Hi! Yeah, yeah, I know.. This is probably the "advanced Rose expert" forum, specifically designed to discuss hybridizing, growing from seed, and/or any other miraculous thing ya'll rose peoples do..

I wrangled myself a lavender bloom the nursery fellow called "Sweetness" over the weekend. Planning on doing some searching. It's nicely planted where it ought to receive a decent dose of daily sunlight, with some shade from the house in the morning hours.

However, I've got deer that, when not properly fed by nature, have previously nibbled an old rose to the ground. Yep, that, combined with my obvious lack of knowledge, I killed a real pretty peach rose bush last year.

So, a few questions.. For my zone, and the rose in the ground alive now (with about three bloom buds on it)
*What's the "right way" to water? Frequency? Time of day? Sprinkler overhead, or hose at the dirt level?
*What should I be feeding? How often?
*Can I spray it with something to deter the deer? Is there something I can cover it with? Will bird berry netting work? I realize it won't be beautiful with the covering, but higher fence just isn't looking economically feasible right now with some other home improvement projects that take a higher priority.
*If this isn't the right place to ask, where is?

Thank you in advance for this Roses for Dummies tutorial.
-Jennifer

First off, this is not at all an "experts-only" forum, as you'll soon see from the sparsity of my recommendations.

I have never grown roses in Texas, so I'm hoping someone from that general area will come along and give you some more specific advice about watering and such, but I can tell you the general rule about watering well when you plant the rose. If it's not the rainy season here when I plant roses, I water them like crazy when I plant them, to the point of muddy soil, and then (to a less crazy degree) about twice a day for the next week and a half.

Most people avoid overhead watering, claiming it causes black spot, but I always water my roses from overhead. It washes the dust and the aphids off the roses and deters powdery mildew, which inexplicably cannot grow on wet leaves.

The best time to water is in the early morning. Less evaporation then, so it's smart from the standpoint of economy and conservation.

Don't use any fertilizer at all until your rose is well established. Commercial rose fertilizer will burn the roots of a new rose. Even after your rose is established, use a little less than the manufacturer recommends. His object is to sell more fertilizer to you as soon as possible, so he's likely to say anything at all to make you run out and buy more.

I drop a banana peel and half a handful of bone meal into the bottom of the planting hole when I plant roses. I used to include a whole raw egg, but the soaring price of eggs has eliminated that element of my regimen.

Some deer wandered into my garden a few years ago, so I put up a fence, high enough that they're reluctant to jump over it. If I hadn't been able to do that, I guess I would have browsed the deer repellants at the hardware store. There are supposed to be natural deterrents, but I'm not sure what they are and I'm not sure they work at all. I'll let someone else deal with those questions.

Hey Jennifer, How are the horses doing? (and you of course)
Zuzus advice is spot on when it comes to the fertilizer...I feed my roses 4x a year which seems to be enough...I just give them alfalfa pellets made either into a tea or I just throw the pellets down, as is.
As for deer, I have never had to deal with them so I really can't advise you on that.

Easiest way to take care of deer is Bambi burgers. Seriously. My mom, when she lives in NM, has this giant yellow rose that has been eaten down to the core every year. What we did way-back-when was put a fence all the way around it. We used 3' chicken wire and then, after we wrapped around it so it had a 6' radius, we put ANOTHER layer of chicken wire on TOP of the chicken wire, so the total height was 6' tall by 6' around. Any stray leaves or roses were immediately munched, but we tried EVERYTHING. The deer would actually ignore my mom's chows who'd bark and bark and bark at the deer, but they didn't care. They left alone everything else but the roses.. and that yellow rose was the only one we were able to salvage.

One thing I'm thinking of my mom to try (she's moving back to her old house next month in theory) is to string a electric cattle fence in an area about 10x10 so we can put her roses there w/o worry. I know that fluttering ribbon on wire doesn't work, but I believe that the deer have a hard time seeing the electric fencing, so wouldn't know where to jump or how high to jump to get over it. And I know it's non-lethal. Trust me on this. I *know*. And, no, I didn't pee on any.. I have the wrong kind of plumbing to be peeing on electric fencing.

And, excuse me, though, but *I* am the resident Dummie here, so, you're infringing on my Dummiedum. Please refrain from doing so. You'll have to apply to be a member of my exclusive GIC (Gibbering Idiot Club), but I doubt you'll make it as you're already too smart by asking your questions here!

*giggle* Yeah.. the deer at my house have figured out how to duck under the hot wire horse fence. stinkers! It's okay.. If they're out in the pasture, they're not in my flower beds.. I didn't even think about stringing hot wire on the fence - that might work.. hmm... I will look at the existing 4ft tall fence this weekend, and try to see if there's a way to tack on some hotwire.. muhahahahahahaha


Speaking of, horses are great. Check my blog for all the riding updates.

Thanks for the tricks & tips.. I'll be back with more, I'm sure.

Excuse me ... excuse me. I am the number one dummy here. Toni lies. She has beautiful roses IN PROPER BEDS. Mine are just in pots, still waiting on beds to be prepared. She knows one from the other. I don't know a floribunda from a gloriosa ... wait, I think that's a daisy. Anyway, welcome, Jennifer. I think our climates are similar except that you may be a bit drier than I. Zuzu is a WONDERFUL mentor, as is Sue. You will love it here.

#1 Dummy Judy just south of Atlanta

Jennifer - Is there any rule or law that states you can't have 2 "hot" wires? One at 2', one at 4'? I think, if I remember correctly, the deer there in TX are the little whitetails and red deer and not the bigger mule deer we have here, so I can't see why that wouldn't work. Or, as my father called them while I was growin' up, hor de'vours or little puppies (He used to hunt mule deer from like '75 to '94.. biggest buck he brought home dressed out at almost 200lbs.).

Deer repellent.....My standard poodle grows hair like crazy especially in winter. I clip him on a big comforter in the basement (outdoors in the summer), roll all the fur into the comforter and dump it around on deer sensitive perennials. He's black so eventually in good weather, I can turn it into the soil and it not only makes it a nicer color and loosens it, but deters deer all year long. Does not work for rabbits though. Now my neighbors take some for their own plants. We are having good luck with it.

I put Tiffany's hair near the fence where a wood chuck was getting thru and it seemed to get him to move on. I tried stuffing some in holes that I think are vole holes and put a big rock on top. I am glad that the deer don't find my garden. I am in a heavily wooded area, so they keep busy in the woods and stay closer to the river.

Birds grabbed hair for their nests last year. I guess they don't mind dogs. Tiffany is a Westie who hates getting a haircut, so I don't get that much hair.

Andi: You're right, if it's on top, the birds DO use it for nesting; I put a little tuft of hair right in the holes for my fall bulbs too. I just put the whole mix of bulbs in a bin and stir the hair right in...then out with my trowel. If you don't have enuf' Tiffany hair, both grooming shops and regular hairdressers should be happy to share. In order to pay for college, I dressed hair for a few years throughout and women used to come in with paper sacks asking for hair for just that reason. We laughed after them then, but now I know they had a good idea.

I'll stick with Tiffany's hair. My luck, the groomers hair will have fleas, ticks, mites or other nasties. Besides, Tiffany would not be pleased if she caught the scent of other dogs in her yard. She'd probably dig it out or pee on it or something.

Have to get out and plant some things. I have a couple of new roses big enough to go in the garden, yippee! It is a good day to plant, nice and cool with rain later today.

Good point, INX pees once on everything I put in the ground...then I tell him not too and he doesn't anymore. I think he just feels he must give his 'blessing' once....I guess I wouldn't expect flees from a groomer but the human hair thing always made me think Icky.

My roses are still potted but doing well. I spray them awake in the AM, then take them out everyday and talk to them. Yesterday, I decided they were about ready and began to dig up a new patch but then I started making sod and moving it around to sparse or uneven areas...then there was some neighbor chat...then some pruning caught my eye....AND I STILL DON'T HAVE TAXES DONE!...So they are in today until I at least get my paperwork together and run a rough draft for taxes. Dog walking and doing dishes take priority even to taxes. The roses seem to like to come in in the evening anyway (they are getting as spoiled as my dog...soon I will be cooking for them too!).

Taxes are evil, but they're a necessary evil. I was lucky this year, only had to pay about $350 combined fed/state (had to pull money out of 401K to pay bills ). But I *did* plant 4 more bodybag roses, transplant a bluebeard & a russian sage, water the heck out of everything, and bought 30 bags of mulch (Home Depot had red cedar mulch for $2.05/bag, which is about half price). Plus did some more raking of dead weeds in the back.. I *may* actually get the pond put in this year! Yay! I know I got sunburned.. second sunburn of the year. I know this isn't a windburn as it wasn't windy today. And I broke out into a sweat for the first time this season! Yay!!! I'm absolutely lovin' this as it's almost 10pm at night and it's still in the mid 50s. Can't get any better than this!! (well, maybe if it rained a sweet rain from 5am until 7am, then was sunny for the rest of the day... ) Just got 4 more bodybag roses (the best ones) to go!

Busy girl! We have rain again. It hasn't let up for a single second today and more is promised for tomorrow.

And hail too.

Toni: me too...got my taxes done in draft but I always like to go over them a different day...tomorree
Owe the feds, but not state. Had more gains this year then expected. Oh, well. I did get out and do some work in the sunshine. I never can say what because I load my pockets up with pruners and diggers and it always feels good and doesn't hurt until the next day. The roses came back in though...per Zuzu, I need some banana peels and grocery delivery is Tuesday...I guess I know what I will eat Tuesday....anyway, I kinda' still like them inside because they are so happy in the morning: I feed the dog, spray the roses, grab some coffee...then take everybody out for some sunshine.

Zuzu: eggshells, bonemeal, and banana peel.....does 'aged banana peel work? I do this...if bananas get soft, I stick them in the freezer because they are handy and make better bread than fresh bananas....so I could thaw them, use the peels for the roses and bake some walnut banana bread. OR, do only fresh bananas maintain enough potassium do you think?

I think the aged ones are good too. If you get sick of eating the bananas, you can use the whole thing instead of just the peel. I never used eggshells. I would drop a whole egg in there, uncooked and unpeeled. Some people add coffee grounds too. This is all starting to sound like breakfast. Except we must not eat the bone meal unless we want to get mad cow disease. I have a sneaking suspicion that those mad cows that had to be slaughtered were used for making bone meal.

Well, I owe the feds and the state, but it's my own fault for not making my quarterly estimated payments large enough. No matter. I regard taxes as rent. If I don't want to pay high rent, I can choose to move to another country.

Zuzu: I think most of the non-3rd world has high rent too; it's just that the people see benefits that they can use.....hummm...a different view. Maybe it would feel better to think of tax as a condo fee.

Yep, breakfast! I always use any eggshells , usually just crush them into a bag of soil mix I keep on the back porch (if nothing else they help keep soil lose), and most of the time coffee grounds. Since I quit working, I don't drink so much coffee anymore so because I winter my blueberries inside, they get most of them. They like to be extremely acid.

OH! Are YOU ever right about the bone meal thing. I avoid it and wear gloves to touch it: it amazes me that import has not been restricted. Yet they tell us no 'mad cow' disease here. Now ranchers can't feed beef bone waste to cattle, and chicken farms can't feed chicken based meal, but they put the chicken based meal into the cow food and the cow waste is processed into chicken feed. Phooey, our deer populations recently began to suffer from Cronic Wasting Disease...and so they increased the hunt permitting in areas where it is prevalent. The killers can use them for food. Fine with me. Oh Boy! I'd better climb off this soap box now before I end up saying something about the medical industry using ground human bone for grafting material.....

Think I'll go eat a banana....then review my 'condo fee report' Thanks!

Don't tell me that the hunters there are eating deer that have CWD!! OMG, that's like eating a cow with Mad Cow! Holy schkamoly, you don't want to eat that! And I love venison!!!

I wonder if there's somewhere I can get banana peels? I don't eat that much banana (can't digest that much potassium, genetic problems there), don't drink coffee, eggshells (when I rarely have them) go to my canaries..

man am I screwed! huh.