve, you cut the bottom of the stems off, you take about one or two inches off the bottom of every stem.

Put 'em back in the water.

<Amanda> That will help with water uptake?

<Dr.

Faust> Yes, because when you cut the stem.

And keep in mind these were cut a week ago in South America and shipped in and took some time to get here.

An air bubble can actually get into the stem and that air bubble will block water being taken up through the stem.

By cutting this them you're reintroducing water to the base of the stem.

<Amanda> So we got them home and if they have any leaves that are down low, we're going to remove those.

<Dr.

Faust> Yeah, we never want leaves in the water.

That'll create some bacterial problems.

<Amanda> And then they often send you home with a little package, what's in that package.

Is it good to use it?

<Dr.

Faust> You should absolutely use it.

It's there for a purpose.

We just call it flower food, and it will help extend the vase life of that product.

So if it naturally lasts five six seven days, it'll give you a few extra days.

<Amanda> And the little package you showed me said it was made in Walterboro.

Although they won't tell you exactly what's in it you have an idea of what's in it.

<Dr.

Faust> Sure.

Walterboro is one of the main places in the whole world for producing flower food.

Which is a funny thing.

They do it there.

We know there's three main things you want to put in flower food.

The main ingredient is actually just sugar.

And sugar serves as a source of food to keep the flower alive.

When the plant's outside, it's creating its own sugars with photosynthesis from the light.

But when you bring it inside it can no longer do that.

We're force feeding it some sugar through the vase solution.

The second compound that we put in there is an anti microbial product.

It inhibits bacterial growth.

Bacteria again will grow in a solution that has sugar especially and then the bacteria collinate the base of the stem.

And then they plug the stem so that water can't be taken up.

What you end up seeing is what we'll call bent neck syndrome, where they just droop.

Okay.

And so what you can also do to help prevent that, is after you've had flowers for maybe five days and they're still looking pretty good, You can go and recut them again.

Take another inch or two off the bottom because that's where the bacterial mostly grows.

You get rid of that, put in some clean water, new flower food, put the vase back in and they'll last longer.

The third component is an acidifying agent.

Usually it's something like citric acid.

<Amanda> Right.

<Dr.

Faust> What we're trying to do is lower the PH of the water or the vase solution, and that helps actually uptake water the plant takes up the water better if the PH is four to five rather than you know six to seven.

<Amanda> That specific to a cut flower That's not our outdoor plants.

<Mr.

Faust> Right in the field, in soil, we want six to seven PH but not in the vase.

<Amanda> Well the first thing, you do with an experiment is have a control?

<Dr.

Faust> Absolutely - So our control is just clear water.

Put them in there See how long they last if you do nothing.

<Amanda> You did put a liter in each one?

That's the correct dilution.

Okay.

And then the second one that we had was a penny and actually we can see that one drank a lot of water.

Almost just about the same as our control and it's got it's clear and clean looking.

<Dr.

Faust> Copper is a good antibacterial compound.

So we were actually spray copper compounds on plants to protect them from bacteria.

So simply putting a penny in actually does help.

<Amanda> Alright.

And then this one just looks awful.

<Dr.

Faust> Does not look good.

That's our aspirin tree.

<Amanda> That's a - <Dr.

Faust> A lot of people put aspirin in there.

Not looking good.

You can see how cloudy the water is.

That's that's what bacteria do.

Makes the water really cloudy and the water tastes bad, and you see several flowers there with bent necks.

<Amanda> Bleach.

The water looks great.

but the leaves and the - <Dr.

Faust> The foliage is not so good.

The bleach worked really well for killing the bacteria.

It's clear water but obviously there's something in there that the plant did not like.

<Amanda> And then Mello Yello.

<Dr.

Faust> The recipe is to put Sprite.

<Amanda> This is pretty close.

<Dr.

Faust> I went to the vending machine and there was no Sprite.

So, I got Mello Yello.

It actually doesn't look so bad.

see the plants have used a lot of water.

<Amanda> They have some nodding - <Dr.

Faust> They're probably not as good as the control.

<Amanda> Yeah I wouldn't think.

I think you do better just with plain water.

And then we've got another one that really looks like, don't try that one.

Sugar and vinegar?

<Dr.

Faust> Sugar and vinegar.

Well the sugars good, vinegar lowers the PH.

But there's nothing to prevent bacterial growth and you can see the solution is really cloudy.

The flowers look horrendous.

<Amanda> Then we have the flower food and it looks nice.

<Dr.

Faust> It looks pretty good.

It's a little better than control.

I think if we come back in the next few days you really start to see a difference.

Going to get a few extra days out of the flower food.

I think the flowers are opening up nicely.

in the flower food too.

<Amanda> ..that's part of what you want.

<Dr.

Faust> You don't want them shut.

<Amanda> Here every night this batch went in the refrigerator.

Nothing in the water, but it went to the refrigerator at night.

<Dr.

Faust> That's the Cadillac there.

So The ideal thing to do is create room in your refrigerator and every night at the end of day put them in the fridge, they're nice and cold that'll suspend their life and then in the morning put them back out on your kitchen table.

It's a lot of work and you need a lot of extra space in your fridge but that is the best thing you can do.

<Amanda> If you get in a contest with your neighbor about whose husband bought her nicer flowers and yours lasts longer.

It might be nice to have your's last longer.

<Dr.

Faust> You get 14 days or more if you do that.

<Amanda> Amazing because they were a week old when they got here.

What incredible flowers.

And then you're doing some research to these are mostly grown in South America?

<Dr.

Faust> Yeah.

Most of the roses - we import over a billion dollars of cut flowers from South America every year, primarily Colombia and Ecuador.

So we've been working with the South American growers on how to grow their product better so that when it's delivered it performs better for our customers.

<Amanda> You've got a refrigerator back in the lab where you got them sitting in there and you've given them different treatments.

Tell us about what you're trying to prevent in that case and what you've treated them with.

<Dr.

Faust> Sure!

One of the biggest problems we have with roses is they're very susceptible to gray mold or botrytis, a very common pathogen and their spores are everywhere all the time.

And in human greenhouses, the spore lands on the petal and then you have the petal will turn brown.

<Amanda> So it affects the flower petal?

<Dr.

Faust> It affects the appearance of the plant.

It doesn't really hurt the plant or hurt it's vase life that much.

It just makes it- Who wants a brown petal?

Exactly!

So we're working with the growers to develop treatments to prevent that.

So one of the treatments that's looking really good is simply spraying the plants weekly with calcium.

And so just like calcium gives you stronger bones, it reinforces the cells in the petals.

And so, the fungus, it's a little spore, germinates and sends out like a little root that goes It has to penetrate and its feeding on the cells.

It's taking all the good stuff out of the cells to feed it to survive itself.

And by creating stronger cell walls the fungus doesn't penetrate as well.

So the treatments actually looking really good at this point.

<Amanda> Also, it's these people have to cut and work around these plants, calcium wouldn't be an exposure risk for the workers.

<Dr.

Faust> It's very safe.

If we can use less fungicide by using more calcium, that's a win-win for everybody.

<Amanda> And then you prevent building fungicide resistance, so when you need a fungicide you've got one that works.

<Dr.

Faust> Absolutely!

<Amanda> I want to thank you for seeing to it that when people want take something to their sweetheart.

There's something in the store that's going to be lovely and attractive and get them a good steak supper and a nice kiss goodnight.

<Dr.

Faust> It's been a pleasure and everyone needs to go out and buy some flowers for someone you love.

<Amanda> Thank you so much.

It's always a pleasure to visit Dr. Faust.

And it was certainly very kind of him to do a research project with his students and I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did learning about the results.

Terasa what are some other things that people think about when they want to start using roses in their landscape?

<Terasa> Well Jonathan mentioned sight selection and how important that is to the success of having roses in your yard.

This question is related.

someone wants to know how do you decide what type of rose to put in your yard and that means how do I know it'll fit in and not look out of place within kind of my overall look and feel of my landscape.

<Amanda> Gosh!

That is something because Jonathan I've sometimes seen roses plopped into somebody's front yard and they just don't look like they really belong there.

Talk about how you would try to see to it that you got the beauty of this unique and wonderful flowering plant, but it doesn't stand out and take away from everything around it.

<Jonathan> Yes.

So a lot of people don't know that rose blooms come in a variety of different forms.

We call them flower forms and what you so often see are is the hybrid tea bloom form and that's the high centered earn shaped rose, but like the classic rose.

That's what everyone thinks of roses.

There are different varieties of roses you can have roses with five petals.

We call that single and it's really great for pollinators.

The stamen, pollens right there for the pollinators to get to.

Double and semi-double, these have a sort of a relaxed feel to them.

If you're designing an area of your garden you don't want something so formal like hybrid tea you would choose something like a single rose, a doubled rose or even like an old fashioned bloom form.

The old fashionable bloom form is very relaxed.

The roses that our ancestors grew, the shaggy no form very relaxed rose look to them.

Then if you wanted like an English garden look you can select a rose at a globular form.

of a quarter form.

That's also very popular in English gardens.

Pom Poms is another popular bloom form with roses.

A lot of the older roses will look like little Pom Poms especially the older climbers.

And habit is also very important, A lot of the roses we see on the market today are shrub roses, and so that's kind of the breeding goal, is everyone wants a landscape shrub rose.

Roses come in a lot of different habits.

You can have these massive house eating climbers that will look great over an Arbor or trellis that will soften a hard landscape.

Or you can have these old style Ramblers look great over a fence like a cedar, a split cedar fence.

That looks perfect on that fence.

You can also have ground cover roses If you've got an area of your yard that you don't know what to do with, you can find ground cover rose.

So, there's a lot more variety out there than people think.

<Amanda> Okay.

So one of the things I'm always interested in Jonathan is rose hips which are the fruits, because I've always read how English people use them as a source of vitamin C. I think that sometimes I'll see a rose that has all these beautiful red hips in the winter when it doesn't have leaves.

Are there some roses that people select for that purpose sometimes?

<Jonathan> Definitely, especially the Rugosa roses.

These are a class of roses.

For South Carolina with our sandy soils, you can't go wrong with a Rugosa rose.

They have huge hips you could easily turn into a tea or jam, jelly and even some of our native roses have edible hips.

Rose of Carolina and rose clusters.

You can get those.

<Amanda> All right.

Yeah a lot of people like to use the landscape as a source for food, kind of graze.

So I thought those rose hips might be interesting.

Well, that's wonderful to learn about Jonathan.

Thank you.

So, really with some care, you can find a rose that would fit your particular need.

Did you want a formal situation?

Did you want something relaxing?

I love your idea better a rambling rose on a cedar fence that really just sounds beautiful.

Thanks a lot.

Pat Henry is associated with Roses Unlimited and she is just the one of the most encouraging and inspiring people I've met in a long time and I think you are going to be enchanted by the roses in her garden.

♪ (soft music) ♪ <Amanda> I'm speaking with Pat Henry in her garden outside of Laurens, South Carolina Pat is one of the owners of Roses Unlimited right down the road.

She didn't leave all the roses right down the road however.

Pat tell me how this garden evolved and how you ended up here.

<Pat Henry> My husband was transferred from Chattanooga with 3M company.

And we had to choose between Laurens and St. Paul, Minnesota.

So we chose Laurens.

<Amanda> You were already a rose aficionado.

<Pat> Absolutely, I've been growing roses really since probably the early 60s.

And I've changed my mind on a lot of roses over the years.

And in this garden are mostly Kordes roses out of Germany.

That's K-O-R-D-E-S. <Amanda> Why are these so uniquely satisfactory?

They're just so healthy in Germany it became impossible to spray insecticides, chemicals.

They had to choose roses propagate toward or hybridized toward things that were disease resistant.

And they truly are.

They're in every color, gorgeous always happy to look at.

In fact this is a yellow right here every woman loves a yellow rose.

You can grow this without chemicals.

This is Sunny June.

Sunny June.

And she is beautiful.

<Amanda> Even in South Carolina the huge challenges, the Kordes roses you do not spray.

<Pat> Do not spray them.

<Amanda> I've seen ones that were absolutely beautiful.

<Pat> They are and I have probably some 60 varieties in this garden.

<Amanda> What are the others in here?

<Pat> Dark desire, gorgeous red.

A climber that is over there is a beautiful climber, graceful, all of these are easy to grow.

<Amanda> You've got where we're standing, I see you've got deer fences and then lots of props.

for roses because you do like for them to be able to have their natural form.

And to keep the deer away.

<Pat> I do.

I guess my type of garden is more of a relaxed English garden.

It's not formal but some parts you want formality, but I love them just to be what they are.

And if they're not a little bit, that's beautiful.

<Amanda> Let's move on to another room in your garden.

Alright.

♪ (soft music) ♪ <Amanda> Pat we're in a white garden.

I'm sure as the twilight comes, it's just beautiful up here.

<Pat> It is beautiful and the white garden.

I wanted to have a mixture of different classes of roses.

<Amanda> What are the classes of roses?

<Pat> There are Bourbons.

There are Chinas.

There are English.

They're hybrid teas, Floribundas.

There's a number beyond that.

But in this garden, there are Noisettes, which is native to South Carolina.

And there are old teas from the 1800s.

There's Polyanthas.

That means many little flowers.

That's a class, Polyanthas.

<Amanda> What are some of your specific favorites?

<Pat> I love Bolero for one.

It's a Floribunda.

It's pretty much clear white.

<Amanda> Is that unusual for a white rose?

<Pat> There are some that are purer than others in white.

Most of them have yellow or a little blush of pink with them.

but that's kind of fun too that everything is not just so-so.

<Amanda> Let's move on to another room while we're here.

♪ (soft music) ♪ <Amanda> Pat, although you've been gardening here since the 1980s, people shouldn't feel like they can't have a pretty good-looking rose garden quickly because I think this garden is relatively new.

<Pat> It's very new.

It was started in 2017 September.

This was just a long line of those tall azalea's that I wanted out here.

They bloom one time and they're to be cut back and taken care of.

So I decided that this is what I want is this new type of garden.

<Amanda> You got a head start, because you had a lot of roses growing in containers.

<Pat> If you grow your roses in containers, then they're ready to move to the ground.

And then some you, you just might want to leave in containers.

You have to be a good mother.

Water often, which I do and I like to do that.

I like my yard art.

It's kind of fun to play around the things to make it a little pretty.

<Amanda> Do you have a favorite one or two in here?

<Pat> I love Chantal Moreau.

Especially , I love this one James Galway.

It's an English very graceful.

It's hard not to love them all.

<Amanda> Let's move on to another.

♪ <Amanda> Pat, climbers have come a long way from Lady Banks.

<Pat> That's for sure.

<Amanda> A one-time bloomer.

Let's talk about some of your favorite climbers.

<Pat> There are two in this garden.

that I particularly love.

Quicksilver.

This is one of the finest lavenders.

That's a color that's very hard to come by and especially disease resistant.

This is a Kordes rebloom.

It's a good cut flower.

<Amanda> It has such long stems.

<Pat> Yes.

Beautiful, beautiful.

And then there's Princess Ann, which is in English.

And some of the English will make climbers and some are short.

You have to know which one is which.

<Amanda> This one obviously - <Pat> ...re-blooms and it has hundreds of blooms and still blooming .

<Amanda> So, a climber doesn't have to have an armature that's huge built for it with selective pruning you can still let it have its natural form but not let it take over the world.

<Pat> That's right.

<Amanda> I'm glad to learn about these.

<Pat> These are two loves.

♪ (soft music) ♪ <Amanda> Pat, you have a few roses that ought to be center stage but you just kind of put them helter skelter.

And I think this is one that surprised you.

<Pat> Very much.

I had not seen this rose but it's another Kordes and I wanted to grow it.

<Amanda> What's the name of it?

<Pat> Land lust.

<Amanda> L-U-S-T Landlust.

Alright.

<Pat> Many times a climber or a shrub will not bloom the first year they build up strength.

I didn't see a bloom on this last year.

Or this year!

<Amanda> It's making up for lost times.

<Pat> Absolutely.

Gorgeous just one stem is a bouquet.

<Amanda> And again as a Kordes, you never are going to spray this for diseases but I think in your whole garden you don't use any insecticide.

<Pat> I do not.

I stopped that last, I didn't spray any insecticide all last year.

If you've got a few thrips or if you've got a few of whatever, I just let it go.

<Amanda> When the Japanese beetles come, you just do something else until they go.

<Pat> That's right!

<Amanda> Alright let's go see another.

♪ (soft music) ♪ <Amanda> Pat, we are finally in a little bit of shade with a rose that has a wonderful story.

<Pat> This is a Rambler.

There's a difference in a climber and a Rambler.

The Rambler can ramble into the trees.

You can see.

This plant itself has got to be very close to a 100 years old.

The Winghaven Gardens in Charlotte Mrs. Clarkson had a neighbor, Elizabeth Lawrence.

And this was in her garden.

And all it said is 'left back garden'.

And they wanted me to bring it home and see if I could nurse it back to health.

And that's what it is.

<Amanda> You just put the pot back there and it rooted itself in the ground.

It's been happily growing ever since.

<Pat> It's just happy - This is one you can grow in part shade, because the leaves on the trees drop during the winter.

It gets enough sun to provide the energy and it just loves it back here.

The birds love it.

<Amanda> I'm glad it's home from Charlotte.

<Pat> Yes.

♪ (soft music) ♪ <Amanda> Pat, this is the first garden where you had places to sit down.

I think there was there's a little bitter sweetness.

What do you think about that?

<Pat> That is true.

My husband in his latter years was very ill and he would come out on his walker.

He would sit here and read the paper.

And we had picnics here and fun times together.

And he loved it.

And these chairs are sort of a funny, friendly pain that helps me everyday.

He was going to take him to the dump.

I said just dump them here.

I'm going to keep these chairs just because we sat in them.

<Amanda> After walking around your garden.

I'm happy to sit down for a moment.

I wonder if there's some special roses here that you have fond memories, thoughts associated.

<Pat> Lovely apricot, Heaven on Earth.

And it is heaven on earth.

And then there's a purple called Plum Perfect and it is plum perfect.

It's purple and beautiful.

There's a lovely climber here called Polka <Amanda> Everywhere you look, you're surrounded by beauty.

There's a lot of work that goes on and I want to thank you for taking time from your busy schedule here and at Rose's Unlimited to let Making It Grow come and visit your lovely Rose filled home.

<Pat> I thank you and glad that you came and saw a lot of beautiful roses.

♪ (soft music) ♪ <Amanda> You don't have to be as lady like as Pat Henry to be successful with roses but she certainly is someone we should we should aspire to emulate because she is a very gracious and delightful person.

We thank you Pat for the time that you spent with us.

Terasa, what are some other topics I guess there's big books, encyclopedias written on roses, but what's one that you think Jonathan might be able to entertain our and educate our viewers with?

<Terasa> Sure.

So what a lot of people ask us for, specific, technical, how to type information but we also get folks who are just curious and want to know more I call it kind of the history side.

So, recently people have reached out asking about the Knock Out family of roses and their history and what made them so popular.

<Amanda> Gosh, Jonathan.

I don't know if there's a landscape in America now that doesn't have a Knock Out rose in it.

How did they come to be and why are they so popular?

<Jonathan> So, you're right Amanda, knock outs are everywhere.

You can't go anywhere without seeing a knockout and so the knock out roses the original Knock Out was bred by a breeder, Will Radler in 1988 and so the knock out was introduced in 2000.

They've been around for a while.

And what really made this row so popular is that it was marketed as a carefree rose.

You just throw in a hole and walk away.

It was Spring, no fussy hybrid teas just plant it and go.

And so that was one of the big selling points, the Knock Out roses.

That actually did a lot for the Rose industry in the United States.

People realized that, "Hey!

Maybe I can grow roses that also presented a shift for a breeder.

So, breeders saw, consumers aren't so much focused on these fancy flower buds, flowers.

They want a healthy plant and so the shift in breeding is now towards plants that are healthy on their own roots.

You don't have to spray them.

Plants that require fewer inputs.

Fewer fertilizers and more drought resistance.

So, the Knock Out family from star roses they've really expanded their selection with Coral Knock Out, White Knock Out and Peachy knock in 2018 and so these were also bred by Will Radler and really what they were they were re-brands.

So, Coral Knock Out is actually rose that was branded as carefree celebration in 2007, a white Knock Out is rose from 2009 called White Out and Peachy knockout out is actually Peachy Keen from 2015 and so sometimes companies do this.

It's fine.

It's their property.

They felt that these roses were healthy enough to be included in the knockout family.

And so it expanded the color palette of the Knock Outs.

<Amanda> Well, also Jonathan when I've got to see the Coral one and I think of the Knock Outs as not being roses I would want to cut, bring in the house and put in a vase and they tend to shatter but the coral ones, someone gave me one Grady Locklear, a wonderful gardener here in Sumter and I declare, he said he'd cut hundreds of buds off that Coral Knock Out and it was a beautiful form too.

<Jonathan> So, the knockouts traditionally have never focused much on form.

We talked about that earlier.

They've got a very informal look to them, a semi-double look to them and that's from consumer preference.

Consumers were moving away from those fancy hybrid tea buds.

They wanted a healthy plant.

So, the flower form wasn't so important just as long as it was a nice splash of color in the landscape, but now that we've got this healthy base, this healthy germplasm, we can start focusing on form again.

<Amanda> Jonathan one of the things sadly that rose growers have had to contend with is this new Rose Rosette Virus.

I think that Knock Outs are not immune from that.

Could you talk a little bit about when that occurred and how it's spread?

I don't think it's really a fungal disease with I believe maybe it's insects or something related <Jonathan> So, yes R-R-D. is a viral disease of roses that came from the Pacific Northwest There are currently no commercial varieties resistant to R-R-D. because sometimes you'll see a rose marketed as it's resistant to rose rosette.

Currently there are new resistant varieties.. Rose Rosette is spread by microscopic mite and these mites travel on air currents to other ruses.

If you have a rose in your garden that is infected with R-R-D, there is no cure.

Best treatment would be to remove that rose to spare your other ones.

Another thing you can do to sort of pad your garden against infection is companion planting.

Don't put all your roses in one spot together.

Try to space them out.

That'll help.

There is a nationwide monitoring effort.

If you see Rose Rosette somewhere or you think is Rose Rosette, you can submit a photo and an expert will verify that photo and if it is confirmed Rose Rosette they will map it out what county that was found in.

<Amanda> But sadly this is spreading and it's not uncommon at this point.

<Jonathan> Right.

It's any parking lot where you see the Knock Outs, you're going to find Rose Rosette.

<Amanda> Okay, well I'm sorry and I imagine there's a lot of breeding work going on now and we hope that before long there will be a way that we can have some roses that won't be affected by it.

Jonathan you can have fun trying to come up with your own roses I think.

Can't you?

<Jonathan> Yeah so do you want to learn how to cross pollinate and create your own specific unique variety, we have a video to show you how to do that.

<Amanda> Let's see what's involved.

♪ (soft music) ♪ <Amanda> I want to thank Terasa and Jonathan so much for being with us today and I remind viewers, when you get your soil test results.

They will also tell you about how to fertilize your rose because that's going to change from site to site.

And to all of our viewers, we wish you - if you don't get a bunch of roses from your sweetheart,, we wish you still the happiest of Valentine's and a wonderful year going forward.

♪ (closing music) ♪ Making it Grow is brought to you in part by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

Certified South Carolina grown helps consumers identify, find and buy South Carolina products.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina.

This family farm offers seasonal produce including over 22 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by International Paper and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance.