High Elevation Gardening Web Log "Blog"

After Pittsburgh, her family moved to California, where she was born, finally settling in Gilroy, the Garlic Capital of the World. The land was rich and the climate salubrious for growing "stone fruit," grapes, and roses. Sadly, as with much of California, this rich agricultural land has been given over to houses and freeways.

After receiving a degree from San Jose State University, she eventually became a food service manager at Stanford University's Florence Moore Hall where she met her husband Pat who hailed from Santa Fe. As a "head hasher," he worked his way through college with the help of scholarships and loans, eventually entering the field of finance.

As a food service manager coming from a long line of rose horticulturists, she's demonstrated her ability to care for people and roses, roses in Flagstaff being a considerable achievement.

The nice thing about Marion is that she knows what she's talking about, especially when it comes to roses. Charmingly no-nonsense, her first word of advice is to pick the right kind of roses for Flagstaff, roses that will prevail in Zone 5 climates, surviving winters of -10º to -15º, in addition to Flagstaff's wind and drought. Needless to say, some favorite roses, like beloved tomatoes, that grow well in other parts of the country, don't do well in Flagstaff.

She recommends Canadian roses and the British "David Austin" roses. In addition to the local nurseries, she suggested www.waysidegardens.com, www.davidaustinroses.com, www.highcountrygardens.com in Santa Fe, and www.highcountryroses.com in Jensen, Utah.

After picking the right type of roses for Flagstaff, she said picking the right spot is important. She recommends places that get the morning sun rather than the harsh afternoon sun. They also should be sheltered somewhat from the wind.

In planting and caring she says that the hole should be about two feet wide and a foot and a half deep. If planting bare root, she says to spread the roots out like a tent over a cone of potting soil and then fill in with a mixture of potting and native soils. Also, make a basin for deep watering, and contrary to the normal practice of leaving the graft an inch above ground, she puts it an inch below ground for protection during the harsh winter. Also, plenty of room should be left for air circulation and pruning.

Roses should be deep watered at least once a week and more during a dry spell. Don't water overhead. If using organic fertilizer, fertilize once a week. If systemic, once a month to six weeks. If using organic fertilizer, use Safer Soap regularly to protect the roses from infestation.

In preparing her roses for winter, Marion uses her dead pine needles for mulch, but only after sending her cache of pine needles through her chipper. In this way, she can reduce a pile of pine needles a foot high to a couple of inches of pine needle mulch.

She recommends at least a foot of mulch over a rose pruned for winter. Indeed, as a favor of love to her husband, Pat, she tends to his two favorite roses which don't belong in Flagstaff, Mr. Lincoln and Chrysler Imperial, with a three foot high pile of mulch.

With another trick up her sleeve, betraying the land of her birth in Gilroy, she plants garlic here and there amongst her roses to help ward off aphids and other predators with the warning not to eat the garlic if systemic fertilizer is used.

Marion Lopez is a Master Gardener volunteer. Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer, is coordinating editor for the Master Gardener Column. He can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For more information about the Master Gardener Program, call Hattie Braun, Coordinator of the Master Gardener Program, at 774-1868 ext.17 or visit our Web Site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.