February Pruning Checklist

Are You Ready for Pruning Season? 

February is the time to prune rose bushes.  Pruning a rose bush prepares it for the next growing season by focusing the plant's energy into the strongest canes.  By cutting out the diseased, dead, or weak canes, you are giving the rose bush a healthy foundation for new growth.  Make sure you have the proper tools before starting and print off our pruning checklist at the end of this article to help guide you through the process.  Happy pruning!

What Do I Need to Prune?

1.  Make sure your pruners are up to the task Before you even step outside, make sure your pruners are free of rust and burrs.  Sharpen them with a tool sharpener and clean off the rust with a multi-purpose lubrication oil.  If your pruners have been neglected for a few seasons, you may need to replace the blade or get them professionally cleaned and sharpened at Witherspoon.  By keeping your pruners sharpened you will put less strain on you body and reduce the risk of accidents.  Most pruning accidents happen when the gardener is fighting the tool.  Make your pruners work for you and stay safe by keeping them properly sharpened!

2.  Protect your hands and arms by wearing gauntlet gloves Rose gardeners know that you will occasionally have to pull a thorn or two or a millon out of your hands and arms legs body etc.  However, there are gloves out there that will make pruning season easier on your hands and arms.  Gauntlet gloves not only protect your hands, but they also cover your forearms.  Trust me, when you are reaching into the center of your Falling in Love rose bush to prune out the center, you will want gauntlet gloves!

3.  Have a place for your clippings to go Imagine this scenario.  You have just pruned your entire rose garden only to turn around and see piles of thorny clippings waiting to be picked up and hauled away.  If only you had thought to contain the clippings as you go!  Having a heavy duty waste bag will save you from the heartache of cleaning up an entire gardens worth of clippings from off the ground.

4.  Heal and protect your hands and cuticles It is easy to forget how much we use our hands until we are painfully reminded with cracked skin and sore cuticles.  Make your life easier by taking care of your hands!  Use a healing salve or lotion to keep your skin moisterized and healthy during the cold, dry winter months.

5.  Witherspoon's Pruning Checklist  Now that you have everything you need to prune your roses, make sure you know how to prune like a pro!  We have compiled a checklist of everything you need to know about pruning your roses.  Print out this handy checklist and take it with you as a guide!

Click Here to Print Witherspoon's Free Pruning Checklist! 

Do you want some hands on experience pruning roses BEFORE you prune your own garden?

Come to one of Witherspoon's FREE Pruning Classes!

 February 15th - 20th - 22nd

@10am

Classes Held at BOTH Locations - Click Here for Directions 

Virtual Tour of Gardens: Strowd Garden

Witherspoon Rose Culture Presents:

Virtual Tour of the Gene Strowd Community Garden

We live in a society that champions speed and efficiency.  Smartphones make it easy to communicate without verbal communication and almost eliminate the need for face to face contact.  These advances in technology, frequency of relocation, and busier schedules have all contributed to an overall sense of isolation in our society.  We truly have to work to be a part of a community, but it is a refreshing experience to be a part of something larger than ourselves.  Gene Strowd was a man who championed community, and over four hundred and fifty roses stand as a testament to that fact in the Gene Strowd Community Garden in Chapel Hill, NC. 

Gene Strowd Community Garden

Gene Strowd was a rosarian on the national level, but his heart was obviously dedicated to his home community of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.  Mr. Strowd used roses as a way of engaging with people and bringing beauty into the lives of those he came in contact with daily.  In 1987, he proposed the idea of a community rose garden where everyone was welcome to come and experience the beauty that only roses can provide.  Gene Strowd, along with the Chapel Hill Rose Society and the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department, designed the layout of the garden and construction began in 1988.

Climbing Iceberg

As you walk into the garden, you get a sense of what Gene Strowd hoped to accomplish by planting a rose garden in the middle of Chapel Hill.  There are benches around the garden where you can sit and have a face to face conversation with friends.  You will hear joyful giggles from the playground that is located directly adjacent to the garden, and if you take time to sit in the gazebo at the back of garden you will see how many people from the community take time to stop and smell the roses.  The copper fountain in the center of the garden provides a soundtrack to the rose garden with soothing sounds of trickling water, and the brick pathways lead you through the fragrant beds of roses that encourage you to take time out of your busy day to enjoy pure beauty.

Raised Brick Bed

Both Gene and his beautiful bride, Irene, have passed on from this world, but through Strowd Roses, Inc their commitment to the community of Chapel Hill and Carrboro continues on to this day.  Not only does Strowd Roses, Inc fund the maintenance of the Gene Strowd Garden, they also provide funding for community organizations that improve the quality of life for the community of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

Living in a society where speed and efficiency are often championed over personal connection, it is refreshing to step into a world of beauty where we can slow down and enjoy the people around us.  Gene Strowd and his wife Irene dedicated their lives and their money to promote a community where helping one another and enjoying togetherness was advocated for above all else.

Carefree Spirit  

Climbing America

Copper Fountain

Seating area in the gazebo

Secret

Double Delight

Signature

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW FOR A 360 VIEW OF THE Gene STrowd Community Rose GARDEN!

Join us next time for our third stop on the Witherspoon Virtual Tour of Gardens!

Would you like for your garden to be featured in our virtual tour of gardens?  

Email Kelley Triplett at ktriplett@witherspoonrose.com

Witherspoon ships premier roses to all 48 contiguous states February- April.  

Visit www.witherspoonrose.com for product details

Witherspoon also provides professional rose care services.  We offer preventative and corrective spraying for pests and diseases, fertilizing, pruning, mulching, and planting.

Give us a call at 1-800-643-0315 to request a FREE onsite estimate.

Witherspoon Rose Culture's Service Map

Fall Blooms are Starting to Open!

It's not quite Fall yet in North Carolina, but the weather is cooling down!  Not only do we love the cooler temps, but so do our roses.  Check out some of the blooms that are opening now!

Mellow Yellow

Mellow Yellow

Rio Samba

Rio Samba

R.K. Witherspoon

R.K. Witherspoon

Sexy Rexy 

Summer Love

If your bushes are not producing enough blooms or if they just need a little extra umph, take advantage of our online sale on Super Bloom! Now through August 31, 2013.

www.witherspoonrose.com

Witherspoon's Virtual Tour of Gardens: Welcome to the Bolton's Garden

Witherspoon's Virtual Tour of Gardens

Welcome to the Bolton's Garden

Peaceful sounds of trickling water drifted across the garden as I sat down with Steve and Karen Bolton to talk about their roses.  We sat on the top level of their two tiered deck that overlooks their secluded garden and had a conversation about how they began their journey into growing roses.  

A beautiful water feature adds peaceful ambiance to their garden.

Their journey began ten years ago in Oxford, North Carolina.  Steve pastored a church where they met a lovely woman, named Nellie Grey McFarland, who was an avid rose gardener and became a very dear friend.  As Ms. McFarland grew older, she approached Karen and said “I want to give you something to remember me by.” She wanted to give Karen a rose garden.  Thus, Karen’s rose journey began with Ms. McFarland’s small gift of three roses.  

As the centerpiece of their garden, they had a beautiful Abraham Darby rose climbing up a small trellis.

Ten years later, Karen still takes the first blooms from her rose garden to Nellie Grey who is now 104 years young.  I wonder if she knew ten years ago that her small gift would inspire such joy in the Bolton’s life.  When Steve and Karen decided to move from Oxford to Durham, North Carolina, the three roses that Nellie Grey gave them made the journey to their new home where they are still flourishing.

Look at that stunning Abraham Darby!  You can tell I fell in love with this rose!

  This gift of roses has inspired Karen to enjoy her garden by sharing her blooms with others.  One of her favorite things about growing roses is the opportunity to share the cut flowers with others.  She will cut her roses to take to her neighbors, as hostess gifts, and to her friends and family that are under the weather.  I’m sure Veteran’s Honor, being her favorite rose, makes it into most bouquets!

View of the garden from the deck.

I have learned in my lifetime that advice from others is one of life’s most valuable treasures.  As we concluded our conversation, I asked what advice they would give to people who are just beginning their rose gardens.  Right off, Karen said research!  Start small and learn all you can about roses and how to care for them.  Before she began growing roses, Karen never really thought of herself as a gardener.  Now, in tending to her roses and learning all she can about them, she experiences great satisfaction. 

Karen and Steve Bolton

As I stood up from their patio table to leave, I looked out over the garden one last time.  Steve said earlier in our conversation that he felt that the roses completed the garden, and I could see clearly what he meant.  Their secret garden has the perfect punctuation mark, roses.

Karen and Steve Bolton

Peaceful serenity is the theme of this garden.

Karen's favorite rose, Veteran's Honor.

The Heritage rose was gorgeous!

Roses, the perfect punctuation mark to this beautiful garden.

Check out the video below for a 360 view of the Bolton's garden!

Join us next time for our second stop on the Witherspoon Virtual Tour of Gardens!

Would you like for your garden to be featured in our virtual tour of gardens?  

Email Kelley Triplett at ktriplett@witherspoonrose.com

Witherspoon ships premier roses to all 48 contiguous states February- April.  

Visit witherspoonrose.com for product details

Witherspoon also provides professional rose care services.  We offer preventative and corrective spraying for pests and diseases, fertilizing, pruning, mulching, and planting.

Give us a call at 1-800-643-0315 to request a FREE onsite estimate.

Witherspoon's Service Areas

Rose Garden Travelogue

Rose Garden Travelogue

When we think of traditional rose gardens we think of these elaborate layouts and designs of the most famous rose gardens around the world.  Rose gardens are often built that way to showcase the exquisite flowers and to offer visitors a true sensory experience by way of sight and smell.  Grassy paths take you around curving rows of roses bordered by clipped boxwood hedges; climbing roses cover expansive arched walkways; tree roses stand like soldiers at a sentry post neat and orderly. 

Summer, of course, is the best time to visit the acres dedicated to our nation’s most beloved flower; and if you have the means, international rose gardens offer an even greater splendor of travel.  If you can only venture a short distance from your home base, you’ll likely find that there is a rose garden within reach of your destination. 

Gene Strowd Community Rose Garden

I have met many rose enthusiasts over the years while working for Witherspoon.  Some have traveled far and wide to visit rose gardens.  It’s a passion I don’t think I’ll quite grasp as roses are not necessarily my favorite, but I have come to have an enthusiastic respect for this treasured flower.  From a horticultural standpoint it’s really quite an amazing shrub which continuously blooms its heart out from the beginning of the growing season to the end.  Most other ornamental shrubs will offer a period of bloom either early, mid or late in the growing season.  How the rose manages to keep up with itself is a great mystery.  There are a handful of roses that have their specific special time to put on their show, but overall most modern roses will reliably give the display over and over again. 

Close to home in the Piedmont of North Carolina you’ll discover an impressive variety of public rose gardens.  We’ll start with our very own rose garden on the grounds at Witherspoon in Durham where you’ll find a restful sitting area in the gazebo overlooking the entire rose garden.  The rose garden has approximately 2000 bushes of varying type from the miniature to the tree rose to the climbing rose.  Bring a picnic lunch and enjoy the smells and sights of a rainbow of color in our rose garden. 

Gene Strowd Community Garden

Down the road, in either direction north or south, and you’ll find the Strowd Rose Garden in Chapel Hill or the Sarah P. Duke Gardens on Duke University’s campus in Durham.  Strowd’s garden is all roses; Gene Strowd was an impassioned rose gardener and a beloved community resident.  Within the Sarah P.Duke Gardens you’ll find not only roses, but a grand botanical garden filled with many ornamental plants delighting every season of the year.

The Raleigh area is not without its own places to visit to see roses.  The first that comes to mind is the quietly hidden rose garden at the Raleigh Little Theatre.  Nestled in a small valley surrounded by towering trees, this is one of Raleigh’s best kept secrets.  Also, in Raleigh, is the JC RaulstonArboretum where you can see another superb botanical garden of ornamental plants, including roses, of course. 

Gene Strowd Community Garden

As you travel further outside the Triangle area you can visit the Rose Garden in Wilson, Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, and the McGillRose Garden in Charlotte.  For rose enthusiasts in North Carolina this is quite a list of places to visit. 

I’ve heard, though not experienced, that the International Rose Test Garden in Portland is an exceptional sight.  This garden serves not only public enjoyment, but also serves as (hence its name) an international test site for new roses for commerce.  The Portland area as a whole is abundant with places to visit to see all kinds of ornamental plants. 

J.C. Raulston Arboretum

The home of the American Rose Society in Louisiana is where you’ll see The Gardens of the American Rose Center.  The 118 acre garden area highlights over 65 distinct rose gardens and 20,000 rose bushes. 

Thinking about these elaborate places might prompt you for a mini vacation with only the rose in mind.  For the most ardent rose enthusiasts this is no big deal because they’re so enchanted by the rose.  For those not so passionate, but still admirers, you may have yourself a journey of a lifetime discovering new places to enjoy roses and rose gardens.  

J.C. Raulston Arboretum

Sincerely,
 Sandie