Virginia Sole-Smith
DCL
One great thing about moving into an 140-year old house is that the garden comes with some lovely surprises planted by previous owners. I can take absolutely no credit for these wonders, in my first year of gardening, but we get to fully enjoy them nonetheless.
Like this delightful climbing rose:
This shot was taken a few weeks ago, as it was just beginning to explode with blooms. (As were my peonies visible below, another thing that came with the garden and had a spectacular two weeks!)
I've been loving the climbing rose for the past month as it has stretched all the way up to the bottom of my office window, meaning I get to see and smell roses while I work. (And think oh yeah, that's why we moved out of the city.)
But today I went out to deadhead, and spotted THIS:
Bad news bears. Some of the leaves have even turned yellow from it, as you can see in the top image. Cue yet another panicked check in with my gardening guru, Amy the Green Gardenista and mystery solved: It's Black Spot Fungus.
Apparently, roses get black spots when they're over-watered (remember how I have issues with that?), or live in wet locations. This guy lives right next to where our hose plugs into the house, and the spigot is definitely prone to drippage.
Also I am prone to forgetting to turn off the spigot after I water, so there was this one time when I did that and went out of town and when I came home the yard was, you know, a lot more pond-like than when I left it. (And the hose was busted.) Oops.
But all is not lost. Amy prescribes this easy, green DIY treatment for black spot fungus, which I will be trying immediately:
Ingredients: -Vegetable Oil - Water - Liquid Dish soap -One 25-32 oz. spray bottle (reuse a windex bottle, or purchase a commercial equivalent)
Recipe:
Combine 1/2 a teaspoon of dish soap with 1/2 a teaspoon of vegetable oil in your spray bottle, and fill completely with water, leaving only enough room for the straw and cap to screw on without overflow. Lightly shake, and then liberally spray this anti-fungal spray all over your roses, leaves, blooms and all.
For the next three weeks apply this recipe to your roses, and you should see results quickly. For added benefit, if you wash your dishes by hand in the sink you should transfer the soapy sink water to a pail or watering can, and use that water to hydrate the base of your rose bushes. Gentle soapy water can temporarily kill any fungus living in the mulch, or the soil at the base of the plant, and prevent the fungus from attacking your roses again in the near future.
Amy also advises pruning out the spotted leaves, which I've gotten down to business doing and have the rose thorn scratches to prove it. While we're on the subject, did you know that when you prune and deadhead roses, you are always supposed to cut back to where you see a little spray of five leaves together? That's how you get the new buds. Does anyone else think plants should come with manuals?
Any other rose fans out there? I'd love to know your favorite kinds and best green tips for keeping them healthy and blooming!
