The Green View

Summer Rose Care

To gather some research on summer rose care my co-worker Jill and I took a trip over to the beautiful Hershey Gardens in Hershey, PA.

The Hershey Gardens has been operating since 1936 and have 7,500 roses blooming throughout the summer including 275 varieties within this breath-taking 23-acre garden.  On our researching adventure through the Hershey Gardens, we were given some expert advice on summer rose care from Jamie Schiffer, the grounds manager and manager of the gardening and maintenance staff.  Jamie showed us around the gardens and gave us the secrets to maintaining a beautiful rose garden all summer long.

Fertilizing

After the first fertilization in the spring, apply a granular slow-release rose fertilizer to your rose plants between June and July.  Make sure you water-in the fertilizer a day after application.  Try Woodace Flowering Plant Fertilizer for your roses!

Disease, Fungus, and Insect Protection

To protect roses from disease, fungus, and insects, Jamie said that the grounds and maintenance crew at the gardens spray the rose plants about once a week with fungicide and insecticides.  This spraying helps reduce black spot, diseases, and insect damage.  Many of the insect damage done to roses are from spider mites and Japanese beetles (these beetles also lay eggs in your lawn which grow into grubs).

Watering

Roses do not require heavy and constant watering but do not allow the soil to become dry for an extensive period of time.  Water your roses after two weeks of a dry spell without any rain.  Also water at the roots, wetting the leaves and blooms causes the plant to become more susceptible to fungus, disease, and insects.

Dead-Heading

Dead-heading is the process of cutting back wilted or spent blooms.  Jamie highly encouraged dead-heading the rose plants about once a week.  He also said that this process helps the rose plant to grow stronger and produce more blooms.  His advice for dead-heading the roses is to cut back the rose to the 5th leaf at the stem.

Please feel free to leave a comment on any of your own personal tips and tricks for summer rose care!

Summer Lawn Care for Cool Season Grass

Mowing

Cool season grasses should be mowed at a higher height during the summer and no shorter than three inches.  This helps the grass to decrease heat and fight drought.  The longer blades also help to shade the soil to preserve moisture and keep temperatures cooler.

Always keep your lawn mower blades sharp throughout the summer.  A dull blade can tear the grass tip which increases moisture loss and can result in browning.

• Watering

With cool season grasses you have the choice of maintaining the lawn so it stays green throughout the summer or leave it to become dormant.  To keep your lawn green all summer long, water deeply but infrequently.  This helps to develop deep root systems which creates better tolerance to harsh weather conditions.  If you decide to allow the lawn to turn brown and go dormant, a healthy lawn can survive for about four to six weeks without watering or rain.  Your lawn will then green-up again after adequate watering.

The best time to water your lawn is in the early morning , the light winds and cool temperatures help to prevent any water loss to evaporation or strong winds.

*Also keep your lawn looking lush and green during the summer with Perk Lawn Revitalizer!

• Grub Control

If you have noticed brown spots on your lawn an easy test to check for grubs is to see if those brown spots can be easily pulled away from the ground.  These grubs eat away at the roots of the grass killing the turf.  Luckily, Greenview offers grub control products to kill these root-eating critters.

Greenview Grub Preventer and Killer (Mach 2)

Grub Control (Dylox)

• Types of Cool Season Grass

Bentgrass

Kentucky Bluegrass

Fescue (Creeping Red Fescue, Chewings Fescue, Sheeps Fescue, Hard Fescue, and Tall Fescue* )

Ryegrass (Perennial and Annual)

• States with Cool Season Grasses

Delaware, Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia.

Grub Prevention

Pests come in many forms. One of them is the White Grub. It can affect all types of grass and turf.  Greenview helps manage this pest.

These grubs are plump, C-shaped insects. They are light in color with dark areas near the rear. They have a distinct brown head. The adults are beetles commonly referred to as May-beetles, June-beetles, and Japanese beetles.  Adult female beetles lay their eggs in the soil.

The grubs hatch and spend most of their life beneath the soil feeding on roots.  Most have rather long life cycles with the grub stage lasting from several months to two to three years.  In heavy infestations; roots are pruned off to the extent that the turf can be rolled back like a carpet, resulting in brown spots of dead turf.  At this point, you will need to kill the the grubs and then reseed the damaged areas.

Because white grubs are soil inhabiting insects, the best solution for control is to apply a granular form insecticide that is watered into the soil.  Greenview offers two products for controlling grubs:

• Greenview Grub Preventer and Killer (with Mach 2) is applied in mid summer and provides season long control of grubs.
• Greenview Grub Control (with Dylox) is applied in late summer and kills grubs within 48 hours.