Sometimes Rules Are Meant to be Broken
“Rules are meant to be broken,” my defiant curfew-breaking young teenage daughter retorted. We set her straight on the value of rules…repeatedly! Following rules is good. Following rules is especially valuable when we are learning a new skill. Rose rules were critical when I was learning how to select, plant and prune my roses. My roses would not have grown so vigorously without the information I followed on watering, amending the soil and mulching. And every fact I know and continue to learn about pests and beneficials, and differentiating the two, are essential to the health of my garden.
But once we get into the groove and hang of growing beautiful roses, we start to wonder about, examine,question and even challenge certain rose practices. We break away from rules that are not working for us, and we tweak some of the advice we got along the way. Our journey becomes less and less about blindly following practices and more and more about understanding the soil and the science of growing plants. As we become more and more familiar with our gardens and our plants, we are happy to realize that we can ‘read’ our roses and no longer need to rely on strict regimens.
Epsom salts…or not? Mycorrhizae…or not? Phosphorus…or not? Confused? You are not alone. It is difficult to know which of these contradictory truths to believe. They cannot occupy equal space. You have to choose one or the other. Or, perhaps like many of us, you are not sure what is true, so you decide to implement each half-heartedly. A little epsom salts, a half portion of phosphorus, and a light sprinkling of mycorrhizae…
Learning about plants and our gardens never stops. Education helps us separate good scientific information from rote rules, rose lore and old wives' tales. It also invites us to challenge some traditional rose practices and ask whether they are based on science of whether they are just rose myths and plain misinformation. Decide what’s best for you and your garden. You may decide perhaps some ‘rules’ do need to be broken.
