Gardening Seminar

Michele and I had a lovely day today attending a gardening seminar at Sweetwater Farm Greenhouse in Denison. SueZanne Peterson, rose expert, spoke on how to propagate roses from cuttings, and also shared general knowledge with how to keep roses in our area happy and thriving.

While both of us have been growing roses for years, neither have ever tried to propagate any. It just seemed too large a hassle. Ms SueZanne made it seem very easy with a few great tips:

- Start with well watered seed mix.

- Prune your cutting to have only a few leafy branches at the top.

- Make sure you plant your cutting with a good 3 grow nodes in the soil to take root.

- Keep well watered for a year. Yup, I said a year.

- After that it can be transplanted into a rose mix soil and kept watered and fed for another year.

She unpotted one of her transplant ready cuttings to show us how the roots had grown from the nodes. It was amazing to see how this formerly green branch had formed roots! I was lucky enough to win this small propagated rose plant to take home.

SueZanne also spoke a bit on companion plants, which are plants that can be grown beside roses (and in your veg garden, as to that) to serve as bug deterrents and/or soil improvers. She made the point that when we plant in monothematic ways (a whole bunch of one type of plant together, like an exclusive rose garden), we potentially open up our gardens to more diseases and problems. With roses, the only way to combat these issues is to spray, spray, spray. Using companion plants like garlic, salvia, and marigolds not only increase the visual variety in our gardens, but also increase the healthiness of them (less spray, spray, spraying).

Afterward we spent some time walking around Sweetwater's two lovely greenhouses, and the array of plants and trees that they offer. Of course I couldn't help but to grab some of the lovely plants that owners Barb Palmer and Dave Kenyon have to offer, including a few six-packs of marigolds for the vegetable beds and a cute little fig tree.

Sweetwater Farm Greenhouse is hands-down my favorite nursery and garden shop in the Texoma area. I was happy to spend an informative morning there. Armed with new knowledge, I am ready to propagate!