Traditional roses - especially the stately hybrid teas, with their classic chubby buds and long stems - have been conspicuous holdouts in the great organic transformation well under way in other sectors of the horticulture world.
Bred and crossbred to be beautiful, but not especially tough, these roses have historically reigned as the undisputed fusspots of public gardens and many a home garden. Though glamorous, they are extremely high maintenance.
If not sprayed regularly during the growing season, and sometimes even if they are, they're susceptible to black spot, powdery mildew, and other diseases, as well as thrips, aphids, spider mites, and the dreaded Japanese beetle - not a mix any arboretum wants on display, especially in rose gardens, which are perennial favorites with visitors.
This year at Morris, using a grant from the University of Pennsylvania's Green Fund, the uptight fusspots are turning hip. Jackson is using a laid-back approach to maintenance that emphasizes plant variety, soil health, and the integration of roses into the garden's ecosystem.
Instead of donning a hazmat suit and spraying fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides, or downloading generous amounts of synthetic fertilizer to boost growth, Jackson is outfitted in work clothes and a straw hat, spraying a far less hazardous liquid - compost tea, a natural fertilizer made by soaking or steeping decomposed organic matter, such as grass clippings, leaves, weeds, sawdust, and wood chips, in a huge vat of water.
The rich "tea" will provide nutrients and beneficial fungi to suppress disease among the arboretum's 1,000-plus roses, most in the one-acre Rose Garden, which dates to 1888. Compost tea also creates stronger, deeper roots, which hold water better; Jackson estimates this will lower watering needs by one-third.
