Don’t worry, we’re not going to talk about weddings. This is going to be an article about remembering to do some of the basics during the heat of summer as well as about trying a few new things.

Fall and the beauty that comes to our rose gardens may seem like a million years from now as we struggle through the heat and humidity of summer. But fear not, it will be here sooner than we think and we need to do some pretty easy things to insure that our gardens reach their peak in September and October. This month I am going to have two sections – REMINDERS and NEW IDEAS. The reminders are things that we have talked about in earlier articles or meetings and the new ideas are ones that you may not have thought about. For some of you more "seasoned beginners" these new ideas may be old hat so feel free to slide them into the reminder section.

#1 WATER, WATER, WATER. If you built up your bed or have soil that drains well, you don’t have to worry about overwatering during the summer months. Don’t count on the rain to help. In the heat of summer, I give my roses at least three good deep soakings each week.

#2 SPRAY REGULARLY. Remember, we talked about picking a day each week and making that our spray day. Well, it works. I have stuck to that concept, rotated my sprays and am not battling disease and, other than thrips, have not had big bug battles this summer.

#3 FEED YOUR ROSES. Roses are heavy feeders. If you use liquid fertilizers (Easy Feed, Joy Juice, Miracle Gro, etc.), feed at least once a month and preferably twice. They will thank you for it with long stems and beautiful foliage that will help provide those big blooms in the Fall.

#4 SPRAY FOR MITES. My miniature roses typically get hit the worst by mites. Use a mite blaster, a strong jet of water or a miticide. Get an early jump on them and you’ll keep your roses healthy.

#5 JOIN THE AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY. This won’t guarantee better roses, but the monthly American Rose magazine will keep you up-to-date on the latest roses, newest products and will open your eyes to new ideas. Plus, the October issue has a section on rose products (many with money saving coupons) and the December "Rose Annual" is loaded with fantastic articles - a must have issue.

FINGER PRUNING. No, I don’t mean making your fingers shorter. This is an easy way of getting larger blooms. You have probably noticed that as the stem is growing and the bud begins to develop, there are side shoots that appear at the leaf clusters. There is nothing wrong with letting these develop. They will give you smaller, clustered blooms (sprays). But if you want a single bloom on the stem that is larger, simply use your fingers to "prune" or snap these side shoots off the stem. It relaxes me because I can walk through the garden enjoying the blooms while I finger prune.

PULL BOTTOM LEAVES. If your plants are healthy, your canes are taller, you have more foliage and this is great. As mentioned earlier, you want to keep mites from wreaking havoc on your beautiful green leaves. By pulling the bottom six to eight inches of leaves from your plants, you are making it more difficult for those mites to leave the soil and move up your plants. This also encourages new basal breaks and laterals (new strong cane growth at the bottom of the plant).

CYCLE PRUNING. This is something that many exhibitors do to increase their chances of having winning roses for the show season. It’s really quite simple and when someone showed me this idea, it made sense for the non-exhibitor, too. When it is time to cut blooms, you want to prune the stems back to encourage new and stronger canes. Don’t prune like you would in the Spring, but thin out weaker canes and cut back stronger canes to where new stems will be strong and able to support large blooms. A new stem will not be larger than the cane from which it grows. Make sense?

Cycle pruning is just like it sounds. Rather than cutting the entire plant at one time, I cut mine in thirds. One third one week, the second third the next week and the last third the third week. What does this do? Rather than getting all your blooms in a one week period, this extends the time when you have blooms over several weeks, continuously. This keeps color in your garden longer and gives you the opportunity to share cut flowers for a longer period of time.

JOIN THE AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY. Same reasons as above!! I have never regretted for a moment spending the few dollars each year.

One last idea and it is important enough to stand by itself. SHARE YOUR ROSES! Take cut flowers to a friend, to someone under the weather, to work, to a retirement home – any place where you find people. The rose is our national flower and a truly beautiful creation. They bring happiness and peace to everyone who sees them.