People have grown roses for many centuries and for many reasons. Today we grow roses mainly for the beauty they bring to our yards and homes. But in centuries past, the rose was revered for its value as food and medicine, as well as its beauty.
It is questionable whether the quaint prescriptions found in early manuscripts and printed herbals for concoctions such as “melroset” and “syrop of roses” would actually “strengthen the heart and taketh away the shaking and trembling thereof.” But it has been proven that rose hips are a superb source of vitamin C, having a much higher content than citrus fruit.
During World War II when imports of citrus products were limited, rose hips became especially popular in Great Britain. Volunteers spent many hours gathering hips from hedge rows for making rose hip syrup for the Ministry of Health to distribute.
Besides being healthful, rose hips offer the adventurous cook a strange and different ingredient.
However, U must never use the hips of any rose bush treated with pesticide that is not clearly ;abeled as safe for food crops.
This somewhat spherical fruit of the rose, usually red in color, is seldom allowed to develop on our modern roses. However, the old-fashioned shrub types, such as the rugosas, bear them abundantly.
Rose hips have a tangy, yet sweet, flavor and can be used fresh, dried, or preserved. The simplest use is to steep them for tea. Rose hip syrup, puree, jam, jelly, and sauce can be used as is or as a flavoring in other recipes. The hips are usually left on the bush until after the first frost, which makes them turn bright red and slightly soft.
To prepare, trim off the blossom and stem ends with scissors, cut in half lengthwise, remove the tiny hairs and seeds in the center, and rinse. Never use aluminum utensils or pans as they tend to destroy the vitamin C.
To dry hips, simply spread the prepared halves in a single layer on screening or trays and place in a dehydrator, an oven set on the lowest setting, or in a dark, dry, well-ventilated place. Store in glass jars in a dark, cool place.
The rose, one of the most elegant of all flowers, is often called the “queen of the flowers.” It is a title richly deserved, both for its long reign as a cultivated plant and for its beauty, versatility in the landscape, and ability to survive…with just a little pampering.
Roses also owe their continued popularity in part to royalty. The French Empress Josephine made roses fashionable for everyone in the 19th century by planting a beautiful palace rose garden of all the varieties available at the time.
Roses do best in full sun and well-drained, slightly acidic (6 to 6.5 pH) soil. The key is to keep them well watered and in well-drained soil as they don’t like waterlogged soils. This is essential for healthy growth. However, once planted, they will survive, and continue to thrive, in the same bed, providing you add fertilizer on a regular basis. The latter is especially critical to the health of the plants.
Adding organic matter to the soil is always beneficial, but in the case of roses it may not be enough. Unless the soil is very fertile, you will need to add rose fertilizer (check your local garden center for this product) per directions on the label. You also may combine organic products such as seaweed or fish emulsion with a controlled release fertilizer (usually non-organic). Hybrid tea roses usually require higher soil fertility than shrub types.
Although early spring is generally the best time to plant roses in cold climates, roses may be successfully planted in late summer or early autumn as long as they are protected over winter. Do not plant roses after the first few weeks of fall as there won’t be enough time for most to get rooted.
Spring, not fall, is the time to plant bare-root roses, just as or before buds are beginning to break. Spring is, in fact, the only time you usually can get them either through mail order from specialty rose catalogs or on-line ordering on the Internet.
For best results, choose hardy varieties. “Modern” hybrids (those developed after 1867) generally aren’t hardy except in warm microclimates , but ask your local garden center experts what they would recommend for your location.
In research trials at the University of Vermont Research Center in S. Burlington (U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zone 4b), conducted over a three-year period (1998-2000), Leonard Perry took a look at several types of shrub roses. This class of roses is generally more hardy than most hybrid teas, floribundas, grandifloras, miniature, and climbing roses, and thus, more practical for Vermont.
The period of his study included both wet weather and a drought (summer 1999).
To plant roses, dig as large a hole as possible, but at least two times as wide and across as the roots. Amend the backfill with up to half compost, peat moss, or similar organic matter. Add a tablespoon or two of phosphorus depending on the size of the hole at planting. Set the plant in the hole and spread out the roots evenly. Make sure the bud graft (the lower, swollen area on most roses) is covered with at least two inches of soil.
If planting bare root, mound the soil over most of the canes to help prevent buds and canes from drying out and suckers from forming below the bud graft. Staking is generally not needed, but climbing types will need to be trained to travel up a wall or trellis.
To encourage vigor, roses need to be pruned, but wait until spring as pruning in fall may cause dieback or allow diseases to enter wounds with slow, or no, healing of the wounds. Diseased or dead wood should be removed, however. Adding fresh horse manure at this time is a good way to add nutrients to the soil, but the main purpose in fall is to mound over canes to protect overwinter. Mice won’t live in this!
Fall-planted roses will need winter protection their first year, as do less hardy varieties every year. Use rose cones, mounding one foot or more of mulch, such as straw, around the base if rodents aren’t a problem. Otherwise, use soil. Apply late in the season, usually around hanksgiving. Climbing roses, if not hardy, will need to be removed from the supports and laid on the ground and covered as recommended above. Mulches should be removed in the spring as soon as the snow has melted.
By June the big push is over. You probably have most of your garden planted, except perhaps for tender transplants and sequential plantings of crops like lettuce, and now it’s time to start maintaining what you’ve put in.
This means staying on top of the weeding and watering. A good rule of thumb for watering both vegetable and flower gardens is to provide one inch of water a week, if the rain doesn’t do it. It’s better to soak the soil around plants heavily every few days rather than watering lightly to encourage deep rooting.
Try not to water in the evenings or late in the afternoon as this promotes foliar diseases because leaves stay wet all night. As plants grow older and get larger, they will require more water, especially as the weather gets hotter. If you garden on sandy soils, you may need to water nearly every day if there is a long period of time with no rain
If you planted thickly, thin rows of carrots, beets, and other vegetables and flowers when plants are still small to avoid damage to the roots. Allowing adequate space between plants provides better air circulation and helps prevent disease infestations.
You also need to be vigilant about checking for insect pests. Cutworms, for example, are a threat to newly transplanted seedlings of melon, tomato, cole crops, and cucumber.
Placing a cardboard collar around the base of the plant (one inch in the soil and two inches above) will discourage these pests. Other pests to watch for include cabbage worms, cabbage root maggots, and flea beetles.
If you have had problems with these pests in past years, consider placing floating row covers over your young crops before these pests appear.
In mid-June, when the soil has warmed up, apply a thick layer of straw, leaves, or black plastic mulch to control weeds and retain moisture. Weed the area well before laying down mulch.
You can lay newspapers (at least 10-sheet thickness) under mulch or between rows to help with weed control. The paper will lay down easier if wetted first. Avoid colored or glossy paper. Regular newsprint contains soy-based inks, which should cause no problems in gardens.
If you don’t have a compost pile, this is a good time to start one for next year’s garden. Locate your pile in a convenient spot near your garden. The proximity to the planting area makes it easy to add compost to the soil in a year or two, when the pile has completely decomposed.
You can add any organic materials to the pile–leaves, straw, hay, or vegetable matter–but avoid diseased vegetable plants, grass clippings that were treated with herbicides, bones, and greasy kitchen scraps.
You may want to enclose the pile with wire fencing to stop materials from blowing away and to keep the pile looking neat.
It is the adaptability of the orchids, which is the cause of their spread throughout the world. Orchids use resources such as insects and birds of the region, to ensure pollination and reproduction.
Each type of orchid is dependent on a particular pollinating agent. The orchids use variety of tricks to insure pollination. Some of them attract pollinating agents with the help of fragrance or scent of food.
While the others manage to fool the male insects, by imitating the ‘female insect look’ or appearance. Because of this, future of the orchids growing in the wild, depends heavily on conservation of the entire ecosystem.
Extinction of a species of insect or bird, may mean extinction of the orchid depending on it. The following are some interesting facts about orchids:
- The orchids have a unique identification signature, in the form of a structure, which harbors its male and female reproductive organs. This structure is referred to as ‘column’.
- Orchid flowers are famous for their colors and one can find every imaginable color and shade in orchids.
- Some of the orchids have sweet fragrance, while few others, smell like stinking or rotting meat.
- Orchid flowers come in varying sizes. The flowers of Platystele stenostachya are small enough to fit on the head of a nail. On the other hand, those of Cattleya gigas orchid are eight to eleven inches across.
- The giant in the orchid family is Renanthera storei. It can grow to a height of 20 feet.
- An orchid can live as long as 100 years, whilst the orchid flowers can last for few weeks. However, the blossoms wilt quickly, after fertilization.
- There are very few species of the orchid family that can be used as food or to obtain medicine from it. In China, some of the orchid types are used as aphrodisiacs.
- In tropics, different types of orchids are found in the cloud forests in mountainous regions, while they are less in numbers, at lower elevations, in the rain forests.
- Orchids from the temperate areas, like Indiana, grow on the ground. On the other hand, orchids in the tropics, grow on trees or rocks.
- The orchids are not parasites; but use decaying organic matter collected on the bark of trees or in fissures of rocks for their nourishment.
- In the past, the roots of the orchids found in Europe, were used as aphrodisiacs.
- The main commercial source of natural vanilla, is an orchid named as Vanilla planifolia.
- Orchid blooms are used in Asian recipes as ingredients, and in Hawaii, they are used to dress the food and drinks.
- The male bowerbirds of New Guinea are known to present orchid flowers to female bowerbirds, in an attempt to win their heart.
Orchids are loved for their colors, sizes, shapes and are maintained as potted houseplants in flower gardens or greenhouses.
In spite of the many varieties of orchids, these delicate, exotic plants, the world over, are being threatened with extinction. Though, 42 different orchid types are found in Indiana, many of them are endangered for one or the other reason.
There are at least 20,000 to 30,000 species of orchids that are found in the wild. Added to these are, approximately, 10,000 orchid types. that are created by man, since 1856.
All of these orchids come under the family Orchidaceae, which is considered as the largest family of flowering plants. After the grasses, the Orchidaceae, is the second-most widely distributed plant family on the Earth.
The orchids have infiltrated every ecosystem and habitat, except the aquatic, on the Earth. Even the Arctic Circle, which is infamous for its sub-zero temperatures and adverse living conditions for man and the animals, have three types of orchids.
Orchids are found on every continent, except the Antarctica. Two of them, in Australia, have found shelter under the ground and their flowers can be seen above the ground for brief spell of time.
From a botanist’s point of view, there are only two orchid types: Terrestrial orchids and Epiphytes. The distinction between these orchid types is as follows. The orchids varieties or the species that grow on the ground come under the terrestrial orchid types.
On the other hand, orchid species that grow on trees or rocks, come under epiphytic orchid types. Let’s take a look at some of these types of orchids.
- Anota violacea
This orchid’s name signifies the absence of “ears” on the floral column. This orchid, a terrestrial orchid, is sometimes also referred to as Rhynchostylis violacea orchid.
These orchids are native of the Philippines. The flowers of this orchid are small in size and bloom in winter and spring, donning lavender and white colors. This orchid proliferates in warm temperatures, shady light and moisture.
- Anguloa uniflora
This orchid is named after Don Francisco de Angulo. It is also known as ‘boat orchid’ or ‘tulip orchid’. This terrestrial orchid is 18 to 24 inches tall and is native of the Colombian Andes.
The large fragrant flowers are creamy-white in color. One of petal, ‘lip’, of the flower is hinged. When insects enter the flower to remove nectar, the lip pushes it against the column to facilitate the pollination. These orchids bloom in spring and summer and love shade and medium to cold temperatures. Watering should be decreased after it has matured, to facilitate flowering.
- Ascocentrum curvifolium
The name of this orchid is a reference to its spurred lip. This orchid, an epiphytic orchid, is a six-inch tall, monopodial plant, that is native of Thailand.
The flowers of this orchid are half-inch in size and orange-red in color. This orchid’s bloom time, which favors medium to warm temperatures, shady light, and even moisture, is late spring and summer.
- Cattleya
This is the most popular orchid, having more than sixty species. The orchid is named after William Cattley, an orchid collector. This orchid type is native to the American tropics and is found from Mexico to Brazil. These epiphytic orchids which bloom in many small, narrow flowers are brightly colored and have narrow pseudobulbs and leathery leaves.
These orchids love medium to warm temperatures and bright but not harsh light. This orchid type also prefer air circulation, high humidity and effective drainage of water. When it comes to orchid gardening, the Cattleya orchids are preferred.
