Winter care for your Flower Carpet® roses
Submitted by Lisa on Thu, 2010-10-21 14:30
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There I am, waiting until the last possible week or so before I can no longer transplant my Flower Carpet roses (this week or next is about the absolute latest for transplanting in colder zones). After moving to a new house last Thanksgiving (when most of the leaves were already off the trees), I'd planted these easy-care roses in a back plot that I thought would get plenty of full sun. Wrong! A full canopy of leaves soon grew over them, and I've been meaning to move them to a sunnier spot all season.
I should've done this sooner – it was much less of a job than I'd anticipated (despite the fact that I had to use a pitchfork and pie server to do the job. My husband, apparently, decided the garage was his territory and took all the gardening implements he could find and locked them up in the back shed. So, since I was sneaking out while my daughter was taking a nap and had no idea where the shed keys were, well … the pitchfork I'd used for lifting Tropicanna canna rhizomes was all I could get in a hurry. The pie server actually did a great job of scooping extra soil out of and into the planting holes). After transplanting, I just watered them in and made sure to mound plenty of mulch, leaves or other insulating material around the base (I used leftover peat moss from storing the canna rhizomes). This protects the plant from frost heaves the first year or so, just until the roots really get established.
Luckily, Flower Carpet roses hold up well to winter's freezing, desiccating winds and freeze-thaw soil heaves. So no need to burlap my Flower Carpet bushes or mound them over with soil (although 2 to 3 inches of mulch is a good idea any time of year). All you need to do is forget about them and start focusing on the holidays. Around Thanksgiving, your Flower Carpet roses will go dormant as shorter days and colder temperatures signal it's time to shut down for a long winter's nap.
On the other hand, late fall to early winter is really the best time for warm-climate gardeners to transplant their Flower Carpet roses (that's when flowering will be at its lowest and the leaves will look the rattiest). In steadily warm, but not desert-like areas like California, you can transplant them any time. In places like Phoenix, Arizona (which get months of excessively hot and arid weather), you shouldn't transplant them in July, August or September (unless they're heavily shaded).
When transplanting in a warmer climate, it's recommended that you trim the plant back by at least half, and as small as a basketball immediately before transplanting. (Pruning stimulates active growth). Then water and wait about 2 to 3 weeks to feed.
What about overwintering Flower Carpet roses you've planted in container gardens?
Well, in warm climates, you can just keep them in the pot, provided it's about 20 inches in diameter, and trim them back at the appropriate time (as outlined above). In cold climates, however, you can just wait for them to start going dormant around Thanksgiving, then pack them closely together into a cool, dry (but not freezing) place like the garage, basement or shed and just get them up and off the ground. (I'll be putting mine in my preschool daughter's wagon, next to my Bluestorm agapanthus). Some people like to cover them with hay or put them in a box full of shredded up newspaper, but it's not really necessary. Whatever you do, however, DON'T cut them back or prune them at this time.
Well, there you go. It doesn't take much to make sure your Flower Carpet roses keep bringing you season after season of prolific, easy-care blooms!
Comments
Amber Flower Carpet Rose
I live in western New York - not too much warmer a climate than in Michigan. My Amber have buds all over them, so yours should have some now or have them soon. So take a look and see if you have any buds. If not, consider it a lesson learned in gardening (I killed a bunch of different plants this year - as I always do - learning another lesson). A rule of thumb for pruning Flower Carpet roses, I've learned, is on or around St. Patty's Day (although they'll probably tolerate some pruning through May). The reason you don't prune them in fall is that pruning encourages a flush of growth, and that may cause the plant to use up a lot of its winter energy stores too soon (which can include flower bud formation). In late spring, when the plant is still dormant, but it's right before it's supposed to wake up again is the ideal time.
I personally don't think all is lost if you don't have flowers this year. The foliage is so shiny and forms such a dense, compact carpet that it's still a nice, low-growing hedge throughout the growing seasons.
Amber Flower Carpet Rose
I purchased 2 amber last year. They bloomed until November in Michigan. They were beautiful. Unfortunately, not knowing any better, I pruned them back to about 18 inches in November. Then I learned that you really should prune them in spring. Will my roses bloom this year or did I inadvertently destroy this year’s blooms.
Flower Carpet roses
Hello and thank you for your comment on Your Easy Garden. Sorry my response is delayed (you know how the holidays are). Since Tesselaar Plants is the developer and marketer of Flower Carpet roses, I referred your comment to Dan Davids (at Tesselaar's Lawndale, California office 3 ½ miles away from Manhattan Beach in Southern California). Dan said he’s surprised you’re having any issues with Amber. As of Dec. 27, 2010 (when he responded), Amber was still blooming outside his office. He’d like to know when you planted your Flower Carpet roses – most all roses are better plants in the second and third years, as they establish. Amber is a smaller plant, he adds (more similar to Flower Carpet White) so for mass planting, it does need to be planted a bit closer that say Red, Pink Supreme and Scarlet. It would also help to know where you planted the roses – in pots, ground, sun, shade? And what kind of water/food have you given them? All play a huge roll. Dan said he’d be happy to look at photos if you’d like to forward them to him directly (at ddavids
tesselaar [dot] com).
“This year’s weather was very cool—we had no summer,” he adds. “ I actually cut my Flower Carpet roses back in October, where I would normally do that in December (we can have 12 months of flowering here—although heaviest in spring and summer).
It’s interesting you compare Amber to Yellow, he continues: “Yellow is the tallest Flower Carpet rose for us here in Southern California, he says – probably twice the height of Red, which is the lowest grower for us here.”
Again, you can feel free to contact Dan directly or you can communicate through me. But either way, I think Dan’s right that we need more info!
Flower Carpet roses
I live about 5 miles from the ocean in Carlsbad CA, in the San Diego vicinity. I landscaped with all the Flower Carpet roses and discovered that “Amber” does not do well here in this climate. It bloomed very poorly and only sporadically. I found the same to be true of the yellow rose. I have enjoyed the red scarlet, the white, and the pink supreme. They are floriferous and vigorous.
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[...] Winter care for your Flower Carpet® roses | Your Easy Garden youreasygarden.com/2010/10/21/winter-care-your-flower-carpet-roses – view page – cached There I am, waiting until the last possible week or so before I can no longer transplant my Flower Carpet roses (this week or next is about the absolute latest for transplanting in colder zones). After moving to a new house last Thanksgiving (when most of the leaves were already off the trees), I'd planted these easy-care roses in a back plot that I thought would get plenty of full sun. Wrong! A... Read moreThere I am, waiting until the last possible week or so before I can no longer transplant my Flower Carpet roses (this week or next is about the absolute latest for transplanting in colder zones). After moving to a new house last Thanksgiving (when most of the leaves were already off the trees), I'd planted these easy-care roses in a back plot that I thought would get plenty of full sun. Wrong! A full canopy of leaves soon grew over them, and I've been meaning to move them to a sunnier spot all season. View page Tweets about this link [...]
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