Roses in Lahore

[mikhurram]

4th of July




Pat Austin






















Asma Sharifa


Golden Celebration

[Munir]

Very good collection of beautiful roses.

[rafique]

Beautiful Roses.

[UMARKHANMARDAN]

Pat Austin is so good.Can i get it locally in the winter months.

[mikhurram]

Yes from Changa Nursery. Haji Ibrahim is the proprietor.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Lovely Roses,well maintained
Arif

[isaeed]

wonderful collection.Shabash!!!
How and when do you feed the roses.Do you spray them with fungicide and insecticide on a regular basis(frequency?) or only when you observe a problem.?What PH range you maintain in the soil bedding the roses?.Sorry for all the questions but hoping you will share your experience as an expert rosarian with novices.
regards
Irfan Saeed

[mikhurram]

I consider myself as a novice. Important things to consider are soil, site or location, pruning & fertlization (limited basis only in spring).

You may find the following guidelines useful.

At times we overfeed our roses which i tend to avoid. At times we do not realize the over-fertlization makes the plants more susceptible to bugs/diseases. I tend to feed them only 4 or 5 times during the winter/spring season spanning over a duration of 5 months (November till April). Feeding isn't an option for roses it is a must as they flower prolifically for 3-4 months and partly because of hard pruning done annually means that they have a lot of growth to replace. They need all the major and minor nutrients that can be found in a general fertilizer, but need extra potash and magnesium, thus it is worthwhile to use a proper a rose food fertilizer like Arthur Bowers Rose food having NPK ratio 5-5-10 plus trace elements. Even a liquid tomato fertlizers can be used and as the same formulation. This NPK composition is also ideal for bulbs/other plants/vines.

Rather than getting into the nitty gritty details of calculating NPK per plant or calculating the nutritional requirements of the roses, we can make our lives more simpler by following the fertilization guidelines mentioned below.

-Apply one dose at the start of the growing season after pruning, a top-up just before and after the first flush of flowers. and another after the second flush of flowers. (3 or times spanning over the winter season). Even a liquid tomato feed can be used and for that purpose the tomato fertilizer comes handy since it has extra potash and that could be given once in a month in spring.

-Regardless of the type of rose fertlizers being used, soil should be improved by adding lots of organic matter which has beneficial micro organisms and trace elements. This is the most important aspect. Mulching is a necessity. An application of rotten manure compost is a must for roses every spring.

-Pruning is also a must to remove old unproductive shoots and encourage new growth. Also it makes air to circulate better through foliage and minimize pest and disease problems. The timing and degree of pruning would be dictated by the type of roses i.e it would be different for Hybrid Tea Variety, Flordibunda and Shrub Roses. A simple principle of pruning is that we have to cut down dead stems entirely, cut back weak stems and least of strong shoots.

It's important to know the difference between various types of roses.
-Hybrid Teas and Floribunda require heavy pruning almost to the stumps-10-15 cm from the ground.
-Shrub roses, English Roses and Old Fashioned Varieties require only light pruning to maintain a tidy shape.

-One should also do the homework for selecting varieties that are disease resistant and more likely to do well in our zone and that's where the AARS rating of the American Rose Society comes handy. Almost all the roses rated by AARS are available at Changa Nursery. Roses like Papa Delbard Rose and Charles De Gaulle are not good performers in our plains thus it would be wise to use established roses like Double Delight, Pat Austin, Asma Sharif etc and or shrubs like Golden Celebration is the best former for me among all the shrubs in terms of flowering, fragrance and pest resistance.

-Furthermore good watering practices can minimize the occurrence of fungus. Water should not be sprinkled on the top as it may lead to fungus or mildew. Watering itself is an art learned over the years and inconsistent or haphazard watering often leads to fungus. Rather than frequent watering resort to occasional deep watering.

-Site or location is important where soil should have good drainage and sunlight available for atleast 5-6 hours.

One should keep a close check on suckers on a weekly basis which should be eradicated unless the roses are grown from cuttings.

[isaeed]

thankyou for the valuable advice.Your recommendations re spraying fugicide and insecticides?
Irfan Saeed