A journey to a no-spray rose garden by Sumera + tips for pests/diseases mgmt in Houston

I was most excited about this blog as I was thinking about interviewing someone who had experience and knowledge about pest and disease management for a long time. Sumera was the person that came to mind, but I was not sure how she would feel about it.

As we know, growing roses in our Houston, Texas climate almost seemed impossible as our climate is very humid and hot which makes a perfect environment for pests and diseases. Growing roses in Houston, Texas is challenging BUT totally possible.

Dream came true when Sumera kindly offered to share her knowledge and personal story with us. Her journey is very interesting as Sumera started out as a rose gardener who spent a great deal on educating herself on rose care, disease/pest prevention and management for our hot and humid Houston, adopted a spraying routine, then decided to go a completely opposite direction.....a no-spray garden!

**I want to make it clear that the intent for this post is NOT to judge or shame anyone for spraying or not spraying. Your garden is yours and I believe that everyone has a choice to do what's right for them. My goals are to share with you what's available, ask our rose friends who're willing to share their experience/results and create a safe space for us to respectfully exchange ideas/ways in doing things. It's up to you to decide what's best for you and your garden. Also, both Sumera and I are not professional rose growers nor rose experts. We are rose lovers and backyard gardeners sharing what works/doesn't work in our journey. Do your research prior to using any products and read label carefully.

Tat: How did you start your rose gardening?

Sumera: I started rose gardening in 2009, back in my parent’s garden. I used to search for seeds and plants online because I was a graduate student/worked full-time and hardly had time to go to nurseries.

Anyhow, I stumbled upon the David Austin roses website when I was searching up rose plants. It was love at first sight; I ordered 12-14 bare root roses and planted them in the backyard. I remember some of the names: Molineux, Winchester Cathedral, Mary rose, Queen of Sweden, L. D. Braithwaite etc. My dad sold that property when all of us married and moved.

When I bought my current property in 2018, I rekindled my love for roses and gardening because I now had a huge backyard space.

Tat: How many roses do you currently have? Where are you located (what the growing condition is like? Hot and humid? Clay soil and etc)?

Sumera: I have close to 90 roses currently, (I dare not do an exact count :D) with a few still waiting in pots.

I am located in the South of Houston area; our growing conditions are hot, humid, occasional frost in the winter as well as droughts during summer. Our soil is clay, with poor drainage.

I have never succeeded in growing roses in our native soil without any amendments. I always create raised beds with good quality compost to ensure the plants will have good drainage. It also eliminates the chance of flooding due to tropical storms or hurricanes.

Tat: Can you share about your spray routine back in the day (what products worked well for you, how did you use - this will help people who want to know how to manage diseases and pests with products)?

Sumera: I was using Bayer 3-in-1 based on David Austin’s recommendation for black spot and thrips when I first started growing roses. It worked some but wasn’t a perfect solution. Probably because the pests become resistant to Bayer. Keep in mind, I also did not use good quality fertilizers either. I used Vigoro rose food in addition to the chemical fertilizer already included in the Bayer product.

I had more time at this point in my life, I became committed to a spray routine once I planted at my current property in 2018. I joined the Houston Rose Society that summer and started emailing/calling local rosarians whenever I saw issues in my garden.

A rosarian guided me and I established a routine with different chemicals. I bought a 2 gallon sprayer can because I had a lot of roses. You can mix the listed products according to the label, and make sure to add a surfactant to help the spray stick to plant foliage.

I have listed below all the products that I used throughout the season. I also started using organic fertilizer and added a lot of good things to the soil. I purchased from Southwest Fertilizer, and Rosemania website.

Bonide All Seasons Horticultural oil (applied in the dormant season after pruning, never spray dormant oil when plants have foliage).

Daconil Fungicide - first fungicide in early spring when weather is still cold. (Do not use it when the temperature is above 80 degrees).

Once plants have foliage, spray bi-weekly:

Bonide Mancozeb fungicide (if black spot is already present, spray mancozeb by itself every week)

Propiconazole 14.3% (also known as Honor Guard or Banner Maxx) this can be sprayed alone if no black spot is present

Once flower buds have slight color:

Conserve (Spinosad concentrate for thrips control) this will kill thrips early on before it becomes an infestation.

If caterpillars are destroying foliage:

Bonide Thuricide

These products are sprayed in the evening or very early morning to avoid burning foliage. Cycling fungicides and pesticides is key to preventing resistance. You can cycle the spinosad with imidacloprid in your spray routine.

Many different chemical fungicides are available in the market, switch them frequently also. The flower buds only (not the whole plant) have to be sprayed with a product called acephate to ensure no discoloration/damage occurs due to thrips.

Unfortunately, we have a high insect pressure in our temperate climate and these sprays are the only way to achieve perfect blooms. I have seen numerous pictures posted of foliage burned due to spraying. In order to avoid this, roses should be deep watered before and after spray.

Tat: What year did you embark on a no-spray garden?

Sumera: Fall 2019 is when I stopped spraying.

Tat: You’re one of the gardeners who used to spray religiously, what was the turning point/circumstance that made you want to stop spraying?

I have to say that honestly I never really was happy with using these chemicals in my garden. I’m a biologist and understand that any chemical designed to kill insects or fungus is also detrimental to our health because we have the same type of cells in our body.

I was trying to achieve perfection in terms of foliage and blooms, I HAD to spray to achieve that. I also thought that roses would not survive if I didn’t use those chemicals since that’s what I was told by David Austin when I first started.

I was extremely burned out from all the constant spraying and removing black spot leaves. I always felt like it was one thing or another.

For example, I would get on top of black spot and thrips, but then I would see spider mites on literally every single rose. Which obviously was a result of the insecticides I sprayed.

The organic fertilizers were not providing much benefit because of all the chemicals I sprayed with. I decided to not spray and see what happens.

Tat: Share with us the state of your roses during the first few months after you stopped using fungicide/insecticide or any other preventative methods.

Sumera: To my surprise, nothing extreme happened. My roses lost their foliage, and some roses looked ugly due to thrips. Some plants had some black spot but others were actually okay.

After the winter, I pruned and just used the dormant oil. No fungicides or insecticides were used all growing season. I grew vegetables alongside my roses in the spring of 2020, since we were all at home during the lockdown.

No roses died, in fact a lot of my roses stopped getting black spot entirely because I used organic fertilizer plus compost and kelp meal. I no longer had a strict schedule I needed to follow. I felt like I was okay with some ugly foliage and flowers as long as I did not have to spray those chemicals.

Tat: How do you deal with pests and diseases in your no-spray garden?

Sumera: Spring pruning/clean-up is extremely important for lowering the pests/diseases all season. If you skip this work, you will be battling a lot of issues in the heat of the summer.

Insects from the previous season will have laid their eggs on the foliage and you will see a very large population from early spring. I prune hard and remove all foliage, I also clean all weeds in the flowerbeds and try to mulch as soon as I can. You can prune lightly for baby plants but definitely remove all foliage.

I remove all blooms and top foliage whenever I see thrips damage. I am not bothered by losing blooms because I like to control the population of thrips. I follow by feeding my plants. This is always helpful because my next round of blooms are beautiful.

I use a lot of things for the health of the soil, alfalfa meal, kelp meal, organic slow release fertilizer as well as occasional banana peels/coffee grounds. Healthy soil means healthier plants that build immunity to fungus over time.

I release beneficial insects like green lacewings and minute pirate bugs during the season. I try to mix in flowers to attract pollinators alongside the roses. I also have a water fountain in my garden which provides water for birds and insects.

Finally, the most overlooked aspect of gardening in our area is how essential water is. I hand watered for 3 years, my roses always lost their foliage in the summer months. Ever since I had automatic irrigation installed, I have seen a huge difference! My roses had green healthy leaves all summer last year, no roses died and even though I didn’t fertilize in the summer I still had flowers.

Tat: What differences do you notice with spraying vs not spraying?

Sumera: Some roses are not very healthy, and will not perform well, for example, peace rose, blue girl. I suggest doing your research in terms of which roses perform the best in our area.

Most newly planted roses will experience some black spot, but they will become stronger over time and you will see less fungal issues as they mature. Light colored roses will definitely have brown edges due to thrips, some may not even flower. While some will still look beautiful despite insect damage.

This is normal for our area and I hope we can set our expectations accordingly. Own root roses tend to be more healthier in my garden compared to grafted.

Tat: What are some of the roses that perform really well in your no-spray garden?

Sumera: I love Munstead Wood, because it is not bothered by insects at all. It is as close to a knockout rose as you can get in terms of low maintenance. Thrips do not disfigure it, and I have not seen black spot on it since the first two years. Abraham Darby is my favorite for the size of the blooms, and does really well in my garden.

Crown Princess Margareta is extremely vigorous here, will cover a fence fast & provide beautiful cupped blooms. Princess Charlene De Monaco, Poseidon, Anastasia are some of the best performing roses in my garden. I still have a long list that I love and cherish, and I can share it with pictures later. My garden is beautiful as a no spray garden :)

Thank you so much Sumera for taking your time to share your journey, experience and knowledge with us. I hope you find this post helpful when it comes to pest/disease management, what products to consider as well as tips for the no-spray methods if you are thinking about going that route.

Please thank our rose friend Sumera by sending a message via FB or following her on Instagram at @sumera.suleman

If you have any questions for me or want me to blog on specific topics, let me know in the comment section.

Enjoy your rose gardening,

Tat

Growing through struggles: My life lessons through roses

Sharing my personal life experience of the most recent challenge that took place a few months ago. I don't feel this experience is shameful because we all experience tough times in life at some points. The most important thing we can do is to learn how to move on from such challenges. Back at the end of August, my husband lost his job of 18 years. This is, of course, not something we had expected. And that's life. Things hit you when you least expect it. I left my HR corporate career of 16 years back in Nov of 2021 to pursue my web design and photography business. It was a dream of mine to have my own business after 40 years old. Although a bit delayed, I made it happen and I was extremely grateful.

Spirit of Freedom rose by David Austin

This means my husband was a primary person who provided us with consistent income and health insurance while I pursued my entrepreneurial journey full-time.

When life throws a curveball unexpectedly, it sends all kinds of emotions from shock, fears, frustrations, and uncertainties. A few weeks prior to this news, my gut feelings told me to start meditation to keep my mind balanced and I was glad I followed my instinct even though I had no clue why I felt strongly that way. This has helped me prepare to face many more challenges during this transition.

Through the course of the years since growing roses, I've witnessed how resilient roses can be even under extreme conditions. I often share a story of my 1st rose that has been in my garden for about 8-9 years now. It's one of the 3 roses I decided to keep in my 1st round of trying to grow roses while I got rid of the other 2. It's a bright yellow rose called Sparkle and Joy from Maas Nursery in Seabrook. This rose has taught and inspired me so many life lessons when I went through tough times...be it marriage, career, self-doubts, motherhood, illness, and now lack of financial security and living in uncertainties.

Roses are struggling this year from weather and pests

During the very first 7 years, Sparkle and Shine rose thrived on its own without my care. As I mentioned, I started my rose growing journey without knowledge or understanding about roses and also didn't have a desire to learn to care about them. I got frustrated and quitted because I felt roses were too high maintenance and difficult. This rose never received care from me at all. Not enough water, no fertilizer, no preventative measures. For several years, it struggled badly with blackspots and I was waiting to see if it would ever die. It went through a hurricane twice, snow about 3 times, years of drought, crazy amounts of raining year and you name it. Yet, every spring it came back and bloomed graciously I couldn't believe my eyes! (you can read more about my rose journey here).

Sparkle and Shine rose as of October 2022 with basil in the front

Then in 2020 when I had an urge to start a serious rose garden, I started caring for Sparkle and Shine rose along with my new roses. It got its 1st pruning and fertilizing for the 1st time. Since then it has been receiving a lot of appreciation and love consistently. It bloomed beautifully back then and blooms beautifully and happily now.

You see, our lives are like roses in many ways. They withstand wind, heat, diseases, pests and all just like us who go through bumps. At one point we face one challenge, then life is good again, we face another bump then we rise from challenge over and over. The more understanding, flexible and adaptable we are, the easier we will be able to accept, flow, and adjust to changes faster while being kind to ourselves and those around us.

The weather this year has been challenging. I have learned that trying to control external factors will only increase stress and frustrations. However, what we can do is to control how we choose to respond and look at things.

Since the pandemic, many people got into gardening as a way to de-stress or find an outlet to relieve fear of uncertainties. Me included. I can't deny the fact that I still struggled with my thinking even after years of working on it. We hit a setback from time to time and it's okay as long as we don't dwell.

I found that when I put too many expectations on my roses hoping they would make me happy, that ended up killing my rose gardening joy. What I've realized is I don't have to blame mother nature or anyone. No need to compare my roses to others. Some people look at a bad gardening year as a lost investment but the truth is it isn't a loss. You gained some knowledge along away. Perhaps not just about roses but our own patience, thinking and belief.

I found that frustrations with our gardening goes beyone what actually happens inside the garden itself. A lot has to do with other things that go on in our lives at the time or before that. We take our anger, disappointments, and frustrations from our daily life and find a way to release. And many of us turn to gardening as a way or hope to get rid of those feelings.

When they started developing blackspots and pests showing up, they didn't look the way I had hoped so I felt discouraged again UNTIL it hit me that I wanted to enjoy this hobby. I will feel joyful no matter what. I shouldn’t let blackspots or pests bring me down. I will try and embrace it all instead.

That's the light bulb moment.

I have been working on my thinking and mindset for the past 8 years as I used to be a person who only saw things in black and white. I was someone who was never happy. I felt the need to control, do it all, and do it perfectly. I was a control freak. I didn't have room for flexibility. I always complained, blamed and felt miserable. My life was full of anger, high expectations, frustrations, resentment, hate, and exhaustion. I always exploded so fast (couldn't even count 1-5 to hold my anger!) and blamed how this person or that person or that situation made me angry. It made me even more angry when my husband said I had a full control to react and I didn't have to be angry. I just let those feelings took control of my life and chose not to change one bit.

Looking back now, a higher power had been trying to send me several signs that things needed to change - but I chose not to listen. I went on living my miserable life until one year things in life fell apart in all directions...from my dissatisfaction in my career followed by major health issues.

The year 2014 was the year when I started to realize that I had a poor mindset and thinking pattern. My negative thoughts caused all issues in my physical, mental, and emotional health. You know how they say - people don't have a self-realization until you see a coffin.

Since then I started working on ways to shift how I think and see things. Eight years later, I am still learning. This very recent awakening of my husband losing his job happened to remind us how abundant we actually have been and how we took small things for granted.

Funnily, when both of us were working full-time and we made decent salaries for almost two decades, I always felt we never had enough and constantly worried because I focused on the lack and what if we lost a job and all the negative "what-ifs" I kept telling myself. I never focused enough on what we had available.

Now we live in the situation we both were most fearful of for years...but we feel completely different today.

We finally feel at peace.

We made peace with an unpleasant situation (thanks to meditation and positive affirmations that help strengthen our minds during this challenging time). We start to meditate for at least 10 mins each morning to stay in the presence and write 3 things we are grateful for each night.

We choose to look at failures as valuable lessons, feel grateful for the life we have today, the air we breath, the water we drink, the food we have, the house that shelter us, each other, the beautiful garden that i always thought too small but now I am more grateful of it than I had ever been, the resilient roses that remind us how strong and abundant life can be even during challenges. We have so much to thankful for. And most importantly we have this life and body thatt will allow us to see opportunities and rise over challenges.

If you have a tough year growing roses or anything, know that you have done what you can. Every year is different. Nature has its way of balancing things and it seems things will die. New lives will emerge.

We can choose how to react. Maybe you can let loose a bit...letting go of the need for controls and frustrations. Breath in. Maybe all you need is to give yourself a space or a break for as long as you need.. maybe you will start again when you feel good and excited. You can always start. Don't beat yourself up for taking a break or try something new. If this thing doesn't work, there's many more things to try. See what you can learn from each situation.

While this year appears to be challenging and roses are suffering to a certain degree, all I see is how strong they are. Like many of us, we have scars and wounds inside and outside from life experiences. These roses endure heat, pests and drought for a long period of time. Their foliages are full of damages and their blooms may not be what you have pictured. Look at these scars, wounds, imperfections and damages as a trophy of courage and strength.

Look closely with the eyes of symphathy, the heart of understanding. They have been beaten up by nature. We have been beaten up here and there as well. The best we can do is to nurture, appreciate and love them and ourselves for what they/we have become. Our roses and our lives will be stronger and more fulfilling if we wearn their strenght and apply in our life in some ways.

Whatever life challenges you may be going through right now, please know that while we can’t control what life or others will throw at us - you DO have the full power and control to respond, to choose how to react/feel, to decide how to move forward. Choose gratitude over lack, choose love over hate, choose to give it a try over letting fear stop you, choose to appreciate what you have right now over an uncertainty of tomorrow or future.

May you grow and bloom with strenght and joy always

Tat

Caring for Potted Roses during Hot Months - Houston, Texas

What happened to our spring weather?!? It came and escaped just like that. Growing roses in pots has its pros and cons of course. Let's talk about caring for potted roses in our brutal Texas heat. Joy for all of us rose lovers in Houston and any other part of Texas / other hot states! Get ready to sweat from head to toe together!

Growing roses in ground is a way to go as we all know, great for roses so their roots aren't restricted by containers and good for us because we don't have to water as often. Clay soil isn't bad after all because they have a lot of good nutrients that roses love.

However, many people (me included) don't have that luxury to grow in ground. Most of my roses are in pots and raised beds due to these reasons:

1) Too lazy to dig holes - pure laziness. Digging holes is a great workout but I don't really enjoy it. Harsh truth!

2) Parts of my yard always get flooded and roses don't like wet feet. I am not going to build 10 differet raised beds as that won't look good in my yard.

3) Armadillos and other wildlife friends love visting my garden too much due to the wilderness behind my fence (my growing roses in the wilderness here) If I trap one and relocate, there are more wildlife friends back there. I gave up. Lucky me.

Technically, potting my roses up is best for my situations in my yard here in Southeast Houston, Texas. But with everything, here's always a struggle and it's tough when it's hot because heat and gardening are a bad combo for me. I don't like heat. And don't forget mosquitoes, yikes!

I love these big 22" planters from Home Depot. HUGE and durable. I've many of them since 2020 and they're holding up well BUT due to dark color, it gets hot FAST. That means soil and roots will be hot and baked inside too.

Pay extra attention to your potted roses especially when temperature is going to be extra hot that day.

Tips for caring your potted roses:

1) Water early morning to get them fully hydrated and DEEP watering. With roses, "DEEP" watering is the key. What does that mean? According to The Spruce website - There is no hard-and-fast definition for watering deeply, but it generally means that the water is able to soak at least eight inches below the soil surface. The point behind this is that most plant's roots are not sitting close to the soil surface.

How much and how often will vary due to what type of soil you use (recommend to use potting soil for good drainage), how quickly water runs through the soil, how much your rose absorbs, how hot the weather is that day, and how fast you release water. It will be hard to tell unless I know those factors. So experiment and see how your roses respond.

I don't have a drip irrigation at this point so handwatering is my method. It isn't desirable during summer so I try to do it early morning for deep watering to avoid sweating from head to toe. In my yard, I use a water hose and do about 2-5 mins per potted roses with an average water flow (not too slow, it's hot I won't be standing there too long).

2) Water outside of your pots too and if they sit on concrete, I water concrete floor as they get hot and retain heat. For this part, I spray water directly at those pots on their exterior (and concrete floor where pots are sitting on or move them to sit on the grass/soil instead) in the afternoon if and when I can especially I know it's going to be over 80 degree. That's hot enough to get dark colored pots hot fast. I do this to help cool them down so the roots won't bake inside.

3) Wash their leaves and entire bush: Although overhead watering is not recommended for roses, I do during hot months. I water entire plants on a sunny day during early or mid- morning hours in order to

- Rinse some pests out of my plants as I don't spray with insecticide (I have a lot of leaf hoppers)

- Help bring temperature down and help them to prepare for a more intense heat in the afternoon. They do look refreshing afterwards.

4) Mulch, mulch and mulch - actually I should move this part up to number 1. Mulching will help your soil retain moisture and provide extra protection. I personally am bad at mulching as I always forget to do in early spring. I prefer to use compost instead of mulch. I find compost to work quite well for mulching.

5) Deadhead, cut, or bring the blooms inside: your beautiful flowers will fry in no time under our hot sun. So if you spot any new buds that are about to open soon. Don't hesitate to cut. That will help your roses too so they can reserve that energy and you'll have some pretty flowers to enjoy indoor.

6) Shading: some people set up a big umbrella to help provide some shade during the hottest time of the day. Some use shading cloths. I personally haven't tried any of this but I may as my backyard is south-facing and it's pretty brutal in the summer.

7) Fertilize as needed: as mentioned in this blog post about spring fertilizing, too much can be harmful and attracts even more pests. I do like to supplement with mild feeding like fish fertilizer during hot months to help them stay strong to fight off pests and diseases. The main purpose is not to fertilize to get them to produce flowers under heat (I'll explain why below).

**If you spray your roses with neem oil, fungicide, or insecticide, carefully read label to make sure you apply it correclty. Most products, you can't apply under high heat as they will burn rose leaves.

Yes roses love the sun, but not so much the heat

During hot months, your roses will not bloom as much and their flowers will be smaller, have lower petal counts, not very attractive, and fading fast. It can be disappointing.

But know that when temperature is high, roses can have heat stress and will shift their energy to try to survive the heat. Flowering is not their priority.

Some will not grow at all or as much. Just like us, if we have to be out in that heat for longer than 5 mins, it's miserable right? Think of those roses and other plants, they are out there all day under all weather conditions. Here's a great article to help you understand how to protect your roses in hot weather.

Caring for roses in summer months is very challenging and requires a lot of patience. They also have to deal with pests and diseases on top of extremely hot weather. Some people say that David Austin roses don't do well in heat. Since I don't have all DA varieties, I can't tell you at this point. Some will still bloom, but some won't. Even some Kordes and Meillands don't even want to bloom in heat. I find that Weeks roses are pretty heat tolerant. They are not the most disease tolerant variety, but they do bloom quite well in heat. My favorite Weeks rose is Jump for Joy which blooms its head off all year.

Love them, care for them, be patient, and dont' forget to apply sunscreen on yourself (grab a hat too) too. Stay cool, stay calm, and enjoy rose gardening. They'll get back to blooming again for you when they can, I promise.

If you'd like to to support me in creating more rose content: please share about my business www.Tatiwa.com to small businesses or anyone who need help with website or photography. I also enjoy teaching people to create their own websites as well as learning how to take better photos of their products. I can also be found on Instagram at @Tatiwa_H.

Thank you so much.

Tat