Apple Valley, CA call us to schedule your January rose pruning schedule. Last year, we were not too busy, but this year, we already have quite a few who will have us prune their roses, so call us to get on the schedule, right away.
Ok, so your roses have pretty much stopped blooming right now. If you have perhaps ignored them a bit lately and not bothered to deadhead the bloom, you might have some of these little beauties, rose hips.
Rose hips (or rose heps) are the seed pods or fruit of roses. Some varieties have hips are larger or more colorful than others. They really add to the season of color one gets from roses and here in the desert, more color, especially in fall and winter is quite welcome.
Did you know that both rose petals and rose hips are edible? And roses are in the same family as apples so it is no wonder the rose hips resemble a small apple. Rose hips are high in vitamin C and kind of tart like a crabapple. Remember to only consume from plants that have not been treated with pesticides.
Rose hips also have been known to be beneficial in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis apparently due to their anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. A small study was conducted of 74 Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers who were followed for 6 months by Charite University Medical Centre in Berlin. Half of the group took rose hips and half used a placebo. In the group treated with rose hips, activity increased by 20-24% and the number of joints causing pain, decreased by 40% over the placebo group. And with their vitamin C content, rose hips are sometimes used to help prevent colds and flu.
Wait until after the first frost to harvest rose hips to discourage any unwanted new growth on your rose. Harvest firm, colorful fruits. Slice in half and remove the seeds as they are unpleasant to eat. The seeds have been know to be used to make itching powder. The best use for rose hips is to make a tea. Steep 4-8 fresh rose hips in one cup of boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes. Use about half the rose hips when using dried rose hips.
The best thing to do in October is plant! It is the best time of year to start your trees and shrubs.
And give your existing trees, lawns an shrubs a good feeding with fertilizer high in Phosphorus for healthy roots. That’s the number in the middle of the nutrient analysis. In a bag marked 16-6-8, It is the 6.
Look now for bargains on spring blooming bulbs. You should have ordered early from the bulb catalogues and there may be some good deals available through the catalogues or at your local nursery/ big box store.
Get your bulbs in the ground as soon as possible. December is too late. Plant the bulbs three times the depth of the bulb, water well, and Happy Spring!
Fertilize your roses and keep them well watered but don’t prune now. You should remove spent blooms though, because you will encourage some bonus blooms before the plant starts it’s winter stasis.
You’d be a little strange not to be concerned at least a little about running into a snake outdoors here in the high desert of Southern California. We got snakes. Lots of snakes. But how do you tell if they are deadly? What do you do if you or someone you love gets bit? The answers to those questions and more are lurking in our September newsletter. Check it out here: Snakes in the garden and more.
The Victor Valley Master Composters are meeting next Tuesday, September 10 from
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at the Victorville City Hall, Conference Room D. After the
short Master Composter meeting, Cindy Poore, owner of Perfection Landscape will
be giving a presentation on drought tolerant landscaping. The public is welcome
to attend, so feel free to invite your friends. Don Woo, project coordinator has also invited the Barstow
group in case they were interested in the presentation.
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- Weeds are Back! March 10, 2018Is your yard Exploding with weeds ? You may think a few weeds here or there aren’t much to worry about, but did you know most weeds are capable of producing over a thousand seeds each? Rain and the warmer weather that will follow will make conditions just right for hose little land mines […]