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SAN JOSE HERITAGE ROSE GARDEN The Latest from the Heritage! This page is updated from time to time to let you know what's up in the garden. Mel Hulse, Garden Maintenance Director Garden Report, MidWinter 2006 The year of unusual weather seems to have settled down through this past fall and winter. The weather turned cold during December which has helped our roses lapse into the greatest dormancy yet. Since then, we have had adequate cold rain interspersed with record warm days. Pruning of China,
Teas and Modern roses is complete. Reblooming OGRs and shrub pruning is in
progress. Plaque planting has picked up as Bellarmine High students assembled plaques from previously produced engravings. We still don’t have a handle on what causes the disease that has caused so many plants to die. The soil test at several locations revealed that our soil pH is high. We have stopped using slow release fertilizer with minors for a few years and have started applying ammonium sulfate to reduce the pH and give the plants a nitrogen jolt. We are not concerned about minors as we have been feeding them into the soil for 10 years and they are adequate in our soil. The Ammonium Sulfate solution is labor intensive in that it is applied by hand and watered. Two rounds of the garden have been completed. We will now begin applying a balanced granular fertilizer (15 – 15 – 15 + with 20% sulfur) each 3 months. We hope that this will improve the garden’s health, although the increased nitrogen may increase foliage growth at the expense of bloom. The Heritage Nursery. The nursery now has space since we’ve been planting. We now need to identify roses at nurseries that we can obtain at the lowest price. Workdays. Workdays are Wednesdays and Saturdays, starting 9 - 12. Bring a hat, bypass shears and leather gloves if you have them. We'll show you how! Its “SNACK and YACK” time in the Visitors Center or in the garden as weather permits on Wednesdays after the workday. But, most of all, COME and work in the roses for as long as you enjoy it. Mel Hulse, February, 2006 Links to past status pages: This page was last updated on 01/24/07.
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