Welcome to Mid-Summer in North-Central Connecticut. This is the time of year that the days are hot and humid and the nights are overly-warm and sultry. Old New England feels quite tropical in a normal summer like this, and the roses are growing impossibly tall with huge candleabras full of bloom. Every morning when I go out to see what has happened overnight I am always surprised to see that everything has grown even more while I slept! These are the days that I carry my camera in my pocket. There is always a beautiful face in the garden to capture!

Deadheading

Deadheading is a daily chore this time of year. I try to stay on top of this job before petals fall and make a mess on the fresh mulch I have been applying. I am dead heading high so I get a quicker repeat in all the gardens, and my roses are working with me to give a lot of color for visitors that stop by. When you prune off your spent blossoms, be sure to put them in the garbage and not the compost pile. They are better off going to the dump.

Watering Roses

Where I live, rain has been in short supply this summer. This means that I am spending a lot of time watering.

My hose delivers five gallons of water in 50 seconds, which is the equivalent of two inches of rain. I hold my watering wand under the plants and water each one to the count of 50. My roses appreciate this good soaking once a week, and watering deeply helps their roots to dive. Mulch keeps the roots cool and helps keep the water from evaporating from the soil.

Water is a precious commodity, and if we go through a rainy spell, I will always check my rain gauges to see how much has fallen from the heavens. I will then water my roses accordingly. Big thunderstorms can dump inches of rain in minutes. As long as your gardens have been watered by you during dry spells, the soil in your gardens will accept the rain that falls. This is because moist soil will accept more moisture but very dry soil has a tendency to repel any water that falls on it. It will just run off the top. Two inches of rain per week is perfect for our roses. Please keep them well-hydrated and they will reward you with spectacular blossoms, even in hot, humid conditions.

If I’m watering in the morning of a very hot day, I will often times shower the foliage. This helps to drop the temperature in the gardens immediately. My roses really appreciate this cooling shower…just make sure that your foliage is dry by nightfall as we don’t want to encourage fungal infections.

If you spray your roses for insects and fungal diseases, it’s a good idea to wait until evening to spray when weather conditions are like this. Personally, I am waiting until this big hot spell is over. I prefer to spray my roses when the spray material dries quickly and nothing is drying quickly with this humidity!

So keep up with your summer chores during the cooler hours of the day! Be sure to visit your roses often. Keep your bottle of soapy water handy to collect pests like Japanese beetles and Katydids. Keep your roses and yourselves well-hydrated. And enjoy the explosion of color and fragrance in the summer garden!