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Can I fertilize my roses and other perennials right now?

With the cooler temperatures, our plants (like us!) are getting invigorated.  It's tempting to go out and fertilize.   

That's actually a great idea, but you need to be careful about what kind of fertilizer you use.  Anything that's high in nitrogen will encourage new green growth, and that's not what we want to encourage right now. Those plants are getting ready to go dormant, so you want to encourage them to go to sleep a little bit. 

So,  what you want to do is help them make roots, and a low amount of nitrogen in your fertilizer will do that.  Or better yet, use compost.  Scrape back the mulch and apply compost. That will break down slowly this winter, and it's a really good way to fertilize your beds right now. 

If you didn't prune back those roses in the late summer to reinvigorate flowering, you could do some very light pruning now. Then let the plants go dormant.  Let them lose their leaves.  In mid-February, we can prune and fertilize. 

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• October 3rd, 2009