Poster By: Goly Osotvar, AGC Member
Flower Poster
Tag Archives: Rogue Valley Gardening
Today in the Garden
AGC member Janie Burcart’s garden in bloom.
May flowers in a rock garden
Photos & flowers by Lynn McDonald, AGC Member
Pruning Roses
Roses are pruned to encourage new growth and healthy flowers during the growing season. The time to prune roses depends on the type of rose your pruning. Roses that flower once a season are pruned right after they flower. Roses that flower throughout the season are pruned when buds start to swell and become green. In Southern Oregon, Zone 8, this is typically mid- February to early March .
By-pass pruner
Tools Needed:
1) Good pair of leather gloves,
2) Sharp By-pass garden pruner, (recommended)
3) Possibly: a medium to larger tree pruner and a handheld pruning saw.
Having sharp tools is imperative for making good clean cuts on branches. Also, it’s important to disinfect every tool between each rose, because tools can transfer disease and viruses to other plants if not disinfected properly.
Disinfecting Tools:
1) Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) is ideal for sanitizing pruning tools because the blades can be wiped, or dipped into it. Most rubbing alcohols contain 70% isopropyl alcohol, which can be used straight from the bottle. Rubbing alcohol has a strong fumes, so avoid inhaling.
2) A solution made of chlorine bleach can also be used as a disinfectant, but unlike alcohol, bleach must be diluted before using and blades must be soaked for 30 minutes for disinfection to really work. To make a 10% bleach solution: mix one part bleach to nine parts of water. Remember to: avoid inhalation of fumes, wear rubber gloves to prevent contact with skin, and protect your clothing from the bleach and bleach water. This bleach solution must be used within two hours of mixing, because it losses 50% of its effectiveness after two hours. After soaking tools in bleach solution, rinse them with clean water to prevent corrosion, and wipe dry. Be aware that chlorine bleach it is not as effective against viruses as rubbing alcohol.
Steps to Pruning:
1) Start by removing dead and diseased canes; brown is dead, green is alive.
2) Tip back brown stems until you see green in the cane.
3) Remove all thin weak canes; if it’s thinner than a pencil remove it.
4) Open up the center by taking out crossing branches. Branches that rub cause damage and encourage disease.
5) Removing center canes allows air-flow which helps control diseases.
Making the Cut:
Common practice is to make a slight 45-degree angle cut ¼-inch above an outward facing bud. 
Cutting to an outward facing bud encourages growth away from the center of the rose to provide better air-flow. An angled cut is said to allow moisture to run off the cut. While some rose growers say angled cuts are unnecessary, everyone agrees if the cut is too steep it weakens and/or damages the new bud, so cut at a “slight” angle.
Rose Structure:
The goal is to have an open structure with upward reaching branches in the shape of a vase.
How much 
top pruning is done depends on the type of rose. Typically, only 1/3 of the total height of a rose should be removed, unless an extremely neglected rose shrub needs hard pruning to reshape and repair. ( See examples of Hard, Moderate, Light Pruning in the drawing below)
Seal Cane Cuts:
Seal cut ends of all canes 3/16-inch diameter and larger with white Elmer’s multi-purpose glue, not school glue, or white water-base Tacky Glue, found in craft stores. This forms a barrier to deter cane boring insects from drilling into the pithy middle of rose canes, where they lay their eggs. In some cases, a boring insect can bore deep enough to kill the entire cane, and sometimes the whole rose bush.
Article By: Carlotta Lucas, Ashland Garden Club Member
Resource Article:
Barbara McMullen
Master Gardener OSU Extension
Drawings from Oregon State University webpage on Pruning Roses. Rose Pruning: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/flowers-shrubs-trees/pruning-roses
Read more on Rose Borers: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/roses/controlling-rose-cane-borers.htm
July 2020: Garden of the Month
139 N. 2nd Street, Ashland, OR
Local artist and educator Judith Ginsburg developed and maintains the lovely garden at 139 N. 2nd Street which has been selected as the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for July 2020. The property was purchased as a rental in 1988 and completely remodeled in 1996. The existing garage was converted to Ginsburg’s artist studio in 2001. Although living elsewhere in Ashland, she comes to the studio most days and has done the regular maintenance in the garden since then. She is currently planning a move into the front cottage.
In the 1990s, Judith had Landscape Architect Steve Potter create a plan for the garden. Much of the hardscape remains from that plan, but only a few plants. In 2016, Solid Ground Landscape redesigned the front yard, and in 2018, they did the back, always accommodating Judith’s preferences for plants and color. Since then, she has personally added to and subtracted from the plan. Solid Ground workers come twice a month to do standard maintenance. Ginsburg averages about an hour a day on garden care. It is truly an artist’s garden.
There is a gorgeous fountain, the sound of which does its’ best to mask the noise from the Post Office, the back of which is across the alley from the studio. To encourage birds, there are many bird baths and bird feeders. There are a lot of places to sit and relax throughout the back and a raised bed for veggies in the side yard.
On the back fence, there is a thriving climbing hydrangea, which is notoriously difficult to establish. There is a large and healthy wisteria shading the back porch and an old but still glorious lilac in the parking strip. Several Hypercium inodorum are stellar additions to the front garden. Ginsburg often has passersby ask or leave notes asking for identification of those plants. They are a shrub (a relative of St. John’s Wort—a common groundcover with yellow flowers) that has berries that range from white through pink and orange to red. Among Judith’s favorite plants are peonies, hellebores, and tulips.
There is a little bit of everything here and well worth strolling by.
Article by: Ruth Sloan, Ashland Garden Club
Photos by Larry Rosengren
Planting Veggies in July!
In Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley, you can plant the following veggies in July and August for fall & winter harvesting:
Photo by Fancycrave on Pexels.com
Brussels sprouts – all month through August
Chinese Cabbage – Until August 10th (later is better to help mitigate cabbage maggot damage)
Late (purple) broccoli- To over-winter and harvest in March/April
Direct Seed:
Winter beets – after 7/15 through 8/15, plant in 1-2 week intervals
Late broccoli (purple) – Can be direct seeded, too.
Chinese Cabbage – all month to 8/15 (later is better to help mitigate cabbage maggot damage)
Kale – 7/15 through 9/20 for October and winter harvest
Turnips- August all month for late September-October harvest
Bush Beans – For September – October harvest
Winter variety carrots – 7/15 – 7/31 – harvest in October and all winter ( not Nantes )
Cauliflower – to 7/15
Mid-season Leaf Lettuce – all month
Parsnips– to 7/15 to dig after hard frost and all winter
Enation-resistant Peas – all month, mulch to keep plants roots cool
Rutabaga – all month, for September harvest
Scallions – to 7/15 to pull all winter.
Transplant:
Fall Broccoli – 7/15 -8/10
Late Cabbage– 7/15 – 8/31
Late Cauliflower – 7/15 to 7/21
Information from: Gardening Year ‘Round , Month by Month in the Rouge Valley, A guide to Family Food Production by the Jackson County Master Gardeners Association