Bill Radler's Garden

Welcome to the Garden of William J. Radler
 
This is the home of ROSE INNOVATIONS, LLC, and birthplace of KNOCK OUT, CAREFREE SUNSHINE, and RAMBLING RED. Here, plants of BLUSHING KNOCK OUT and PINK KNOCK OUT can also be previewed. Bill Radler's assistant, David Harrison, lives and works here and welcomes your questions.
 
This is not a garden of pampered beauties, but a setting from which the next generation of low maintenance roses is originating ... expect to see roses growing under harsh conditions.
 
Consider this location as an outdoor laboratory, situated in a low pocket of land where frost can be expected as late as early June and as early as mid-September.
 
Roses are deliberately infected with every type of leaf spot disease, which is encouraged by an overhead irrigation system programmed for night watering three times a week.
 
Many insect pests thrive here also. The larva of the rose midge feeds on tender new tip growth causing new growth either to be deformed or aborted -- the reason for so many non-blooming plants. Leafhoppers cause deformed leaves and flowers. The late season brown-yellow-green v-shaped "chevron" on the leaflets is an indication of early season leafhopper activity.
 
Survival of the fittest is the goal of care, so no winter protection is given.
 
Roses that survive this "benign neglect" are candidates for Radler's gene pool for producing more low maintenance roses. As you might guess, most commercial roses fail the "benign neglect" stress test dismally.
 
All gardens are mulched with doubly processed hardwood bark and edged using Round Up. Roses are not deadheaded; but many aggressive annuals, bi-annuals, and perennials are not allowed to reseed at will
 
Many perennials are labeled except for the most common such as purple coneflower, rudbeckia 'Goldstrum', monarda 'Cambridge Scarlet'.
 
Reseeding annuals and bi-annuals are not marked, such as Silene 'Royal Electra', Verbena canadensis, and Nepeta 'Blue Carpet'. About 100 commonly available roses are labeled, but most roses are my experimental seedlings and identified by a series of numbers (e.g., 01-67.1 to indicate the year, the batch, and the item). Experimental seedlings are often one of a kind.
 
You will see twenty-seven rows of roses surrounded by 7-1/2 foot deer fencing. Thirteen beds of mixed plantings scattered throughout the property contain about 80 varieties of hostas and numerous perennials. Slugs are not controlled because of time restraints.
 
Each year approximately 400 rose plants, which display unsuitable characteristics, are culled from the garden. This affords space for the 400 new roses grown from seed indoors under shop lights during winter.
 
All plants are fertilized once a year with a slow release lawn fertilizer. The few roses that receive any fungicide treatment for blackspot are those located in pots on the driveway and those near the mailbox. K-Mart's brand of Immunox fungicide is used on Whisper, Hot Cocoa, Eureka, Distant Drums, Golden Unicorn, Jude the Obscure, Marilyn Monroe, Michelangelo, Jadis (a.k.a. Fragrant Memory), Elina, America's Choice (a.k.a. H. C. Anderson), Fragrant Cloud, Olympiad, Redgold, Y2K, Glowing Peace, Gemini, Anthony Meilland, and Love 'n Peace.
 
Fencing is not the only deterrent to deer; white plastic grocery bags attached on a swivel post act as a deer scarecrow. Other common difficult-to-control pests include woodchucks, rabbits, voles and field mice, and the recently arrived Japanese beetles. Beetles are easily removed from the plants by tapping the stem above a pail of water with dishwashing detergent and then flushing the result down the toilet. Never ever crush or leave dead Japanese beetles in the garden, as these will attract more.
 
Spider mites are not a problem since insecticides are not used. Caterpillar and sawfly larva are crushed by hand. This year the crushing failed to work as well as in previous years since David and I were in Portland, Oregon to receive another award for Knock Out - one of six international awards. Breeding resistance to sawfly and caterpillar and Japanese beetle resistance is a future goal. But at present, my primary goal at present is disease, leafhopper and midge resistant roses with greater crown hardiness.
 
PLEASE: NO-SMOKING~ PICK NOTHING, OBEY SIGNS & STAY ON THE GRASS AND PATHS