EarthKind Landscape Roses

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EarthKind Landscape Roses

• Prepared by
• Kimberly Engler, Landry Lockett,
• Dr. Steven George, and Dr. Cynthia McKenney
• Texas Cooperative Extension
• Texas AM University System

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The EarthKind Approach

• Innovative new program of environmental landscape
  management for 21st Century
• Developed by Texas AM horticulture specialists
• Based entirely on university research
• As organic as the science will support

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Goals Of EarthKind

• Beautiful, productive landscapes
  
  
  
  
  
• Require only minimal maintenance
• Provide maximum protection for the environment

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Guiding Principles Of EarthKind

• Employ EarthKind plants and cultural techniques
  to avoid pest problems before they occur
• Use commercial fertilizers and pesticides only as
  last resort

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Holy Grail

• Only two kinds of people those that can already
  grow roses, and those that wish they could grow
  roses
• Holy Grail is to find roses that anyone can grow
  and that almost never require pesticides
• AM scientists have been searching for such roses
  since 1988

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Problems With Modern Hybrid Tea Roses

• Need well-drained, acid soils (found in Heaven,
  seldom anywhere else!)
• Require excessive use of pesticides (20-25 sprays
  per year in humid areas)
• Must be pruned hard
• Short lived often difficult to grow

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EarthKind Landscape Roses

• New era in beautiful, easy-care landscape plants
• Everyone, even those brand new to gardening, can
  be highly successful with EarthKind roses

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Aggie Approved

• Highly recommended by Texas AM Agriculture
  Program
• Proven by years of research at Texas AM - Dallas
  under very harsh conditions (highly alkaline clay
  soil with no soil amendments,
  no fertilizers, no pesticides, no deadheading,
  no pruning)
• Confirmed by field trials all across Texas
  (again, no pesticide applications)

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Advantages Of
EarthKind Roses

• Very easy to grow, even for beginners
• Will grow in almost any soil, even highly
  alkaline clays
• Very drought and heat tolerant once established
• Due to excellent genetics, rarely have any
  serious disease, insect or mite problems

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Put Away Your Sprayers!

• Not immune to pest problems
• Their tolerance to pests is so great that, as
  long as you do not mind a few leaflets dropping
  occasionally, almost never will you have to apply
  any pesticides!

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EarthKind Roses
Protectors Of The Environment

• Great for conserving water and protecting air and
  water quality
• Reduce irrigation by 70 percent
• Reduce pesticide usage over 90 percent
• In most loam and clay soils, greatly reduce need
  for commercial fertilizers

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Coast-to-Coast Potential

• Proven from high deserts of west Texas to
  oppressive humidity of Houston, all with no
  pesticides
• Great potential for trial plantings
  coast-to-coast throughout appropriate hardiness
  zones

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Dwarf Shrubs
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Marie Daly

• Found, polyantha
• 3 ht x 3 wd
• Pink, semi-double, fragrant
• Repeat blooming
• Has few thorns
• Best used in large containers
• Zones 5-9

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The Fairy

• 1932, polyantha
• 3 ht x 4 wd
• Light pink, very double
• Repeat blooming
• Covered with hundreds of small blossoms
• Zones 4-9

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Small Shrubs
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Caldwell Pink

• Found (Caldwell, TX)
• 4 ht x 4 wd
• Lilac pink, very double
• Repeat blooming
• Outstanding summer bloom (Summer Carnation)
• Zones 6-9

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Perle dOr

• 1884, polyantha
• 4 ht x 4 wd
• Peach, double, very fragrant
• Repeat blooming
• Almost constantly in flower
• A favorite old rose!
• Zones 6-9

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Medium Shrubs
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Belindas Dream

• 1992, shrub
• 5 ht x 5 wd
• Pink, large very double, fragrant
• Repeat blooming
• If you plant only one rose in your life, make it
  Belindas Dream!
• Zones 5-9

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Carefree Beauty

• 1977, shrub
• Dr. Griffith Buck rose
• a.k.a. Katy Road Pink
• 5 ht x 4 wd
• Pink, semi-double, fragrant
• Repeat blooming
• Orange hips in winter
• Zones 4-9

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Else Poulsen

• 1924, floribunda
• 5 ht x 5 wd
• Pink blend, semi-double
• Repeat blooming
• Outstanding floral impact
• Needs really good air circulation
• Zones 6-9

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Knock Out

• 2000, shrub
• 6 ht x 5 wd
• Cherry red, semi-double
• Repeat blooming
• Great disease tolerance
• Tolerates light shade
• Zones 4b-9

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Mutabilis

• Prior to 1894, China
• 6 ht x 6 wd
• Yellow, then pink, then crimson single
• Repeat blooming
• Butterfly Rose
• Kids love tracking changes in petal color
• Zones 6-9

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Mannerly Climbers
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Climbing Pinkie

• 1952, polyantha
• 10 ht x 6 wd
• Pink, semi-double, fragrant
• Heavy spring bloom, moderate fall display
• Few thorns, easy to train
• Zones 6-9

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Sea Foam

• 1964, shrub
• 8 ht x 4 wd
• Creamy white, double
• Repeat blooming
• Also great for cascading over retaining walls
• Zones 4-9

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EarthKind Growing Tips
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Selecting A Planting Site

• Must have full, direct sunlight for eight hours
  or more each day
• Must have good air movement over leaves
• No sprinkler irrigation during evening hours or
  at night
• Fungi will walk fifty miles to infect wet leaves
  at night!

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Bed Preparation Is Crucial

• Roses really respond to well-drained soils
• Sandy and loam soils Incorporate 3 - 6 inches of
  finished, plant-derived compost

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Bed Prep For Clay Soils Help Is Finally At
Hand

• First, incorporate 3 inches of expanded shale
• Then, 3 inches of finished, plant-derived compost
• Creates raised bed 6 inches above surrounding
  soil
• Crown the bed (i.e. higher in the center) to
  help shed excess water

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Roses Love Organic Mulches
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Mulching Your Secret Weapon

• Mulch year-round with 3 - 4 thick layer of
  organic material (tree limbs run through chipper,
  etc.) on soil surface
• During the year, bottom inch of mulch decomposes
  to form humus which is great for your plants!
• Each spring, restore mulch to 3 - 4 thickness

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New Benefit From Mulches

• Organic mulches have always conserved water,
  improved root growth, increased microbial
  activity in the soil, reduced certain diseases,
  greatly reduced annual weed problems
• Now, we know they also act as long-term, super
  slow-release fertilizer

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Compost Once, Mulch Forever

• For EarthKind approach to work, compost must be
  finished (i.e. fully composted), not still half
  raw
• Compost only added once, worked into soil prior
  to planting
• From then on, just mulch
  

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Reduction In Commercial Fertilizers

• In most loam and clay soils, there is often no
  need to apply any commercial fertilizers
• Commercial fertilizer includes both synthetic
  organic products
• Compost year-round mulching usually provides
  all the nutrition these roses need

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Watering

• Once established, EarthKind roses amazingly
  drought and heat tolerant
• Water only when soil in root ball is dry to a
  depth of 1 inch

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Watering Too Often Is A Killer

• In heavy clay soils, watering too often (e.g.
  every other day) will kill plants
• Once established in these soils and well mulched,
  watering usually only needed every 10-14 days
  even during summers sledgehammer heat, not at
  all during a wet winter

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Drip Irrigation Is Best

• Drip irrigation is best because it conserves
  water and, since it prevents wetting of the
  foliage, reduces disease problems
• Salty water applied to leaves can burn foliage
  badly
• If water is salty, even more important to use
  drip irrigation

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Closing Thoughts

• Putting EarthKind techniques into everyday
  practice will help your family, your business,
  your community and your environment
  
  
• Remember, "EarthKind to benefit humankind"