How to Create and Care For a Rose Tree Garden



Posted: Monday, February 15, 2010

by Peter Dranitsin
Petes Original Art Inc.

Having problems with space in your rose garden? Does your rose patch look too flat? Then rose trees might just be the thing for you!

As the name suggests, rose trees are roses made to resemble a tree a very small tree at that. You probably have seen one already if not, it looks like a rose with a trunk! Rose trees are special in that it adds dimension and height to a garden. Just imagine a spot in your backyard in three layers of roses, the tree in the middle surrounded by bush roses and miniature roses as edge. Talk about rose overdose.

One may ask how a variety of roses have been developed to grow into trees. As a matter of fact, tree roses are not cultivars on their own. To achieve such splendor in a stick (I always loved to call them that), several different roses are used in every single plant. Typically, it consists of four rose parts: The rootstock, the trunk, and two grafted rose cultivars. This makes the tree rose more complicated to produce and, of course, more pricey.

Tree roses, appropriately referred to as rose "standards" as they were used to be called in Victorian Europe where they first become popular, are also prized for the variety of colors they usually have; although rose standard colors are set superficially by grafting two different cultivars in every trunk. As the standard grows, the two varieties of rose intertwine resulting in gorgeous explosions of colors. Having a rose standard, you are practically growing a bouquet in a stand!

Unfortunately, growing rose standards often require horticulturist-ish skills as you can't just mix and match cultivars with great looking trunks and cute curly roots.

The rootstocks are often chosen by vigor and compatibility to the region where the standards are to be planted. Trunks on the other hand are chosen for both sturdiness and winter-hardiness although, most of the time, you will still have to mulch the whole trunk throughout winters. The grafted cultivars or the top of the tree are, obviously enough, selected aesthetically.

The thing with grafting standards (or any plant for that matter) is that you can't just assemble them like how Dr. Frankenstein did it. There will always be a chance of rejection. Moreover, the more varied the parts of a standard is, the more prone it will be to Mosaic virus infection. This is the reason why a lot of standards are created with the trunk and the roots as one plant, say, a Dr. Huey.

With all the complications of making your own standard, a hefty price tag in an already growing one is actually more of a relief especially since tree roses can take years to establish stability. To get your own standard, it is then best to buy from a reliable rosarian or from a reputable nursery.

Care for rose standard is pretty much like that of any other rose except for the first few years when the trunk cannot yet fully support the foliage. In addition to the usual care for roses (i.e. at least 6 hours of sun, sweet soil and pest control), growing standards will also require good pruning to balance the top so the rose doesn't lean to either side; trunk support with advisably three unsightly stakes; and 3-feet winter mulching. That may sound quite awful but once the standard is established, it is a guaranteed attention-grabber and jaw dropper. As they say, with great responsibilities come the perks!

Cedric James is a rose gardening expert. For more information on growing climbing roses, visit http://www.rosesguides.com.

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