{"id":24922,"date":"2012-06-12T11:00:06","date_gmt":"2012-06-12T15:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/plant-talk\/?p=24922"},"modified":"2012-06-11T10:30:32","modified_gmt":"2012-06-11T14:30:32","slug":"be-kind-to-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/2012\/06\/gardens-and-collections\/be-kind-to-the-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Kind to the Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Last week<\/a> we discussed disease resistant roses. This week we will continue along the same vein with a discussion of Earth-Kind\u00ae roses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The concept of Earth-Kind\u00ae roses began in Texas in the late 1990s, when a professor at Texas A&M was asked for recommendations on roses that were attractive and low-maintenance. The professor realized that no systematic study had been done in this area and set about creating the Earth-Kind\u00ae trials.<\/p>\n

The creators of the program set up strict protocols that could be followed all around the country. The goal of the program was to eliminate the use of fertilizer, reduce the use of insecticides and fungicides by 98%, eliminate annual pruning and deadheading and reduce supplemental irrigation by at least 70%.
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\nThis may seem like a daunting task for rose growers, but it has been successfully achieved and there are now a host of roses that bear the Earth-Kind\u00ae designation, with more undergoing trial. There are just a few caveats to add to the above list of benefits: most of the roses will have to be pruned every three years to keep them to a good size, and roses in the northern U.S. will need to be cleaned up in the spring with the removal of dead branches.<\/p>\n

While there is an absence of fertilizer, the Earth-Kind\u00ae trial beds are amended with four to six inches of fully finished compost upon planting and the beds are mulched on an annual basis with three to four inches of organic hardwood mulch. The roses need to be planted where they can receive eight hours of full, direct sun, and placed in an area with good air circulation. Roses are planted small on their own root stock (about six to 12 inches when planted) and spaced eight feet apart. They are watered for the first year to help them get established and then supplied minimal water from the second year onwards.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Earth-Kind\u00ae Rose Trial Beds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A number of roses that have already received the Earth-Kind\u00ae designation are \u2018Knock Out\u00ae\u2019, \u2018Elsie Poulson\u2019, \u2018Belinda\u2019s Dream\u2019, \u2018Mutabilis\u2019, \u2018Cecile Brunner\u2019, and \u2018The Fairy\u2019. Some of the roses that are currently being trialed in Texas and are performing well are \u2018Double Knock Out\u00ae\u2019 (which is proving to be exceptionally drought tolerant), \u2018Lena\u2019, \u2018Ole\u2019 (named after two characters from The Prairie Home Companion<\/em>), \u2018Sunrise Sunset\u2019, \u2018Katy Girl\u2019 and \u2018Chuckles\u2019. These roses have been trialed for three years and have five more to go before they achieve their Earth-Kind\u00ae designation.<\/p>\n

The researchers have looked into the traits that make for a low-maintenance rose. Not surprisingly, genetics plays an important role. Many of the award-winning roses have one of Dr. Griffith Buck\u2019s roses in its parentage. Dr. Griffith Buck was a hybridizer that worked for Iowa State University, known for being ruthless in his selection of roses. He planted them in the inhospitable environment of the Iowa prairies, where they received minimal care their first year and were then left out on their own. It is not surprising that his roses form the stock of the Earth-Kind\u00ae roses.<\/p>\n

You will find information on NYBG<\/a>\u2019s Earth-Kind\u00ae Trial Beds on our Sustainability page<\/a>. Our Continuing Education Department<\/a> is also offering a class on these roses taught by Rose Garden Curator Peter Kukielski on Wednesday, June 27 from 10 to 12 p.m. Please see our course page for more information<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Earth-Kind\u00ae program began with a simple idea: offer a rose that can take care of itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":24926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[64],"tags":[2533,170,1258,154,2544],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Shrub-rose-Blushing-Knock-Out-02.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ph0lU-6tY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24922"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24938,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24922\/revisions\/24938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}