Miniature roses eye-catching addition to landscape

Miniature roses are such a delight. Their tiny blooms capture my heart with every glance.

The beauty and quality of miniature roses have improved tremendously during the past 30 years, said Cheryl Hume, rosarian and president of the South Valley Rose Society. "We now have miniature hybrid tea rose-shaped blooms in every color but blue," she noted. Sizes range from the tiny micro-miniatures to miniature climbing roses, providing an abundance of color while hardly occupying much space in the garden.

These dainty roses have a multitude of uses. Most of Hume's minis are in pots, and she finds them on patios, decks, along driveways, walkways, in hanging baskets, in front of larger rosebushes and tucked into gardens here and there. They also make wonderful gifts. You can press the flowers or dry them for use in arrangements and potpourri.

Hume got her start in roses from rosarian Dick Jackson.

"He started me off with 26 roses and now with my mini collection, I have about 900 roses," she said. "Jackson did his best to get me to grow large roses, but I loved the minis too much."

Hume's yard is alive with color most of the year. "People say, 'Wow, I didn't know there were so many different kinds of roses.' "

The dainty queens are eye-catching, which is why Hume decided to grow petite roses.

Miniature rose names tell so much about them: Electric Lady, Coffee Bean, Iced Raspberry, Flawless, X-Rated, Show Stopper, Hoot Owl, Ambiance, Sweet Chariot, Scentsational and Eternal Flame. Hume is as familiar with each of her minis as with her dogs, Winnie and Pooh.

If you can grow normal-sized roses, you can grow minis, she said.

"I put my minis in pots, making it so much easier to work and handle them and easier to relocate without having to dig them up," Hume said.

If you plant roses in the yard, dig a hole the same depth as the pot the rose came in but a foot wider. Loosen the roots and spread them out. Fill the hole with a rich organic soil, firming it around the rootball and then apply mulch.

All roses are heavy feeders and since they are prolific bloomers, regular feedings are essential. To each rose, her society adds one cup each of soil sulfur, cottonseed meal and a half-cup of super-phosphate or bone meal, and ¼ cup of Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate). Scratch these nutrients into the soil. Around Valentine's Day, apply a rose food. Always irrigate after each feeding to move nutrients to the roots. Hume mixes all the ingredients together and puts a cup around each mini. For normal roses, she adds two cups.

Pruning minis is much like pruning normal-sized roses. With her pots' mobility, she sits down and places each one on a turntable to prune.

"It sure eliminates bending and crawling to prune," she said.

She and her society members suggest the following to prune standard roses: Remove the top third of your rosebush, eliminate old canes back to the crown and eliminate crisscrossing and weak canes and leaves. You should have three to five canes remaining at about 15- to 18-inches tall. Make the final cut on these canes at a 45-degree angle above outside-facing buds, dispose of all debris, seal cane ends with Elmer's Glue and spray with dormant oil to control over-wintering insects.

ROSE PRUNING DEMONSTRATIONS

Learn how to prune roses right by joining Hume and the Las Vegas Valley Rose Society from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at 1112 Oak Tree Lane (near Valley View Boulevard and Washington Avenue). The South Valley Rose Society will have its pruning demonstration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 22 at St. Rose Dominican Hospital, 3001 St. Rose Parkway in Henderson. For details, call 646-6048.

BUILD A TERRARIUM

Learn how to make a terrarium by attending the Sunset Garden Club's workshop at noon Tuesday at the Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway in Henderson. You need to bring your own glass container.

SPRINGS PRESERVE'S NEW BEGINNINGS

On Saturdays and Sundays throughout January, there will be classes in gardening 101 (11 a.m.); fruit tree care (1 p.m.); caring for roses (2 p.m.); and tuning up your irrigation (3 p.m.), along with many other demonstrations at the preserve, 333 S. Valley View Blvd. For more information, including cost, go to www.springspreserve.org or call 822-7700.

Linn Mills writes a garden column each Sunday. You can reach him at linn.mills@ springspreserve.org or call him at 822-7754.