Sustainable Rose Gardening Tips for Beginners
What does 'sustainable' actually mean? And why is it important, particularly for those starting out on their gardening journey growing roses?
First of all, let's define the term 'sustainable'. My understanding of this word in its basic definition relates to a process that can be repeated over and over again with relative ease. More recently, the word 'sustainable' has become nuanced toward meaning organic, pesticide free and environmentally friendly systems.
A basic system that might be referred to as 'sustainable' in gardening could relate to not using pesticides, ie) chemicals designed to kill insects in the garden. It could also mean not using weed killers, such as glyphosate, more commonly sold as 'round up' in Australia and freely available from garden centres. A 'sustainable' system could also refer to not using artificial fertilisers that are made up of chemically derived nutrients manufactured for use on plants to encourage strong growth, flower production and/or fruit production. While each of these practices sound reasonable and could be used as part of a 'sustainable' garden, I prefer to take the use of sustainable practices a little further.
As an artisan grower of heritage, and often rare roses, I welcome a variety of creatures (including spiders and their webs) in my garden as part of a holistic 'sustainable' system that supports every aspect of gardening. That means that everything I do in the garden interacts with and supports other gardening practices, much like the different strands of a spider web that together cause it to be strong. Of course, I would suggest that even small practices such as not using pesticides is a great place to start.
So what do I do that makes my gardening practice sustainable, especially in a garden that features many heritage roses? First of all, I choose to grow heritage roses as part of a complex garden with many layers of different types of plants, unlike rose gardens that many of us remember which featured roses growing in groups with nothing but bare earth around them. These types of gardens relied on a 'spray program' that deluged the rose bushes in fungicide and pesticide chemicals that killed everything that moved in or around the roses, even bees and other beneficial insects.
Heritage roses are generally tough roses, surviving drought, and neglect to grow for many decades. And because of this ability to survive, many of the roses we now refer to as heritage roses, (ie, roses dating back to before the beginning of the 20th century) are able to withstand our increasingly hotter and dryer climates. As well as their ability to survive harsh conditions, heritage roses are often less prone to disease, such as fungal mildew and black spot.
A sustainable system also means growing different layers of plants, including shade giving trees which are becoming more important in our hotter climate. And, yes, there are roses that can cope with a period of shade throughout the day (perhaps I should do a journal on this topic too). I also grow a range of evergreen and deciduous shrubs that provide wind protection as well as habitat for small birds and lizards. These creatures earn their keep by feeding on insects and even snails, keeping their numbers under control but not totally annihilating their numbers ie) maintaining stasis, or a state of equilibrium. After all, the small birds and lizards need something to eat.
As well as providing habitat for small birds and lizards, we also grow a range of perennials, old fashioned flowers and lots of herbs. The varying shapes from this lower layer help to shade the soil, as well as feed a range of nectar and pollen loving insects and birds. Bees like to feed on open faced flowers, such as daisy shapes, while butterflies with their long proboscis feed on the nectar of small tubular flowers. And, of course, honey eater birds feed on larger bell-shaped flowers.
I don't need to tell you that bees have declined markedly worldwide as a result of pesticide use, habitat loss and climate change. Which is why I won't use 'organic' sprays in my garden as they kill indiscriminately, including bees. While these so called 'organic' pesticides may not have chemicals that linger in the soil for long periods, they don't distinguish between 'beneficial' insects like ladybirds and 'pest' insects like 'aphids'.
Even homemade 'organic' sprays will indiscriminately kill ladybirds that feed on the aphids on your rose buds. Which in turn means you need to rely on more 'organic' sprays to fix the problem that would have been solved by not spraying and allowing your existing 'beneficial' insects to do their job. I have even noticed a different type of ladybird that feeds on the fungal powdery mildew which covered some of the buds of our old rambler, Dorothy Perkins. Since noticing these mildew eating ladybirds, we've had less powdery mildew each Spring when this old rambler begins to flower.
As well as an inbuilt system that deals with pests and disease, we try to be water-wise, mulching the soil under our roses and plants throughout the year. This retains moisture for longer in the soil, as well as adding much needed humus to our sandy nutrient poor soils. Homemade compost is best, but because of our extremely hot summers that can reach 45 degrees Celsius, we also use organic sugar cane mulch which is abundant in Australia. Even in the three years since we began gardening in our temperate climate (USA zone 8b) in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, we've noticed an improvement in our soil composition from a sandy, poor nutrient soil to a more crumbly, slightly sticky soil. This type of soil retains nutrients and moisture much more readily than sandy soil and drains more easily than heavy clay soil.
So there we have it; a very brief overview of how we grow our Heritage Roses sustainably, which is why we can offer pesticide free, sustainably grown and seasonal garden-gathered Bridal Bouquets as pesticide free, as well as our range of fresh and dried Scented Rose Petals and Apothecary Botanicals as also pesticide free.
There's so much more to this complex topic, but I'd love to hear your experience or if you have any questions.
Meanwhile, I hope this journal has given you some tips on how you can get started with your sustainable gardening journey.
Enjoy
xxLillian
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