after watching watching the chelsea gardening show, i am amazed how the leaves are always disease-free, shiny, and green... what are the secrets in maintaing like that? too good to be true...
Nearly all the plants for chelsea are grown under cover (tunnels, glasshouses) most growers will have 3x the number of plants they need, so they can select the very best for the show.
It's an amazing feat, really. No only do the roses, as plants, have to look their best. But they also have to grow them under conditions where the peak flowering can be timed to perfections. And the conditions have to be such that it reasonably duplicate that at the show, so they don't wilt by the end of the first day. And that applies to all the plants.
i am amazed how they can rose tall roses in quite a small black pot. do you think they trimmed out the roots during winter period so that they could fit into a small pot?
Personally, I do not show roses, but I know so many people who do, and they have lots of tricks. To my knowledge, the rose shows in the U.S. do not involve potted roses. (This year, the national spring rose convention is hosted by the Seattle Rose Society June 21-27, 2006, with the show on Friday, June 23.) I am sure that at Chelsea the roses in unusally small pots were repotted in preparation for the show, and the exhibitors likely pruned the roots for the transfer. Almost all rose exhibitors whom I know, spray their roses with fungicides and insecticides. Just this week I heard my favorite consulting rosarian and master gardener speak about rose diseases. The important point to note about black-spot, a fungal disease, is that it needs seven hours of standing water to multiply. My friend only sprays with a fungicide a couple of times a year when the forecast is for extended rain. Recommendations to deal with fungal diseases are: 1) choose disease-resistant varieties; 2) grow them in the sunniest part of your garden; 3) give them good air circulation; and 4) water in the morning, below the leaves, if possible.
