April is rose month in Santa Cruz, so please join us for a springtime class on getting started with and growing roses. This class will be a lively discussion on growing roses in the home garden, appropriate whether you intend to grow one, 10, or 100 roses. For while scale matters, the basics are the same. Visualize yourself in your future spring/summer garden, picking and choosing color combinations from a plethora of blooms – it all starts now.
This workshop will cover a discussion on the almanac or calendar of the rose year, specifically looking at the following topics:
- The run up to planting; looking at site, sun, and soil factors
- Harnessing the “3C’s”: cultivation/tillage, cover crops, and compost to ensure success
- Sourcing quality rose plants
- Planting container roses
- The yearly growth and care cycle of roses
We will also go on a “gallery walk” where we tour the Chadwick Garden and look at the principal classes of roses; hybrid teas, grandifloras, floribundas, David Austin roses, and a myriad of other varieties being grown
Led by our own experienced rose grower and organic gardening instructor Orin Martin, this workshop takes place in the historic Alan Chadwick Garden at UC Santa Cruz. Admission to the workshop includes a free digital copy of the 40-page Rose Primer – An Organic Approach to Rose Selection & Care by Orin Martin.