Organically Grown Roses?

Before being cultivated, roses grew wild throughout many parts of the world. Wild roses improved through a process of natural selection, stronger traits supplanting weaker ones. Roses continued to improve and adapt, thriving in many different environments ranging from tropical jungles, arid deserts, and even cold weather mountain ranges. Natural roses can still be found in our world today, but many look quite different than what most people think of as a rose.

Due to the natural beauty of the plant, wild roses soon began attracting the eye of early horticulturists, who through hybridization created the many different types we now have today. These hybrids were produced with an eye towards color and bloom size, but at the cost of losing traits such as disease resistance and ease of growth.

Unfortunately, growers turned to chemical herbicides to keep their plants healthy and to ensure maximum profits. So while the modern cultivated rose is much larger and brighter than wild versions, it is exceedingly more fragile and difficult to grow than natural varieties. This reliance on chemicals turned the attention away from naturally resilient plants, and today roses are one of the most chemically treated classes of plants.

And since the roses popular today are generally the same ones found groomed for sale in the mass market, there is a misconception that they can be too hard for the individual to grow without using the same chemical methods as commercialized rose growers. Thankfully, there is another way.

Growing roses organically means avoiding harmful synthetics and using organic fertilizers and soil conditioners to get the same beautiful results as all those harsh chemicals. Products such as Alfalfa Meal, Nature Meal for Roses, and Nature Meal for Acid Loving Plants can feed your rose bushes and provide the proper pH balance to keep them growing strong.

Beneficial Nematodes and Diatomaceous Earth can provide effective insect control without resorting to chemical sprays that can harm your plants or contaminate groundwater supplies. Even fungus and weed control can be accomplished organically with products like Actinovate and Soft Rock Phosphate. It seems that whatever problem man has created a chemical for, often times Mother Nature already has an organic solution.

This year, grow your rose bushes the better way…Go Organic!