The Sustainable Rose Garden

Jun 10, 2021

By Katie Rivera, permaculturist and educator

Katie Rivera, a recent Permaculture Design Certificate recipient and part of the team who designed the Rio Vista Veterans Residence demonstration food forest garden, shares this blog with us about how to grow beautiful roses sustainably. Katie will talk about her research and design process for a rose garden proposed for the Rio Vista Veterans Residence in a Zoom talk on sustainable rose gardening July 27 (Register here!). Join her for interesting facts about growing disease resistant, low maintenance roses and specific ideas and suggestions from the Veterans Memorial Rose Garden design.

Katie Rivera at Cordelia Community Park

I love roses! There is no other flower that can be a shrub, tree, or vine and give you as many choices of colors and fragrances than a rose. Wouldn’t it be nice to grow your own roses and have them thrive? Over the last couple of decades, researchers, rose cultivators and hybridizers have been working hard to get away from using harmful pesticides on their roses. Trials are being done all over the world to identify roses that are disease resistant, use less water, and require minimal care. Thankfully, these experts are sharing their findings with us! This is a great time to grow beautiful roses with just a bit of know-how and very little maintenance.

Rose Development In History

Let’s start with a little history about roses and their names.

Roses have been grown, survived and proven themselves over millions of years on their own without any kind of maintenance or intervention. “Species” roses are the oldest with only five petals. Any existing rose can be crossed with any other rose to come up with a new hybrid rose. A rose hybridized before 1867 is considered a “heritage” rose. Any rose after that date is called a “modern” rose. And roses grown post-2000 are designated “new millennial” roses. Roses that share a common flower form are considered to be in the same class.

The rose is America’s national flower. Did you know that? Well, I learned something new! In 1986, Congress designated the rose as the National Floral Emblem of the United States. Believe it or not, our first president, George Washington, was a rose breeder! The rose ‘Mary Washington’ was bred and named after George’s mother and is still grown today.

So growing roses should be easy peasy, right? Well, yes, if you grow the right rose in the right location with the right conditions. Getting all these components just ‘right’ is what sustainable gardening is all about.

Sustainable Gardening Best Practices

So what is Sustainable Gardening?

According to John Starnes in Probiotic Rose Growing, the healthiest and most stable ecologies in the natural world are complex, multi-tiered ones, with predator and prey creating sustainable balances. Why would our rose gardens be any different or deserve less?

  • Observation and taking note of what works and what does not is what sustainable gardening encompasses. We must be aware of what is going on in the garden and try to simulate nature in all its wonderful glory.
  • There are many components to watch and take note of in the garden, starting with the soil, water, sun, heat, cold, wind. The list will be specific to your unique site. Then the conscientious gardener must make informed plant decisions using the most organic solutions possible. Where there’s a will to do it ‘right,’ there’s a way!
  • Amending the soil might be the first step, but you won’t know until checking the planting area for pH levels (6-6.5 is ideal for roses) and available nutrients.
  • In regards to insect predators, the goal is to use an approach called Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to manage pests rather than eliminate them, while at the same time exerting minimal impact on the environment.
  • Roses thrive with mulch. It slowly breaks down and continuously feeds the soil. In addition, mulch helps retain moisture and blocks weeds. It’s a must!
  • Combining roses with annuals, grasses, perennials, shrubs and vines is a great way to create color combinations, make more interesting and creative borders, and attract beneficial insects into the garden. Beauty and benefits? What’s not to like?

Companion Plants for Roses

Trumpet , Oriental and Orienpet Lilies
Delphiniums
Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage)
Centaurea montana (Mountain Bluet)
Salvia ‘Blue Hills’
Veronica spicata ‘Royal Candles’
Veronica ‘Sunny Border Blue’
Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’
Polemonium sps.
Purple Pasqueflower
Platycondon ‘Sentimental’
Nepeta ‘Blue Carpet’
Vining Clematis of all kinds, especially ‘Betty Corning’ and Bush Clematis

*This list comes from William Radler’s Favorite Perennials to Grow as Companions to Roses

Soil Basics

Sustainable gardening requires that we develop a healthy respect for the soil as a living organism. Soil is the base we depend on to build our gardens. We must start there before we can begin to grow anything. A good soil is alive with micro- and macro- organisms devouring each other!

Research shows that roses with healthy populations of mycorrhizae are more vigorous, with increased drought- and disease-resistance and the ability to take up more nutrients and water. Myco means fungus. Rhiza means root. So the term refers to the symbiotic relationship between the two. (See resource list for lacto serum and ‘Poop Soup’ recipes.)

Nearly all water and nutrients taken up by roses come from the soil. Therefore, we must try to understand the nature of our native soil and then manage it to provide our roses with what they need.
Soil scientists have determined that the ideal soil texture for growing roses is 60% sand, 20% silt, and 20% clay. These elements are inorganic matter. The composition of good garden soil or humus contains 45% of this inorganic matter, 5% organic matter, 25% water, and 25% air.

The easiest way to improve the water and nutrient retention in your soil is to increase the amount of organic matter. As a rule, the greater the variety of organic material used, the greater the variety of potential nutrient release for future plant use.

Water Basics

Humus can hold up to 20 times its weight in water! One square foot of this quality soil can contain up to 40 gallons of water. Think of it like a sponge (only much better). So it makes sense in terms of water conservation and efficiency to improve the soil so it can retain more water for plants.

Drip irrigation, which only provides water to the plants or areas that need it, can substantially cut back on your usage and help limit the growth of unwanted weeds.

Using synthetic fertilizers actually dries out the soil and causes you to use more water just to keep the plants alive and growing. Besides destroying the health of the soil, pesticides and chemical fertilizers contaminate streams, kill microbial life, leach into waterways, and build up harmful ecological deposits.

Planting Roses the Right Way

A rose that is happy in its conditions, with plenty of sunshine and healthy soil, is going to be naturally healthy and disease resistant in your garden eliminating any need for harsh chemicals (P. Kukielski).

Sounds pretty simple, right? Of course right! This is all you need to do! Yes, you do have a role to play. You can’t plant it and forget it. Make sure you don’t leave any of these important steps out:

Pick the right rose, plant it properly, and care for it well (you won’t need chemicals).

Know that roses thrive in sun, good soil, drainage, and they need air, more water the first year, and regular mulching.

Basic planting steps:

  1. Amend the soil in the planting bed.
  2. Dig a hole slightly larger and deeper than the root ball or bare roots of the rose.
  3. Add compost to the dirt removed from the planting hole at a ratio of ⅓ compost to ⅔ soil.
  4. Prepare the hole and plant the rose:
    • Container rose – backfill hole with compost soil to the bottom of the pot then place plant in the hole and fill in around the root ball. Tamp in well. Soil should be even with natural soil level.
    • Bare root rose – create a small mound in the hole and spread the roots over the mound, then backfill with soil compost mixture. Tamp in well. The soil should be even with the natural bed level.
  5. Water well.
  6. Top with 3-inch mulch layer.
Katie’s design proposal for a Veterans Memorial Rose Garden

Identifying Sustainable Roses

The best tool I found on picking disease-resistant (not disease free), sustainable roses was Peter E. Kukilski’s book, Roses Without Chemicals. In this book he lists 150 roses, rates them for disease resistance, flowering and fragrance. And with each of these roses, he also suggests companion plants to accent the unique color and growth of the rose. Peter includes lists of roses by region and climate and has fabulous color pictures throughout.

I would also suggest visiting rose gardens, talking to local rose growers, and asking nursery owners which roses do best in your area.

Following are some resource links and lists on the topic of sustainable rose growing.

May you enjoy years of growing and sharing your very own sustainable roses!

Recipes to Inoculate Your Roses

LAB Serum (also known as Lacto)

Can be applied to plants and soil — get the recipe here

Poop Soup

    • Fill a 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons of well water or city water aged 2 days.
    • Add 1 gallon of FRESH horse poop, stir daily for 1 week.
    • Then add 2 cups Calf Manna, 1 cup compost starter, 2 cups good garden soil or fresh compost, 2 tablets of Primal Defense (available at health food stores or online)
    • 2 cups of sugar.
    • Stir, let brew for 1 day, then sprinkle lightly all over your rose garden, both the plants and the soil.

Websites

Our Water Our World: Roses
ourwaterourworld.org/roses/

Rose Solutions
rosesolutions.net/sus_roses.html

American Rose Trials for Sustainability
americanrosetrialsforsustainability.org

Earth-Kind Rose Trials
aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkindroses/

Help Me Find Roses
helpmefind.com/roses

The New Millennial Rose Garden
millennialrosegarden.com

Paul Zimmerman Roses Forum
paulzimmermanroses.com

Peter Beales Roses Forum
classicroses.co.uk/forum

Veterans’ Serenity Garden Takes Partnership & Persistence

May 27, 2021

By Nicole Newell, Sustainable Landscaping Program Manager

In the beginning it was magic, so many synchronistic moments. In January we began our first Permaculture Design Certificate course (PDC) in Solano County. That same month, Habitat for Humanity reached out to partner with us to design and lead a demonstration food forest installation at the newly built veterans home in Rio Vista. The students attending the PDC had to select a design project and three of the students were interested in the possibility of designing a garden for the veterans.

Partnership

The Rio Vista Veterans Residence was built by Solano Napa Habitat for Humanity in Rio Vista and is a permanent home for six formerly homeless veterans. Nancy, the architect for Habitat for Humanity, attended a private demonstration food forest tour in Benicia last year along with four other architects. She saw the potential in the Rio Vista yard and reached out to us to see if we would be interested in partnering.  Mark Baides, Habitat for Humanity’s project manager during the construction of the Rio Vista Veterans Residence, also joined that meeting. We had previously worked with him on the Dixon Veterans Home. Through this initial meeting, the Rio Vista Veterans Residence was identified as a design project site. Further collaboration unfolded over a few months and a partnership was formed with Solano Napa Habitat for Humanity and Berkeley Food & Housing Project (BFHP), the organization that manages and provides support services to the home.

Permaculture Design Team

PDC students John Davenport, Katie Rivera and Susan Worden selected the site as their design project and became a design team. Katie and Susan are both Rio Vista residents; John and Katie are both veterans. John is the owner of Cali Ground Troops and became the lead contractor for the project. We all felt the magic and took this project on without hesitation. At the time, none of us were aware of the level of commitment and work that it would take to see the PDC project manifest into reality!

Design

The design team worked diligently and put thoughtful energy into a design that included the residents’ input. During a design interview, one of the veterans named the garden “Serenity.” The design includes a space in the backyard for outdoor gatherings so they can barbecue together; plants selected to increase biodiversity and provide food; a hedge that will provide privacy and attract pollinators and an area in the back for growing annual vegetables. The hope is that the garden becomes a place to heal.

Getting Creative with Funds

Typically, our demonstration food forest sites are 1,200-2,000 square feet and take three public, educational workshops to install. This site was 5,800 square feet and it took five public workdays in addition to many other visits to prepare the site and work in smaller groups. We definitely had to get creative to stretch our funds! We worked closely with Mark from Habitat for Humanity to make it happen. Mark wears two hats, he is project manager for Solano Napa Habitat for Humanity and he also works for the Home Depot Foundation. Habitat for Humanity graciously gave us access to tools that were already on-site and helped with their expertise in irrigation. The Home Depot Foundation donated funds to help support the cost of irrigation and for part of the contractor fees. We worked as a team to find enough funds to complete the project.

Slideshow

Serenity (Rio Vista Veterans Residence)

Windy Rio Vista

During the installation we were made aware that spring is Rio Vista’s windy season. Every installation day was filled with so much wind that it felt like our thoughts were being taken out of our heads and thrown around in the air and brought back as jumbled fragments. The site was basically sand. The “sandy soil” was in desperate need of organic matter so we brought in 40 yards of compost and horse manure. We attempted to dig the compost in on a windy day in April and quickly realized that machinery was necessary. We reached out to the designer of our first seven demonstration food forest gardens, David Mudge. He has an excavator named Sunflower. David and Sunflower spent a very long day in mid-April mixing in the organic material. The thought was to bring in enough organic material to turn this sand into a foundation that could successfully grow thriving trees and plants.

Volunteers

During the five public installation days, 52 people from the community came to learn about permaculture, support the veterans home, and to help install the demonstration food forest garden. Susan, Katie, Kevin, Nikita, Jaxon and Maxfield were loyal volunteers that were committed and diligently showed up during this challenging installation. To honor and support this project, Senior Airman KeShay Solomon from Travis Air Force Base reached out to her squad and four members volunteered time to help us plant the garden. Read more about that day in this Daily Republic article.

Future

Reggie and Cara from BFHP worked with us to coordinate days and helped to install the garden. BFHP will be hiring one of the designers, Katie, to guide the residents in maintaining and caring for the newly emerging plant life so they all continue to thrive.

Personal Gratitude

Gratitude for the many sweet community members that volunteered their time and the simplicity of the Serenity Prayer kept me centered during the installation.

God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; and the Wisdom to know the difference.

This project and the Solano Sustainable Backyards Program are generously funded by the Solano County Water Agency and in partnership with the organizations mentioned above.

Get Back in the Garden: 2021 Garden Tour Reimagined!

Mar 31, 2021

By Nicole Newell, Sustainable Landscaping Program Manager

Time in any garden is well spent, and we invite you to spend time in a local garden on April 24 for our Annual Demonstration Food Forest Garden tour in Benicia and Vallejo.

We have reimagined the tour this year to safely open for private in-person, self-guided tours. In the past, our demonstration food forest tours have been a festive community event where many gather to tour. Last year, COVID precautions moved the event entirely online, but it was important for us to find a way this year to get people into the gardens. To do that, we invite you to choose an individual garden to tour for a 30-minute interval per household/family bubble. All participants will be asked to follow COVID safety rules, including wearing masks and staying at least 6 feet apart. You can select a garden and register here.

These diverse demonstration food forest gardens are on private and public sites and were installed by the community through educational workshops. They demonstrate how capturing secondary water, such as rainwater and laundry-to-landscape greywater, combined with healthy soil and waterwise drip irrigation can yield lush, food-producing gardens!

These gardens are so much more than examples of ecological features; they are a place to heal after a difficult day, a spot to watch seeds emerge, a place to grow food and pass on the excess, a place to gather to celebrate and to grieve, and a place where strangers become new friends. Each of these gardens has a name and a story and beautiful Food Forest Keepers.

A Food Forest Keeper is a caretaker of a demonstration food forest. Each year they agree to tour their food forest and to be an example on how to use space to create habitat, grow food and to educate and inspire others to do the same.

This is a rare opportunity to privately explore one garden within the safety of your family/friend bubble and to ask our Food Forest Keepers questions. Each garden is a unique experience: some are compact front yards, others are on a slope, some share space with animals and small children, some are allowed to grow without restriction, while others are more manicured. We hope you select a garden that interests you most and that you are inspired with ideas on how to work permaculture design principles into your own garden!

In 2022, we hope to go back to the tour being a community event where many can gather and we are looking for input from you. What would you like to see in the Demonstration Food Forest Tour in 2022? Please take this short survey.

The tour and Solano Sustainable Backyards program is made possible through the generous support of the Solano County Water Agency. The Resilient Neighborhoods program has been generously funded by the Pacific Gas & Electric Corporation Foundation.

Learn More About Each Garden and Register Below!

Benicia

Curious Garden

Living & Learning

Nourishing Provision

Wild Cherry Way

Giardino su uno Colina (Garden on a Hill)

Redwood Guild

Vallejo

Enchanted Cottage Garden

Ripple Effect

Terraza Dominicana

Loma Vista Farm

Morningside Botanical Bounty Resilient Neighborhood/ 4 Food Forest gardens

 

Join CompostGal’s Lori Caldwell for Gardening 101

Feb 23, 2021

By Lori Caldwell, CompostGal

Lori Caldwell of CompostGal has given talks for Sustainable Solano on container gardening, perennial edibles and much more! Her next talk will be a Gardening 101 class on March 19.

Dear Fellow Gardeners or Gardeners-yet-to-Bloom,

If you’ve never gardened before or just need a refresher prior to next season, then please join us on March 19 for Gardening 101. I’ll be discussing the process from soil to fruit, touching on the terminology and all the tips and tricks I’ve used over the years. While it’s still “winter,” it’s time to start planning for your spring and summer gardens!

The idea of being a successful gardener to some may seem like a daunting enterprise. Maybe you think it’s too expensive or that you possess a “brown thumb?” Seeds or starts? In-ground or containers? Hand-watering? Drip irrigation?

Gardening is not perfect, but it is fun and rewarding. You will kill plants! There will be bugs, good and bad ones (more good than bad, promise). However, when the year is good, it’s really good! It is worth the journey for sure! Come along with me!

See you in the garden,
Lori Caldwell aka CompostGal

About me:

Gardening has always been part of my life. From houseplants to fruit trees, my family always had something growing. Seeing them tend to their plants gave me the idea that those plants had value. I remember the smell and feel of freshly turned earth, the scent of chemical fertilizers (yikes) and being small and looking up at towering tomato plants.

Grandpa’s garden (Pittsburgh, PA) circa 1970s

I’ve been happily teaching sustainable gardening classes since 2007. Some of my other fun jobs are gardening maintanance and garden consultations. If you need help, please feel free to contact me!

Find videos and handouts from Lori’s past talks and more plant resources here.
Want to connect with Lori? Find her information on our Sustainable Landscaping Professionals List!

The Solano Sustainable Backyards program and the talk are generously funded by the Solano County Water Agency.

Winter Fruit Tree Care

Jan 26, 2021

By Kristina Fink, Lemuria Nursery

Kristina Fink’s expertise on deciduous fruit tree care comes from being the fourth generation at the family-run Lemuria Nursery in Dixon. Lemuria Nursery is the largest wholesale grower in Solano County that is open to the public. Nursery owners and operators since 1939, the Fink family has carried on four generations of plant knowledge to the industry with the fifth generation right under their wing.  You can watch Kristina’s talk in the video here and read her responses to your questions below.

Find additional winter fruit tree care resources on our Plant Resources page.

Tell us more about Lemuria Nursery.

Not only does our family grow exciting new cultivars, but also the old reliables that have withstood the changing times of our marketplace! From low water, drought tolerant plants to now more edible landscaping, we continue to embrace the challenges that come with each year. During the month of January, our year kicks off with bare root fruit trees from Dave Wilson Nursery. Once spring comes, we create endless possibilities for your garden and yard, supplying perennials, grasses, succulents, shrubs, ground covers, natives, shade trees, Japanese maples, edibles … and the list keeps growing! Next time you’re in need of plant help or just advice, give us a call at Lemuria. Our family is here to serve you Monday-Saturday, 8am-4pm, closed Sundays!

What is a chill hour?

A chill hour is approximated as 1 hour below 45 degrees in late fall-early winter.

Fertilizer: when, how often, which type?

We recommend fertilizing our deciduous fruit trees once a year in the spring to help with new growth. We prefer to use a slow-release, all purpose organic fertilizer. (Any product will do but we sell Down to Earth and G&B Organics)

When do you add compost? And how much?

During the planting of your bare root tree it’s best to use 1/3 amendment, and 2/3 native soil.

How to treat peach leaf curl?

Spray with liquid copper during the dormant season (winter).

I have a six-year-old cherry tree that isnt producing fruit. What could be the problem?

Sounds like she needs a mate for her cherry (most cherrys do) or not enough chill hours depending on what variety!

Hopefully this information is helpful!

 

Enjoy the talk? Take this survey to help us determine future sustainable landscaping classes.

The Solano Sustainable Backyards program and the talk are generously funded by the Solano County Water Agency.

Seeking Suisun City, Fairfield & Vacaville Residents Interested in Yard Transformation

Dec 28, 2020

By Gabriela Estrada & Nicole Newell, Program Managers

Do you live in Suisun City, Fairfield or Vacaville? Are you interested in working with your neighbors and community to install a demonstration food forest garden or other sustainable landscaping elements in the coming months at your home or a community site, like a place of worship or school?

Sustainable Solano is currently looking for private or public sites and residents that are interested in working with their neighbors to transform these properties to grow food, create habitat and build healthy soil, while using water efficiently. The search for these sites is targeted in specific neighborhoods that are vulnerable to flood and fire.

We envision neighborhoods better equipped to adapt and thrive in the face of environmental, social and economic changes. The need for strong communities where people know and care for their neighbors is more apparent than ever, and projects such as these through our Resilient Neighborhoods and Solano Sustainable Backyards programs can help to build resilience in our neighborhoods as we connect with one another.

Suisun City and Fairfield

We are looking for residents in Suisun City and Fairfield (in the areas outlined in red in the map below) that are interested in working collaboratively to transform their neighborhoods into robust regenerative urban ecosystems that mimic nature in performing valuable functions like producing food, filtering air and cycling water. We are looking for sites to create beautiful and productive gardens that build healthy soil while using water wisely.

Vacaville

In August 2020, the LNU Lightning Complex Fire affected many Vacaville residents. We are looking to identify a private property in Vacaville that was damaged by the fires to begin to restore the ecological health of the land through the installation of a demonstration garden that would incorporate best practices for designing in a fire zone.

All of these projects will be done through public, educational installations that share knowledge and techniques used to address flooding or fire risk as well as sustainable landscaping principles. If you live within the highlighted areas of the map of Fairfield and Suisun City or your yard was damaged in the LNU Fire and you are interested in creating waterwise, edible food forest gardens, please fill out the Sustainable Landscape Interest Form or contact nicole@sustainablesolano.org. Once we receive the form, we will be looking to schedule site assessments for properties that suit the programs. By February, we hope to select multiple sites for yard transformations.

We are looking forward to hearing about your vision for your neighborhood!