Ed Lucarini wrote:

Shiva said in a previous post;
They love lots of good water, lots of good organic
matter, lots of fussing over.

My question is how do you apply the organic matter?

Ed, I just mulch. I don't compost, so I put down mulch. I usually use fine
pine bark, but decaying leaves work fine too. Some use aged manure and
rotted kitchen stuff aka "compost." Grass clippings that have had time to
rot a while, or even good bags of black storebought garden soil or what
they call "soil conditioner" is fine. The latter might be some soil plus
aged manure and pine bark, or even sludge and bark or lawn waste. They
just need stuff that will break down and release nutrients--in addition to
whatever "Miracle Gro" type stuff you might put down.


a. Take some compost hummus and layer it around the cane.

You want to keep it away from the base of the rose. Spread mulch inside
the drip line but clear a few inches from the base of the canes.


b. Cut it to the cane in spring, then extract it from the earth and
apply
organic matter in the hole and replant.

If I understand you correctly, well, HELL NO! :0) Never, ever be prune
happy. If you see obvious disease (it looks rotting or dead) cut it out.
Otherwise, trim just to shape.

c. Use a red bark mulch as organic matter. Distribute around the cane.

Bark is fine! But you might as well be safe and just go buy bags of "soil
conditioner" from your local garden center, to make sure it is properly
aged. Newer stuff produces heat as it breaks down and can "burn" tender
plants. Word is, organic is any waste from living things, but it must be
aged aka rotted and sufficiently broken down.


I have a tea rose in the front of our yard (Z7 FS) since Grandma owned
the house (1995).

Why do you think it is a "tea rose?" There are teas and hybrid teas-- the
modern, florist type rose is a hybrid tea.


And from reading the posts here I'm getting educated. So
this year I'm gonna fuss like I never fussed before.

Ed! Way Cool! The good news is, the fussing means paying attention to just
a few important things--water, sun, stuff like that.

Now tell more about the rose. Color? Leaves? Can you take a picture and
post it or send it to me and I will? MOST importantly, where are you? Is
it blooming yet? More info, man! G




Thanks much
Ed