Lovely Roses Hide in Bargain Bare-Root Sticks
Roses and fruit trees are a real bargain this time of year, and their arrival at nurseries is an event that rivals the after-holiday sales. A rose that costs $14.95 in summer can be had for only $6.95 in winter, when the plants are sold bare of soil and leaf--what gardeners call “bare root.”
Fruit trees that command a princely $50 in spring or summer may sell for only $18.99 bare root.
You can find bare-root roses that are cheaper and those that are more expensive (such as the English or Austin roses, which may cost over $20 bare root). The more expensive roses are generally bigger plants or better varieties--even in winter you get what you pay for.
However, any rose or fruit tree is going to cost as much as twice the price, maybe 2 1/2 times more, if you wait and buy it in a can in spring or summer.
Before you say “They oughta be a bargain”--because what you’re buying often looks like little more than a stick with roots--be aware that bare-root plants often do better than those planted from a nursery container. They’re not only a bargain, they may be the best way to plant roses and fruit trees.
Marsha Smith, the rose expert at Armstrong’s The Home and Garden Place in West Los Angeles, says even she sometimes buys a rose she can’t resist in bloom, in a can. “But I almost always wish I had waited for the bare-root season,” she says, because bare-root plants are usually bigger and easier to plant.
Most bare-root roses are what the nursery business calls No. 1, while roses sold in cans later in the year are usually a lesser grade, what’s called a No. 1 1/2.
Bare-root fruit trees usually have a trunk caliper of 3/4 to 1 inch, while fruit trees sold in cans are two sizes smaller, with 5/8-inch trunks.
But Smith is quick to point out that the real advantage of buying things bare root in winter is variety. In summer, she may have a dozen or so canned roses at any one time. This winter she will have an astounding 256 different varieties of roses for sale, from Abracadabra to Yves Piaget.
Other large nurseries are similarly well stocked. Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar will have 164 varieties; Palos Verdes Begonia Farm promises 130 different roses; Burkard Nurseries in Pasadena 187, including 40 different English or Austin roses that have been hard to find in the past. The many Armstrong Garden Centers will have 150 varieties of roses each and about 50 different deciduous fruit trees.
Only deciduous fruit trees--such as apples, apricots, peaches and plums, but not citrus or avocados--are sold bare root. Many berries and grapes are also available this way. Not too many years ago all bare-root roses and fruit trees were sold from bins or barrels filled with damp sawdust. The nurseryman would pull your plants out of the sawdust, carefully wrap the bare roots in brown paper, with a little sawdust to keep them moist and then wrap them with twine.
Some nurseries still sell bare-root plants this way, including Burkard in Pasadena, and some nurseries sell some of their roses this way because that’s the way they come from the grower.
Sold this way, you can judge for yourself if the plant has a healthy root system or not.
However, most bare-root plants are now packaged in plastic, their root systems tightly bound so they don’t take up too much room at the nursery. If you should open a packaged plant and find it a little short on roots, take it back immediately and most nurseries will exchange the plant.
On a good-sized, healthy plant, there should be several big roots and a multitude of smaller rootlets.
It’s important to keep the roots moist but not soggy wet. Lew Whitney, at Roger’s Gardens, says the No. 1 thing is “to get the plant in the ground fast.” If you can’t, or if the roots look a little dried out, soak them in a bucket of water overnight, but not longer.
A few nurseries, including Palos Verdes Begonia Farm, put their bare-root plants into pots right away, “so you don’t have to get them into the ground so fast,” according to manager John Bauman.
This shouldn’t negate one of the benefits of bare-root planting--the plants can’t be root bound because they weren’t grown in a container. Bare-root plants tend to root deeper and faster into the soil than container-bound plants.
To plant something bare root, dig a hole deep enough and wide enough to accommodate the roots when they’re spread out in a natural fashion. Give them a little extra room in all directions.
To put the roots firmly in contact with the soil, mound up a cone of soil in the bottom of the hole, tamp it firm, and spread the roots over it, then refill the hole, tamping as you go.
In most soils, it’s a good idea to add an organic amendment (what nurseries often call “planting mix,” but not potting mix) to the soil that goes back into the hole, mixing it in thoroughly. Don’t add, or give, any fertilizer until the plants leaf out in early spring.
The rose or fruit tree should end up at the same depth it was when grown in the grower’s field. You will see a change of color in the bark at the old soil line. Put a board across the hole so you can visualize the soil level when it is refilled with the amended dirt.
Make sure you cut the ties that hold the branches together on packaged roses.
Marsha Smith, who grows her own roses in community garden plots (because she lives on a 30-foot sailboat), finds that mounding soil or potting mix over the rose after planting helps. She leaves only the tips of the branches sticking out, and theorizes that this keeps the plant from dehydrating during dry weather.
She leaves the plants buried under their protective mound for three or four weeks, or less if she sees signs of sprouting, then removes the soil. You can use this extra soil to make watering basins around the bushes.
Another method of protecting new plants from that not uncommon dry winter weather, and sometimes hot sun, is to cover them with a paper grocery bag for a week or two.
There really isn’t a good way to protect fruit trees, but they don’t seem as sensitive. Fruit trees also need to be pruned right after planting, leaving only a few sturdy, well-spaced branches. This helps compensate for any loss of roots and establishes a good strong framework for the tree. These remaining branches will become the main limbs, so they should be evenly spaced around, and up and down, the trunk. The trees will more than make up for this temporary loss come spring.
In fact, by spring, you will not know that your rose or fruit tree was a seemingly lifeless stick only a few months earlier, bought at a bargain price.
